More support to investigate trading as an income source
Howard Lake | 19 October 2005 | News
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (NCVO) Sustainable Funding Project (SFP) is encouraging more voluntary and community organisations to investigate the possibilities of generating new, sustainable income from trading by offering more bursaries.
The SFP is offering more small bursaries through its Only Connect programme, sponsored by Charity banking specialists Triodos Bank. This enables voluntary and community organisations to visit another organisation with a proven track record in making money from trading.
NCVO is now encouraging more charities and voluntary organisations to join the scheme, and aims to award ten bursaries every three months, in three-month periods until November 2006. The current period for applications closes on 11 November 2005.
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Voluntary groups must first select an organisation they would like to visit, and successful applicants will then be given up to £100 for travel expenses. Organisations that agree to host the visits receive a consultation fee of £150 for their advice and time.
“Many charities face apparently daunting financial challenges”, said Triodos Bank Head of Charity Banking, Sue Cooper. “But there’s a lot of financial expertise within the sector, and initiatives like Only Connect offer a practical, direct way to access it.”
According to NCVO’s UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2004, in 2001-02 the sector earned £8.9 billion of its total income of £20.8 billion from fees for goods and services.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.