olof.williamson's blog

You can now do more and more of your work online. The power and speed of the internet means you can communicate with thousands of people with a click of the mouse. And the web helps you gather and organise information so you can do your job more effectively.

People should pay up front for charity services, or should they? This was the topic for an engaging debate at the NCVO Sustainable Funding Conference last week.

Stephanie Flower of ENRYCH and Kris Ambler of Advice Derbyshire gamely took the two sides of the debate, with Professor Ian Bruce MBE chairing. 

Note: The debate was about charging end-users at the point of delivery, and the views expressed by our debaters may not be their true opinion!

Here are the highlights.

At last week's Sustainable Funding Conference I took part in a great session on developing products through voluntary and private sector partnerships. 

Last week I blogged about essential preparation for applying for a grant. This week I'm turning to the written content of your application. The advice below, drawn from my experienced colleagues, will help your application to leap off the page.

With more and more organisations chasing fewer pots of money, a good application is essential to getting grant funding. By doing your homework you can improve your chances of funding success, even in a tough economic climate. But if you fail to prepare, then you prepare to fail!

Here are some tips I have gathered from my experienced colleagues here at NCVO and other experts.

If you are really passionate about a cause, you may be planning to raise sponsorship through an event, sports or a sponsored challenge. Or you could be considering individual sponsorship as a way to bring in much-needed unrestricted income to your organisation. But how can you make it a success not a disappointment?

Many voluntary organisations raise huge sums through runs, walks, swims and even baked bean baths. Sponsored events are a big earner.

But you need to make sure yours makes a big splash and is not a damp squib.

Here are some Dos and Don'ts to help you:

The Big Society Bank is the coalition government's big hope for boost to investment in the voluntary sector, social enterprise and wider civil society.  At a recent meeting here at NCVO the key people setting up this institution (officially called the Social Investment Wholesale Bank) told us about how they see the bank working.  And a mysterious con

Someone asked me the other day: why bother with other types of funding when grants are the best? They give you money to deliver what your organisation does anyway, and once you’ve won the bid then it's yours to use as you wish on the services that your community needs.

Tom Hall gave us some useful insights last month into social investment and how Scope are using it.  Now he turns to the lessons learned from their social investment project, how the wider voluntary sector can benefit from this

In this fascinating guest blog post, we look at how Scope are using social investment to improve the service they provide for their beneficiaries and better meet the needs of their donors and other financial supporters.  Read on to find out how it works, see if you agree with the model, and if it could work for your organisation!