Funder Plus
You are probably already aware that the Community Foundation for Surrey can provide funding for your organisation, but did you know we can also help in other ways?
Our Funder Plus offer encompasses all the ways we support organisations in Surrey in addition to grant funding. This includes volunteer-led coaching and guidance, online resources for charities, grant-seeker support, literature, and access to our interactive map and grants data.
Volunteer Coaching & Guidance
Funder Plus can provide a highly skilled and experienced volunteer to support you with advice and guidance in a range of critical business areas.
We have volunteers who will freely share their skills, bringing their experience and expertise to work with you on a short-term project. They will work to understand the issues that need to be addressed and then provide practical steps, solutions and guidance to help you achieve the desired outcome. Read the case studies for more detail about the benefits of Funder Plus.
Funder Plus Volunteers & Assignments
Utilising the skills and expertise of a small team of volunteers, Funder Plus has supported over 80 charitable organisations in Surrey since launching in 2020.
The organisations benefitting from Funder Plus range from the small to the large, from registered charities to community interest companies to unincorporated organisations, operating in all areas of the charitable sector. However, they all have one thing in common with their Funder Plus Volunteers – a desire to provide a helping hand for those in Surrey most in need.
Funder Plus assignments are currently identified through the CFSurrey grants application process. If we identify that an organisation might need additional support in a particular area, we will signpost them to their Local Infrastructure Organisation (LIOs). If the local ILO is unable to help, we will offer the organisation support from Funder Plus volunteers.
Funder Plus volunteers have also developed a bank of resources (online videos and guides), which are available to all charities and community groups here.
Interested in becoming a Funder Plus Volunteer?
Please review the role description and send your enquiries or CV to funderplus@cfsurrey.org.uk
Our Resources for Charities offers guidance to help charities and community organisations strengthen their overall practice. Through videos and documents created by our Funder Plus volunteers, organisations can access advice on topics such as governance, finance and policy development. These materials support groups looking to improve how they operate, whether or not they’re currently applying for or receiving funding from CFSurrey.
Resources for Grant Seekers focuses specifically on helping Surrey organisations prepare and submit a strong application to us. It includes FAQs and short “top-tips” videos tailored to our grant processes.
If additional help with required policies or documentation is needed, applicants can use the Knowledge Resources or contact their Local Infrastructure Organisation.
Surrey's Local Infrastructure Organisations
Surrey's Local Infrastructure Organisations (LIOs) take the lead in providing advice and support to the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and provide a range of services, including volunteer brokerage and advice on governance and funding. We will always check whether an organisation is able to receive support from its local LIO before proceeding with a Funder Plus volunteer assignment.
Funder Plus Case Studies
Prospero Theatre
An inclusive award-winning theatre company that uses drama to improve the quality of life for adults and young people with disabilities and mental health conditions.
Beth Wood, Director at Prospero Theatre highlights the benefits of the Funder Plus Programme.
“Like many young organisations our financial management was reasonably straightforward while turnover was small. Five years on, with the company expanding in terms of project delivery, we had started to struggle with our accounting processes. When I applied for help through the Funder Plus scheme, I had no idea how deep or expensive that help would or even could be. My directors and I were thrilled when we were provided with the assistance of Laurie Mutch and immediately it was evident that this would be a game-changer.
The first few months were mostly about organisation and then the ‘magic’ began. Laurie has set up an accounting model for Prospero which is generic enough to be easily applied to any funder’s criteria. But it is tailor-made for us, based around our ongoing and one-off projects.
It has been fundamental to the development of the company. We now use the model to help us set strategy, to identify trends, and to pick up gaps and weaknesses before they get to a point that jeopardises best practice. At any given moment we are able to see exactly where we are with any part of any project. Perhaps the outcome that we least expected was being able to identify strengths as well as weaknesses, so that we can refocus and prioritise towards these areas and projects. And the upkeep of this level of detail and accuracy takes less than an hour a week.
Laurie has been, throughout, incredibly patient, and extraordinarily insightful. It has never been just about the numbers. We have felt from the beginning that he is one of us, invested in the work of the organisation. He has certainly been much more of a teacher than I had expected, inspiring us to see the wider context and uses for the model. I cannot recommend the Funder Plus scheme more highly, nor thank the Foundation enough for finding us Laurie.”
Dramatize
Disability arts charity and CIC, providing a range of theatrical provisions to help further the personal development of adults with learning disabilities.
Karen Davies, Director at Dramatize explains how Funder Plus has helped.
“I had contacted Funder Plus following a rejected grant application where a member of the Community Foundation for Surrey had flagged up a few issues with our accounts. We then gained invaluable support from Laurie from Funder Plus who went above and beyond to firstly understand our charity and how we operate to building bespoke software to suit our needs. This has since cut down on time managing our accounts, being able to manage, forecast and provide up to date SOFA for potential funders. Since working with Laurie, we have gained numerous grants and donations helping us to continue to run our services for adults with learning disabilities. Thank you for all your time and help!”
Bishop’s Meadow Trust
Protecting a unique and ancient part of Farnham’s agricultural heritage for the enjoyment of people and to provide a very precious wild life corridor.
Nick Green from Bishop’s Meadow Trust describes the merits of working with Funder Plus.
“Funder Plus has given the Trust a system for overview, day by day of the accounts and it has now a financial model that can complete all the necessary forms in real time. It has given me the information to report back to any other Trustee on the financial position, which includes a balance sheet, statement of financial affairs all which show on any day how the money is going around. This also means it keeps a ‘latest budget’ and can be compared with the assumed budget from last year’s accounts accurately and automatically. Everything works automatically as long as the input matches the bank statement and it’s wholly transparent which we consider important. All this work hasn’t happened overnight and the first efforts were very complicated and primitive but over time they have been streamlined and Laurie has been brilliant at leading me through it”.
Who to talk to
For any enquiries relating to Funder Plus, please contact Alex, our Deputy Director Grants and Programmes.
Alex Kearney
(She/Her)
Deputy Director Grants and Programmes
01483 478088
alex@cfsurrey.org.uk
Mon - Thurs: 9am - 5.30pm
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