The M
e t a project brings together music makers and workers across the British Isles!
FUNDING
ADVICE
FOR MUSICIANS
& ORGANISATIONS
by Dave Cross
Contents:-
 First
thoughts about Funding
The
Funding Application
Sources
of Funding
Sometimes it
seems that there are two groups of people in this
business, those looking for money to help them to achieve
their ambitions, and those with money looking for people
or organisations to support with their grants,
sponsorship or other financial help. Getting the wishes
of these two groups to meet somewhere in the middle is
not an easy task and can call for some difficult
compromises. The purpose of this feature is to explain
the process and help the flow of money between funders
and workers in the music community so that those
compromises become more attractive.
There are many funds available for music projects, tours,
organisations, buildings, training and even for gigs, but
how can you tap into it?
There are two approaches to this - first,
identify your funder (such as the Grants
for the Arts managed by the Arts Council England
through its regional offices or the private Trusts such as the Baring
Foundation) and then study their requirements so
that you can tailor your project exactly to their
requirements. The second
approach is to trawl through the directories of funders
or to employ a sponsorship broker, looking for someone
who funds exactly what you want to do. In between those
extremes are a number of combinations of both that can
result in a successful package of funders who will each
gain a bit of confidence in you, thanks to the funds you
have coming from the others.
Its often surprising how many people who ask us for
advice on this topic are not prepared to compromise -
here at Generator we believe that in making a compromise
to your business plan or budget, you don't also need to
make great sacrifices of your artistic integrity. You may
be able to give the funder somethng towards what they are
trying to achieve at the same time as fulfilling part of
your own plans.
Currently, many funders are looking to support training
schemes and community and neighbourhood development
projects. So if you are going to bid into funds held for
either of those objectives, it should be possible to plan
an exciting music project that serves a local community
and attracts funds from a number of sources, while still
giving you the freedom to create, record and tour the
music you love, perhaps also providing funds for the
basic structure of a small studio, rehearsal room, venue
or music office.
At an early
stage in the process you will need to make a definite
statement about what you aim to achieve. Saying that you
just want to raise funding for local music isn't enough.
A typical statement might refer to the number of exisiting
musicians that would be supported, the number of new
musicians that might be attracted and supported, the size
of audience that would
be reached by the performances you propose, and how
often, the number
of publications you will produce (how often published,
how many copies, how they are distributed), and the
marketing plan for promoting your project and for
attracting the musicians and audiences you have
mentioned. Then, you should have a statement of what the
project's legacy
should be - how much employment might last after the
funding has stopped, for example.
Then the project will then have to be developed into a Business
Plan.
A Business Plan is a description of who
will run it, from where
and with what
materials, equipment and staff. It will quantify the customer
base with an analysis of their buying habits and it will
identify the suppliers. It will list the costs
and income
and how it will be managed and controlled. Crucially, it
will show how costs are covered while there is a wait for
money coming in (negative cash
flow). If there
is a commercial element to the proposal, the funder will
want to know what happens to any profits and that an
allowance is made for taxes and for unexpected costs.
Most projects will require quite a bit of research to
get this information right - market research to determine
the need for your plans, and business research to look at
the known costs and revenue that apply to the sort of
scheme you propose. Mention what research you have done
yourself or what existing research you have found.
There are many books available and "template"
Business Plans available from Banks and Business start-up
agencies.
If there is no one else doing what you're planning, then
you may have found a "gap in the market", but
before you get too excited about the prospects, look
carefully at just why no-one else is doing it. For
instance, if there is not a venue for live music in your
town, maybe that is because there isn't enough of an
audience for one. If, for example, there had been a
venue, and it closed down, you will have to research why,
because your potential funders will surely want to see
why history won't be repeating itself.
You will need sound commercial
knowledge to do all
this, but if you don't have the knowledge or experience,
find a partner who does.
Remember, most new music business failures fail for the
same reasons as non-music businesses - correctly understanding
the simple basics of business.
If there is no easy way to find data on the public which your project
will reach, use the demographic information available
on-line from the Office of National Statistics at www.statistics.gov.uk
The Funding Application
All the planning work described above will help you write your funding
applications. You will probably need to write several, to different funders.
So tailor each one to the organisation you are
writing to: The information that drinks or clothing
company will want to know when considering an application
for sponsorship will be how well their name is being put
in front of a captive audience, whereas, a local
authority community development project will want to know
how many residents with "multiple
deprivation indicators" will
be benefit from the work ! (Don't ask them what that
means, they'll only tell you that it means residents who
have been identified as having several indicators of
deprivation).
