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how
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Help, advice
and funding may come from many sources and are mentioned
throughout these pages. See the links pages for a range
of help.
Funding Agencies
and Charities
The agencies
you are asking for funding want you to succeed! Read
their Guidance notes! Phone any help line offered! Visit
their web pages! Go to events!
Once your project
has started, keep in touch with your funders and sponsors.
They want your project to be a success, so be honest
about any difficulties you can see cropping up and get
advice and help before they get serious. See the links
pages for contact details.
Local Authorities
Plus
Local Authorities
It is vital to
involve Local Authorities in your project, on as many
different levels as possible. Get their support, use
their power and their services. They are:
A
source of advice
Start asking
questions as soon as possible; they are there to help
with Building Regulations, environmental advice, Health
and Safety issues, property availability, data and statistics,
economic development and forward planning and a whole
lot more. Ask for a copy of their strategic plan - see
where your project fits in.
A
local power centre and decision maker
Love them or
hate them, the powers that be will affect what you do
- and can actively help if you make the right advances
- and get them talking to their colleagues in other
departments. Invite people from key departments to your
meetings - ask them how they can help.
At the very least
they can write you letters of support to funders
A
source of funding
Local Authorities
generally feel hard up these days, but your project
may fit into a variety of different funding programmes.
It can come down to asking the right question. Make
a "shopping list" of things you need, and find out where
these fit local authority plans.
Ask about assistance
for regeneration, community training or capacity building,
economic development, small business support, building
refurbishment, IT development, library development,
partnership with schools, childcare initiatives, disabled
access and any thing else you can think of.
A
conduit to other funding
If they have
no funding, ask for contact names in other agencies
and in other sectors - the TEC, the Chamber of Commerce,
private and corporate funders, links with higher education.
Ask about European funding and regional funding programmes.
A
provider of services
What services
do the local authority control that your client group
would like in your centre? What are their plans for
making their services available online or via video-conferencing?
Will they supply you with leaflets and information sheets?
Will they send staff to talk to your target group on
a one-off or regular basis?
A
possible customer?
Local authorities
need services themselves - and sometimes they need space.
The best way for a funder to support a project in the
long term is by buying services from that project. If
your project has plans to trade, what services could
it offer local authorities?
Enterprise
Agencies
In the UK, help
to start an enterprise has been regionalised and can
vary from region to region. Contact your local TEC (LEC
in Scotland), or Chamber or BusinessLink (sometimes
you will find two or three rolled into one organisation).
Ask how many
Enterprise Agencies operate in your region. Ask what
help there is for business start-up. Sometimes there
will be government and voluntary sector agencies working
side-by-side - maybe a Co-operative Development Agency.
Ask who helps
community businesses to establish. Is there a local
or regional community development project or capacity
building project that will help you? When you contact
an agency, ask if they have a Business Advisor who understands
community or not-for-profit enterprises.
Telecottages
or Telecentres
Some of these
help with business creation and/or community development.
Contact the Telecottage
Association to
find out which one is local to you.
Architects
An architect's
advice is often needed in developing a building for
community use. Architects are expensive; each one will
tell you something different; an Architect's Feasibility
Study will not give you the same information as a Community
Development Consultant's Feasibility Study.
Try to recruit
an architect to your group. If you employ one, choose
one with experience of designing community space and
working with community groups.
Consultants
and Community Development specialists
Consultants can
be expensive, but not as costly as making a serious
mistake in planning, investment or fund raising. Some
funders will pay for a consultant's Feasibility Study.
Choose if possible a not-for-profit or community development
consultant, one who has experience with your type of
project, or in your area. Ask for recommendations or
references from previous clients. If you are a rural
organisation try the NREC
(National Rural Enterprise Centre). Also contact the
Community
Action Network,
and Networks
Online.
There are Community
Development organisations which help with particular
aspects. For advice on legal structures, try your local
Co-operative Development Agency, or, at national level,
ICOM.
You could also
try a local solicitor, but beware - this is one of the
most expensive forms of help but not necessarily the
best. Make sure you choose one with recent hands-on
experience of legal structures for community groups.
Other
Initiatives
These may share
experiences and tips with you freely - but remember
their time will be a scarce resource! Do you have any
expertise you can offer in return? Contact your funder
for previously funded groups that may help you. Or look
for similar initiatives on the Internet. Try Inforurale
and other gateway sites.
how
to / create centres / help
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