Page 8 - NAS Members Guide to Funding

a rural area, check if the funder accepts that you may be based employment skills such as planning and writing tle for a page here
If you are applying for grant funding, check the funders Skills are varied and people are often shy about their
rules on estimates before you start. If you are located in talents or do not even realise they have them. Desk-
limited to only one estimate because it is unsustainable reports are not the only skills that are valuable. Life to have a company travel many miles when a local skills and physical skills are just as important to your company can do the work. association’s idea. Someone who runs a household
ould be overview text relating to the n
VOLUNTEER EXPECTATIONS AND LIABILITIES
The allotment movement has a strong history of cooperation to bring ideas together on allotment sites. A big part of this is plot holders volunteering their time on work days overseen by committee members. Ensure the following when planning work days and other physical activities undertaken by volunteers:
• Do the volunteers have the skills and training for the job at hand?
• Do you have insurance which provides sufficient cover for tasks being undertaken by volunteers.
• Are there regulations for the tasks being undertaken? E.g. there are rules around the depth of fencing and water pipes as well as regulations to adhere to.
• If in doubt, take advice - NAS can help you as part of your membership benefits.
Skills assessment
Cooperation amongst gardeners is what has kept allotment sites going for generations, e.g. committee members doing the hard grind of site management and gardeners sharing skills, time, and effort to keep the place productive. Knowing who you have on your site (along with their family, friends and their wider networks) and what they are good at is vital to an association’s idea and can save vast sums of money.
allotment) has excellent organisational, communication and budgeting skills. Retired people literally have ‘seen
it all before’ so can contribute long-term planning vision, a lifetime of skills, plus an ability to cope and regroup if something goes wrong. A plotholder who is good at hands-on physical activity (such as digging and building) will be an asset for taking/recording vital measurements along with in-depth knowledge of materials and timescales. If you are lacking skills in a particular area, ask around your community for help or look into a training course. Combine these peoples and skills together and you have just built yourselves a great team.
CASE STUDY: “Thinking in Outcomes: Weaste Allotment and Gardening Association in Salford” Weaste Allotments has taken care to ‘think in outcomes’ when planning and applying for grant funding. “One
of the 24 Salford council allotment sites,Weaste Allotments has been growing since 1917. Our allotment proudly has a community orchard, garden shop, and bee hives, managed by volunteers. Through funding received from Salford City Council and the Co- op local community fund, we have been able to create an area of quarter plot size spaces with 2 x 1 metre long raised wooden trugs which are accessible to use without bending or kneeling. The trugs are filled with compost and provided to tenants who would benefit from growing in a more accessible environment. The trug plots are positioned beside our community bee hives, giving the area the name of our ‘BeEasy Access Area’. These quarter sized plot spaces also come with
a shared greenhouse, compost bins, a potting area, and
a communal allotment site seating area to encourage socialisation. We also have on-site toilet facilities, parking
and gets kids to school (as well as having a productive
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