As your charity or church grows you may begin to feel you need a new staff post. Perhaps the administration is getting too heavy for you, or you need someone with marketing expertise to publicise your charity, or you need a new role like a case worker or children’s worker. It could be that you have plans to expand your work in line with a strategy, want to train someone up for taking over in the future, or plan to start work in a new area.
Ideally, your charity will have grown sufficiently to be able to fund the new post. However, it’s often the case that you need to get the post in position before more funds come in (e.g. a marketing post should increase profile and donations, or an outreach worker might help expand your network), so it needs initial funding before it becomes self-sustaining.
There are three main ways to start funding a new post:
- Raise the funds within the charity
- Ask the post holder to partly self-fund
- Apply for grant funding
Raising funds from within
The first obvious place to look for funds is within your own charity or church, as the people who are already invested are most likely to want to see the work grow. Donors aren’t particularly likely to increase their giving just because they are asked for more, but they may well be enthused to support a new post if you can highlight what difference it will make. Saying that you are hiring a building caretaker might not seem like a key role to fund, but you can explain how their work will tie into the work of the organisation, perhaps by freeing someone else up, or making the building available for other groups or organisations which might increase opportunities or revenue.
You could choose to try and raise the money for the post, for example through a fundraising event, or contacting all your supporters directly with a target. You may prefer to encourage regular donors to increase monthly giving and cover the cost that way. Aim to raise funds for three years if possible –depending on the role it normally takes at least 3 months to induct and train someone properly, and it’s hard for someone (particularly with a family) to move to take up a one year post as it offers little stability.
After three years you can then re-evaluate the post, and will hopefully have raised enough in the meantime to keep it going in the longer term if that’s what you choose to do.
Self-funding
Some roles are advertised in small charities and churches as being self-funding (the worker needs to raise their own support). While it might be necessary in your organisation, it’s not ideal as it really narrows down the field of who can apply for the post. Someone looking for a short term role or a recent graduate with no dependants might be keen on this set up (and may also be exactly who you want to attract). However for any key posts or people facing posts you are much less likely to find someone with experience, or who will stay around for a while.
If you need a new post desperately and can’t fund it internally, you could choose to ask applicants to self-fund in the short term, with a clear plan for when you hope to start paying. Or it may be that the applicant comes from a large church which would be willing to support them financially.
Grant applications
For some posts, you may be able to apply for a grant. Grant funding is often for three years, which may be a good way to get the post in place and hopefully funds will increase to support the post internally after that period. Be aware when applying for funding that it can take quite some time for a decision to come through, and some funders prefer funding new work rather than existing.
If you are planning a grant application, it’s important for many funders that you consider three things:
- How you know this post is needed (consultation)
- What difference the post will make (outcomes)
- How you will check you are making a difference (evaluation)
If you need support in looking for suitable grant funders, or in completing a grant application, get in touch via the contact form.
Effective Third Sector 