‘If you don’t ask you don’t get’

‘If you don’t ask you don’t get’

A group of volunteers, including me, called Oake & District Community Shop Project Committee has just been awarded £29,500 from the Village SOS lottery funding stream. We wondered whether we would be eligible for funding: we have no formal structure and no accounts or bank account (we have no money).  

But we have a good cause that fits with what the funder is looking for – saving a local rural village shop (and Oake Post Office if we can) that has existed since 1955.   We have lots of support from the local community. And we made a good case about why we are well placed to see the project through.

The exercise has been a valuable lesson in making applications like this.   Don’t be put off if your group is informal. Make your best case. Substance not form wins out.  

‘Best Laid Plans’

‘Best Laid Plans’

On a weekend when many of us will have put money on the Grand National I would be willing to bet that the Charity Commission was approached late in the day about making the scheme, currently before the charity tribunal, involving the charities King Edward VII and Queen Mary School and Arnold School.  If that was so, it wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last no doubt. 

In this case, issues around financial viability appear to have triggered the merger process and set the pace. Not surprisingly perhaps. Likewise that backdrop might explain the nature and extent of consultation with parents  It may be that a combination of factors meant that a challenge of some sort from concerned parents – against the regulator’s decision in this instance was always on the cards.  

Few charity trustees would want to find their own decisions about merger subject to this sort of scrutiny.  A merger presents charity trustees with much to think about.  A project plan, with realistic targets and milestones, plays a vital role providing a framework for decisions. Communication plays a huge part in the merger process too. The process can involve tough decisions for charity trustees.  Those decisions can become more so when proposals become public with all that that brings in terms of managing uncertainty amongst staff, beneficiaries and other stakeholders. 

When external factors may shape where they start, and circumstances beyond their control can influence the outcome, a sound plan covering all the bases at the outset helps charity trustees retain control of steering  the process, all being well, to a successful conclusion.

Gillian Shaw Consultancy Ltd - Charity Registration Services

Charity Registration Services

Gillian Shaw Consulting Ltd is a specialist charity consultancy company based in Taunton, Somerset.

They provide cost effective guidance and practical assistance to those seeking to set up or register a charity, voluntary groups, charities and social enterprises.

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