Choose your funding source
When you’ve made the decision to develop your play area(s), it may be tempting to dive straight into building your funding plan. However, if your project plan relies on obtaining external funding, one of the first things you’ll need to decide is which funder to approach.
Funding procurement can be a long, involved and complicated process. Plan well ahead before you need the funding in place for, many funders can take several months before giving a decision. Give yourself as much extra time as possible and try to build in an allowance for delay.
Researching, identifying, evaluating and comparing avenues of funding may become an arduous task. However, this will be time well spent. Not all of the funding organisations you consider will be suitable for your specific needs but applying to an appropriate source from good research will increase your chances of success.
When you are at the stage of comparing your selected funding organisations, you will then need to consider issues such as the size of grants they may award. Funders may offer various types of funding, Award Grants, Matched Funding or Revenue or Capital Projects.
Try and base your decision on whether the organisation would see your project proposal as an addition to their funding portfolio. Take the time to learn their key policies; don’t choose the organisation that appears to offer the largest grants or the one that is located nearest to you.
At this stage it may be a good idea to identify if your project can be broken down into smaller sub-projects. This will allow greater flexibility in your overall project and may open the door to applying for different grants to suit multiple play areas.
Make sure you carefully read through the “small print” of your applications agreements, terms and conditions and any other related documents. This may highlight aspects of your application you have not considered and potentially avoid your application being ruled out for failing to meet certain criteria and regulations.
Step Three: How to create and structure your funding plan.
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Click here to download the Russell Play Helpful Guide to Funding. |
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