Finances

Intro
This space has been put up mainly as an area for us to think about ways of raising money, but also in order to make our finances public. Any issues related to this could be discussed on the associated talk page or on the [mailto:sheffieldsocialforum@yahoogroups.com list].

Current Finances
Summary: current kitty contains £46.05.

Launch Event, March 2004
Income Donations prior to 27th March = £120 (Not including cash loans made by various members of the organising group, which have now been repaid) Donations on 27th March = £190 (Including £50 from the profits New Roots made)
 * Total = £310

Expenditure Print = £110 Main venue hire = £70 Hire of the Red Deer = £20.
 * Total = £200

Kitty This leaves £110 currently available for future projects.

Pre ESF Meeting, June 2004
Income Donations on the night = £20

Expenditure Room and equipment hire = £73.50

Kitty Carried over = £110 + £20 - £73.50

This leaves £56.50 currently available for future projects.

Other Expenditure
Website We have to pay an annual fee for website name registration, last payment made 11th November 2004: £ 10.45

This leaves £46.05 currently available for future projects.

'Mainstream' Fundraising
Attendence at the recent funding fair organised by South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau suggests the following funding sourcs might be relevant if we are to go through relatively mainstream channels.

Possible Sources

 * 1) Sheffield City Council Small Grants
 * 2) *Grants of up to £500 are offered with a fast two-week decision.
 * 3) *Grants of up to £3000 are offered with an eight-week decision.
 * 4) *Grants might cover running expenses, publicity, travel for speakers, equipment hire and so on. Applications will not be made in retrospect.
 * 5) *"You do not need to have a formal constitution or be a registered charity."
 * 6) Awards for All - England ('Lottery Grants for Local Groups')
 * 7) *Grants between £500 and £5000 awarded to specific projects that aid the local community in some way.
 * 8) *Applications in monthly rounds but should allow at least eight weeks between application and spending the money.
 * 9) *Awards will not cover running costs, but are geared toward financing one-off events. Awards will not be made in retrospect. However, for relatively new organisations funds may be made available for start up costs such as printing quality information booklets or paying for webspace.
 * 10) *Part of the application requirement is to demonstrate some sort of demand for the event or project you're applying for funds for. Feedback forms from the launch, with suggestions of practical things we could set out to achieve, would be perfect for this.
 * 11) AOL (America Online) Awards; as available for the Community Library.
 * 12) *AOL provides up to £2,000 as a community innovation grant for local community projects based on Internet (though they seem to be open to creative interpretation here).
 * 13) *Here elements such as the wiki, the Community Library and future multilingual writing workshop would play a crucial role, therefore the importance of putting these projects forward also. An organised body could use this to fund Community Library.
 * 14) Unknown Bank Creditor Scheme.
 * 15) *There will be a new funding streamm in the new Fiscal year derived from the "unknown bank creditor scheme". This is where funds are held in accounts with no recent transactions and the banks have not found the legal account holder. The rules I would imagine may well require similar rules to previous schemes.

Implications
To go through these funding sources there is a bureaucratic process to be adhered to. The following is an essential part of the application process:
 * 1) A written constitution containing a statement of purpose and a description of how the group aims to achieve its aims. Also a description of management and membership structure, but beyond the next point this is quite widely interpretable (you do not have to be a membership organisation).
 * 2) A management committe comprising at least three members. The constitution should make it clear how the committee is selected, but beyond the next point these positions could be honorific.
 * 3) A bank accout with at least two signatories. Unity Trust Bank is part owned by the Co-op; has an ethical investments policy; is aimed specifically at voluntary and charitable organisations; and offers internet banking with a range of security levels so that the finances could be very transparent.

Naturally, there are political implications too...
 * Niether the Councils' Small Grants or the Awards for All are likely to be very amenable to giving grants to organisations that appear to be anything like political parties (or indeed, fronts for them). However, if we accept, for now, the idea of the SSF as attempting to create a space in which people are free, informed and positively encouraged to think about the politics that affects their lives we could come up with a constitution acceptable to both us and the funders.  (For some this may be a compromise too far: comment on the talk page, or on the [mailto:sheffieldsocialforum@yahoogroups.com list].)
 * Also, a focus on the grassroots or the nuts and bolts of issues, rather than on utopian or idealistic politics, and on action rather than talk, as many have been advocating in the group, seems far more likely to attract funding.
 * Finally, please bear in mind at present, that neither sources 1 or 2 are repeated sources of funding, they are applications for one-off sets of costs(though many applications can be made, up to a certain limit each year). We cannot plan in a way that makes us dependent on the funding bodies therefore. It is always worth being weary of bending ones aims to fit into the provisos of funding bodies however, and one way to deal with this might be to consciously plan events that we do not even attempt to get mainstream funding for, as well as those we do.

Reflections on Implications Living and surviving in the real world organisations sometimes have to be devious to achieve their objectives and understanding about purist views. Notwithstanding this a constitution is easy, and not all grants bids the organisations have to be a registered charity. Very loose federation could well be an organsational ploy, no centre.

'Alternative' Fundraising
Please use this space to put ideas down about ways we could raise funds for our activities that are not dependent on the establishment.

[A comment here has been moved to the talk page ] Andrew, any creative ideas?