Fit 4 Funding

We want to help you to be as appealing to funders, donors and customers as possible. Whether you are going for that big bid or launching a public campaign, our Fit 4 Funding options can help you to ensure that you have everything in place.
DCA offer hands-on support that is tailored for you. We offer several different types of organisational review, depending on what you need and want.

Have a look at our Quick Quiz to see where you are on the Fitness Scoreboard!

Click here should you wish for a PDF version of the quiz instead of the video.

Fit for Funding v Organisational Review

Fit for Funding Options: We want to help you to be as appealing to funders, donors and customers as possible. Whether you are going for that big bid or launching a public campaign, we can help you to ensure that you have everything in place.
Organisational Review Options: We can also help you with a more in-depth review of your systems, plans and documentation. For the full review below you’ll see that this would suit those thinking of a bigger piece of work or a funder may have recommended that you have an “organisational review” as part of being awarded a major piece of funding. If so, we can help by doing an in-depth look at all of the areas of your organisational infrastructure. This is a very bespoke review which is tailored to your needs.

Getting you Fit for Funding

Method: We will send you a link to an online questionnaire for you to circulate among your trustees, staff or volunteers. This will ask you to think about how you are doing in this area. We will also ask for sight of a few key documents.

Based on the results of this, we will send you a short report identifying any areas where work might be necessary to become “fit for funding”. We will send you links to the relevant courses on our Academy and signpost you to all the resources you need.

You can choose from:
     · Trustees and governance
     · Business planning
     · Financial systems
     · Income generation
     · Policies, procedures, risk and quality assurance
     · Supporting people
     · From need to impact (monitoring & evaluation)
     · Marketing, communications & partnerships
     · Trustees and governance

Timing:  The process will take about 8 weeks from sending out the questionnaire. Time commitment from us is about three hours.

Cost: £150 + VAT for DCA members or £180 + VAT for non-members per subject (It will cost slightly more for a bespoke topic).

Full Fitness

Method:

We will send you a link to an online questionnaire for you to circulate amongst your trustees, staff or volunteers. This will ask you to think about how you are doing in this area. We will ask you to send us a portfolio of key documents.

Based on the results of this, we will send you a full report identifying any areas where work might be necessary to become “fit for funding” and including an action plan. We will send you links to the relevant courses on our Academy and signpost you to all the resources you need. We will then meet with you for an hour to discuss the results in more depth.

Timing:  The process will take about 12 weeks from sending out the questionnaire. Time commitment from us is about seven hours.

Cost: £350 + VAT for DCA members or £420 + VAT for non-members per subject (It will cost slightly more for a bespoke topic).

Organisational Review Lite

Method: We will meet with you to plan what we are doing and then do a Fit for Funding review in all areas as above, concentrating on the ones which need the most work (up to three). We produce a combined report and action plan. At the conclusion of this, we will meet with your team to discuss the results and the recommendations. We will follow up with you six months afterwards.

Timing: Between 13 and 26 weeks. We will send out all eight questionnaires within a time-frame that works for you. Time commitment from us is about 16 hours.

Cost: £850 + VAT for DCA members, £1.020 + VAT for non-members (plus travel expenses for in-person meetings).

Full Organisational Review

Method: Working alongside your team, with regular catch-up meetings, we will do full assessment in all eight areas as above, going into more detail on areas where you have identified concerns. As well as the questionnaires, we will critique all of your key documents. We will produce a comprehensive report and action plan for the areas needing development, plus links to courses and other resources.

At the conclusion of this, we will meet with your team to discuss the results and the recommendations. Optionally, we can facilitate a team or trustee event to start work on one or more of the issues.

We will follow up with you three months after we have finished and six months afterwards to support your progress.

Timing: Around 39 weeks. Time commitment from us is about 40 hours.

Cost: £2,000 + VAT for DCA members, £2,400 + VAT for non-members (excluding costs of facilitation of an event) plus travel expenses for in-person meetings.

In you are interested in any of these reviews, or wish to discuss a be-spoke piece of work, please contact Caro Hart, Community training Consultant, caro.hart@dorsetcommunityaction.org.uk.

Sign up as a Member to gain our extra funding bulletins, or click to receive our fortnightly e-newsletter.
If you need something extra then please use this quick ‘Make an Equiry’ form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.