Contracts and tendering Expand When you sell a service it might be a ‘one-off’ such as selling a cup of tea, a place on a play scheme or a session in a day centre. However, you might agree to deliver a service over a much longer period and this is when you usually sign an agreement (a contract). The service may be provided to an individual or an organisation eg to supply 20 lunches on 10 days of the year, two child care spaces a day during the six-week summer holiday to a parent, or four sessions a week for 40 weeks in a day centre to a carer. Sometimes you might have to compete with others to deliver that service. It might be as simple as providing a quote or you might have to set out more detail about your service. Bidding, or tendering, for public sector contracts is much more complicated as there are proscribed ways in which public bodies must do this, set down by Europe, central government and the public body itself. To find out more there are some useful publications produced by our national body NAVCA: A Beginner’s Guide to Commissioning (this is a useful beginner's guide and includes a handy evidence checklist so see how ready you are to tender) Or look at the Public Service Delivery pages of the NCVO website. For information about contracting with local public sector bodies go to: BCP Council Local NHS Supplying the Southwest Portal CAN can help you to: Access your organisation’s readiness to bid for contracts Help you to develop policies and working practices needed for successful tenders Give you feedback on your tender proposals Help you develop partnerships and sub-contracting relationships with others to bid, and deliver, on contracts. Contact Steve Place for more information and help with any of the above - email him at [email protected]
Identifying funding opportunities Expand You can find funding opportunities in a number of different ways: Search for funding online The Bournemouth 4 Community online tool provides information and links to several funding resources, including government, lottery, EU, non-government and charitable trust funding opportunities. It allows you to search for funding opportunities suitable for your organisation or group and browse through information on different types of funders. Access the Bournemouth 4 Community tool here. Funding newsletter CAN members are regularly sent emails updating them about local, regional and national funding opportunities. One-to-one support BCP Council has staff that can offer one-to-one advice on funding from foundations and trusts. The contact is Linda Maguire, Principal Community Development Officer on 01202 451165. Linda has identified a number of grant-making trusts that smaller groups could apply to here. If your organisation operates in Dorset outside the BCP Council area, Dorset Community Action also provides a funding advice service. General advice There are free websites that can give you advice and support on fundraising such as NCVO. There are also organisations that can provide free 'pro bono' professional advice such as: Pimp My Cause (marketing) Charity Property Help Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme CITA (IT volunteers) Populo HR (free telephone HR advice every Wednesday from 10 am-12 pm for small charities and social enterprises)
Other support for voluntary groups Expand Volunteers play an essential role in the success of most charities and community groups. CAN's Volunteering Hub can advertise your vacancies, put volunteers in touch with you and provide you with advice on good practice in recruiting and managing volunteers. If you're looking for software and digital tools, you may also benefit from visiting Charity Digital Exchange, which sells the latest software including Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe and others at big discounts. CAN regularly gets offers of equipment and materials to be donated to the voluntary sector. These offers are sent out by email. To make sure you get to hear about these then sign up for the general information forum - contact us today to find out more.
Selling and trading as a social enterprise Expand Voluntary and community groups can receive money through donations or because they sell something i.e. trading. If you want advice and support about developing a trading idea then contact Steve Place at CAN who is a trained social enterprise adviser and mentor. What are donations? Donations are gifts where the giver does not expect anything materially in return. They might get a warm glow, or an official thank you, or something of small monetary value (like a sticker) but in general the giver does not expect to receive something of similar value in return for their gift. What is trading? Selling or trading is where there is an exchange of goods or services (by the seller) in return for something of more or less equal value (by the buyer). An expectation is set up between ‘buyer’ and ‘seller’ of there being an exchange and so forming a contract in law (this does not have to be in writing!). For instance at a supermarket at the point of your basket items going through the till a contract is set up whereby you take on ownership of the items and the store expects you to pay money totalling the advertised price of the individual items. This contract is enforceable in the courts which is different from donations. In most cases there will be an exchange of cash but it can also be an in-kind exchange where the items exchanged are seen as equal in value. What is important here is any assumptions made by the two parties as to whether a sale is taking place or not. Voluntary organisations can trade Trading is sometimes seen as what the private sector does, not voluntary or community groups, and perhaps particularly not charities. However there is a long history of organisations in our sector trading and all organisations can trade (although there are particular rules for charities, read Charities Can Trade). Every cup of tea or cake sold at an event, or a ticket for a disco, is a sale. Child care groups, community centres and many others have always relied on trading. The movement from grant payments to contracts by statutory bodies in the past 15 years has increased the amount of trading income coming into the sector. The big difference between us and the private sector is that we are trading not just to make money BUT also to make a difference (this trading for a social purpose is sometimes called social enterprise) Trading is not necessarily ‘dirty’ or inappropriate for our sector. We tend to talk about surpluses rather than profits in our sector but at the end of the day it’s what you do with the money left over that is important i.e. using it to create more benefits for your users, not what you call it. Trading can be a valuable form of income generation and one that can have fewer strings attached. However it does need different ways of working to attracting donations and grants to be an effective way of raising income. Key questions for any trading initiative Will the trading help you to carry out your organisation’s purpose, not compromise your values and importantly create community or public benefit (either directly or by helping to fund such activity)? Do you know the true cost of your service? Do you know the difference between cost and price (i.e. what buyers are willing to pay for the service?) Do you know who wants to buy your service, why and how they will benefit? Are there enough people and/or organisations willing to buy at the price you wish to sell it at? Do you want your trading to cover its cost, create a surplus or plan to make a loss (because you can subsidise it to make it affordable or you plan for it to be a ‘loss leader' i.e. will lead to more ‘sales’ in the future)? Who else is ‘selling' the same or similar service? (NB could be someone you collaborate with not necessarily compete with)?