Launching Fund Gloucestershire
A new non-profit organisation, committed to making the processes for giving and receiving funding easier for everyone involved, is launching this month. Fund Gloucestershire’s mission is to transform how funding flows to communities across Gloucestershire.
Fund Gloucestershire provides a new kind of administrative and financial support service which sits between the VCSE and funders to make applying for and awarding funding simpler so that more capacity is freed up to deliver impact. Fund Gloucestershire is not a funder and makes no decisions about who is awarded funding.
It has been created because the current funding system is resource intensive for both funders and applicants alike. For many VCSE organisations, finding and applying for funding can feel like a full-time job, diverting vital resources away from the frontline work that matters most. Funders are also managing increasing administrative demands and dealing with large volumes of applications.
Fund Gloucestershire provides two simple services at launch:
· The Fund Gloucestershire online application platform enables VCSE organisations to apply for funds using a simple, standardised application form. Organisations can upload their key documents once and use them for multiple applications. Both public sector and charitable funders can share their grants with communities in Gloucestershire on the platform, reducing repeated work for applicants;
· The Fund Stewardship services provide secure and neutral fund-holding and fund-distribution processes for public sector and charitable funders, and for VCSE organisations who are holding funds for partnerships or regranting. Services to the VCSE are provided free of charge.
The team behind Fund Gloucestershire, co-Directors Claire Foote and Sally Byng, bring the experience of being both applicants and funders to the creation of the services:
· Claire, who was previously CEO of Wiggly Charity in Gloucester says she wanted to support the creation of Fund Gloucestershire because “I am committed to helping make the process of applying for funding simpler and more proportionate, so that more VCSE time and energy can be directed towards local impact.”
· Sally, who was previously CEO of Barnwood Trust, says “Applicants cannot spend less on the process of making grant applications unless funders enable them to do so. We hope by creating a simple process for receiving and managing applications, we will free up the capacity of funders to focus on the purpose behind the funds they are granting, the change they want to see in the county as a result of it, and their decision making about who they give it to.”
The simple online platform will open later this month with the first funds. All funds open for application will be viewable on the Fund Gloucestershire website which is already live. Notification of funding opportunities will also be posted on Fund Gloucestershire social media and shared through community contacts.
When the first funds go live, the website will be updated with full details of how to create an account with Fund Gloucestershire and make an application for funding.
Fund Gloucestershire said:
We know how much time and effort VCSE organisations currently put into finding and applying for grants. Our hope is that Fund Gloucestershire will make that process simpler, clearer and less time-consuming - helping organisations spend less time navigating funding processes and more time delivering impact in their communities.
We look forward to welcoming organisations onto the platform when the first funds go live later this month.