Page 4 - NAS Members Guide to Funding

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PART 1. FROM A BASIC IDEA
TO A GOOD PLAN
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out idea from a mile off. So, your association needs to know what you want to achieve (your ‘outcomes’)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this section your association will be able to:
Move from an idea to a landlord approved plan Prepare a detailed budget sheet, including a non-monetary budget sheet
Undertake a skills assessment
GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START
Getting off to a good start is the most important part of increasing your association’s income. The focus is your idea. What is it that your association wants to do?
Your association’s idea might be quite general at first, such as “we want to make the site better for families and children” or “we want to improve security”. or you may have begun to narrow-down to a specific idea such as “we want to install a toilet to make the site more friendly and accessible for families and children”.
Whatever your idea is, there are guiding principles (below) for starting off in the right direction. And if you feel your idea is suddenly running out of control, or you hit a brick wall, come back to this section.
Guiding Principles
Your association’s idea
• Rather than thinking ‘what can we get money for?’ think of an idea first. Then think about how to fund that idea. This makes the funding journey easier and you are being honest to yourselves and those you approach.
• Grant funders in particular can spot a poorly thought-
before you start on your funding journey. Being
able to explain your idea and outcomes in less than
a minute to a friend who knows nothing about allotments is a good way to test that your idea makes sense. You might say “we want to install a compost toilet on our allotment site. The outcome will be a site that is more friendly and accessible for families and children.” Another example is “we want to erect new perimeter fencing and gates. The outcome will be a more secure site so that plot holders of all ages feel safe here.” Outcomes are central to grant funding and are discussed in detail later (See Part 8). For now, try out ‘thinking in outcomes’ to get ahead of the game.
Communicate your idea and obtain broad agreement
• Make time to informally chat to individual plot holders
on-site. Take time to patiently answer their questions, listening to their ideas and opinions. This can help
to shape ideas and can also prevent negativity or obstruction. When you have done this, you can move on to a formal meeting of your association.
• Hold a formal meeting of your association and obtain majority approval for the idea and record this in your minutes. Ideas need to be collectively agreed and mandated so that they become a firm plan. Doing
it this way also provides a good oppor tunity to find out which (if any) plot holders want to get involved in developing and delivering the idea. It is a good idea to form a sub-committee to deal with planning the idea once majority approval is achieved. Funding applications are rejected when it is one person’s idea without support; funders are good at spotting this.
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