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2. Sorting out the management

One of the things which grant making bodies have to be very careful about is making sure that the money they give goes to an appropriate organisation. This is good for churches, because we can usually be trusted to handle finance carefully and we operate within a regulated environment. However it can also be very bad, because often our management structure is top down and lacks accountability to the local community.

If you want a secular charity to give money for you to spend on the local community, then you have to be able to show how the community will be involved in the management of the resources provided. As an example, my church community centre operates a community forum. The community forum meets every month and everybody and anybody is invited to participate in the meetings. The meetings are advertised and users groups are reminded that we would like them to be represented at the meeting. I would expect to see the local policeman, representatives from the pre-school, volunteers and people from other groups which meet at the centre.

I personally detest meetings at which the chair of the meeting hides behind a desk. So the meeting is informal, we sit around with coffee provided and hopefully nobody feels threatened or reluctant to speak. If somebody wants to draw attention to problems in the centre, or ask for help with doing something, then this is the opportunity. If the forum meeting decided that they wanted to resurface the car park I would have to pass this request to another committee, but most things can easily be accommodated.

The value of this meeting is that once it is set up I can reassure grant making bodies that we listen and give people the opportunity to become involved in the management of the projects which we operate. Let me provide an example of how this might operate.

Our forum decided to issue a survey to all user groups asking what they thought of the operation of the centre. The returns were all good, but we noticed that some people, especially women, were concerned about safety and security issues. The car park surface was identified as uneven and dangerous. Some people who felt that the outside lighting was inadequate on dark nights and parents of children in the pre-school wanted additional security. 

We registered these concerns, kept the survey response forms and began consultation with other agencies, such as the police. Eventually we formulated our 'Safe and Secure Project,'  Always try and give your project a sexy title, funders would not be nearly as excited if we called it 'Car park and lights project.'  After designing the features which we wanted, together with our architect, we sought funding from a wide range of grant making bodies. In due course a new car park surface was provided, new car park lighting, a fire alarm system and CCTV.

We had used a process which began with proper consultation to establish real need, identified the right course of action and then attracted funding partners who shared our vision. It is important that the first step of consultation could always be shown to have taken place, it wasn't just a good idea which the vicar had. 

Prior to getting community projects off the ground, establish good management practice which shows that local people have a voice and a credible input into the way that your projects are operated. This will not be nearly as important if you are applying to religious funders, nevertheless it is good practice anyway.

Annual reports

There are many other ways that you can show good consultation and involvement takes place. Annual meetings with a good annual report are another way of demonstrating that you listen and involve people from the community. It is always good to be able to show records of such meetings, and a copy of the annual report is great to include with an application. Considering that annual reports are going to be sent to funders, always write them in a way which blows your trumpet and tells about all the good things which are going on. Make sure that they mention things like the consultation which is going on and the recent surveys which have been conducted. 

Click here to see a copy of an annual report

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