# Finding new Ways to Earn Funds

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/08/finding-new-ways-earn-funds/
- Published: 2010-11-08T16:26:32+00:00
- Author: Simon George

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/KTF logo.jpg)

It’s easy to think of turbulent times as just a threat, rather than an opportunity.
After all, aren’t lots of our donors about to lose their jobs and won’t statutory
grants be drying up soon? The challenge then is to look beyond the usual solutions
and find new ways to raise resources.

This of course is easier said than done, but if we want to become less dependent
on grant makers and donors and to control our organisational destinies, then the
way to achieve this is surely to EARN more of our income.

Social enterprise has been flavour of the month for some time now, but how many 
organisations are really maximising their opportunities here? If your charity has
significant assets (such as buildings, land or specialist knowledge), it is usually
possible to put these to use in earning additional income for your charity. But 
what if you do not?

## Advertisement

One organisation I came across recently is a social enterprise called Kids Taskforce,
which works with schools to deliver messages about personal safety. As an organisation,
it is not large or rich but it does have an asset – its relationships. Kids Taskforce
is very well connected in several spheres and is using this to develop a new income
stream. Here’s how it works.

Kids Taskforce has entered a deal with a software company and has been given the
rights to share the revenue earned through the sale of a new product known as Tonermiser
to companies and public bodies. Tonermiser can potentially save large organisations
a fortune in laser ink cartridges, by reducing the amount of ink used in document
production (and we all know how expensive that is). There is also a big environmental
benefit by reducing the number of cartridges used.

What Kids Taskforce has achieved here is a new stream of unrestricted income, simply
by using its relationships to help introduce this product to new customers. More
information about this is found on the Kids Taskforce website: http://www.kidstaskforce.
com/tonermiser.html (incidentally, I understand Kids Taskforce is willing to share
its revenue stream with other charities that help it to introduce Tonermiser to 
large companies and public bodies, so if you have such relationships, do get in 
touch with them).

Although this is an unusual example, it does demonstrate that, where we are prepared
to be entrepreneurial and use assets we had not previously exploited (in this case,
relationships), then new forms of income can sometimes be identified. So what assets
could your charity put to work?

 * **[Community shops to use Ethecol's credit/debit card system](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/03/24/community-shops-use-ethecol039s-creditdebit-card-system/)**(
   24 March 2011)
 * **[Charity and Social Enterprise Management university course to repeat](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/04/20/charity-and-social-enterprise-management-university-course-repeat/)**(
   20 April 2011)
 * **[£10 million Social Enterprise Fund for England](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/07/27/10-million-social-enterprise-fund-england/)**(
   27 July 2011)