Find out what each funder is looking for,
make sure that you are offering them exactly what they've said they want to fund,
make sure your application is in at least a month before their next deadline so that you
will have time to ask them if any part of your application
is inadequate and still have time to provide those details.
Enclose the additional documentation they require, such as accounts, letters of support, quotations,
bank overdraft authority etc.
What
makes a good funding bid ?
A
well structured plan, clearly presented (with a contents
page and separate sections).
A realistic plan (the outcomes are all
quite likely to follow from your proposal)
A clear explanation of the market
(include a map or census information if you can't get any
market reasearch)
Meeting the funders' own objectives
(showing who will benefit and by how much, when)
Partnerships. Name the people you'll
work with.
Drop names if they'll confirm your
involvement, but never if they wont.
Credibility in delivering a funded
project (yes, its going to be easier the second time!)
Other sources of funding
A balanced budget
Ability to finance the project if the
grants are to be received retrospectively
Letters from other funders or lenders
The involvement of one or more people
who have a known track record of delivering a project on
time and within budget
Letters of support from organisations
who are known and respected in your area of work (These
may be Local Authorities or other businesses)
A timetable with specific outcomes
A clear indication of who will be
benefitting from the funding, and how they benefit
A legacy (what are the lasting benefits
even after the funding or the project is finished)
What
makes a bad funding bid?
Over
emphasis on how wonderful your idea is and what you want
to do
Not knowing what similar work has
already been done or is already planned for your area
Not knowing the professionals who
already have responsibility for your type of project
Unrealistic hopes for costs or for
voluntary help
Unrealistic final outcomes and time
scale to achieve them
Lack of experience in administering a
funded project
Poorly presented document
A bid with something obvious missing
(such as where the rest of the money will come from)
Unclear what the outcomes would be
Unclear who benefits, and how
Lack of researched need for the project
Lack of support for the project (even
just naming your supporters without their own
confirmation of support might look unconvincing)
When you
think you have finished your bid, show it to someone who
knows about the system before you send it off. If it is
just a grant you are applying for, there might be a Council
for Voluntary Service or an Arts Officer in the
Council Offices who would help go through it with you. If
it is a commercial loan, there will be a Business
Start-up agency in your area. Listen to their advice
because they have probably helped in many successful
applications before and know what is needed for a bid to
succeed.
When you are ready to send in your application, make sure
that it is recieved well before the published deadline
(if there is one), and if possible, send it early enough
so that you can ask for a meeting with one of the team
who will assess your application so that there will still
be the opportunity to change part of it if it doesn't
quite fit in with what they are trying to achieve or doesn't
adequately explain something that they will want to consider.
Sources
of Funding
One of the
best places to start looking for funds for a music
project would be with a local Arts Officer. Either your
local authority or local Arts Board should have the
specialist knowledge to help you find the appropriate
funding schemes that might be able to help. In some
areas, there will be European funding available which the
local authority will be aware of, but beware, the
administrative work in managing a project using European funds
is very, very demanding.
Many funds are easier to tap into if your plan is part of
a consortium with other organisations and projects which,
as a package, can meet the requirements of funding
programme. Sometimes, the paperwork for the whole package
might be administered by the Council, by the Regional
Arts Board or by a University - and that could spare you
the considerable burden of monitoring and administering
the project in the way they require.
There is a "Directory
of Grant Giving Trusts" and a
copy should be available in most major libraries. (More established
who can afford the annual subscription - over £100 annually -
can also subscribe to search the most up-to-date directory on-line at
http://www.dsc.org.uk/acatalog/Grant_making_Trusts.html
For a similar fee, there is a regular
bulletin of funding for the arts in general called the
Funding Digest.
This summarises new funding information complete with contact details).
Public funds (government
funds, lottery funds, European funds) are all widely
publicised on the internet and your local Arts Council office (Arts
Council England, the Arts Council of Wales, Scottish Arts Council,
Arts Council Northern Ireland or Arts Council of Ireland) will be
able to get you started in searching through what is available.
We've been
looking at some of the funds available and the changing
policies for Government and Lottery funding. For example,
the most impressive bids over the past few years have
been "partnerships".
That is bids made by several bodies or organisations
working together, or simply a bid by one organisation to
fund a project which will be work carried out by a
partnership of several bodies. This is precisely the
model adopted by the SRB (Single Regeneration Budget)
funds from central Government, normally managed by local
government but involving a wide range of organisations.
The buzz-phrase for 2000-2001 was "community
regeneration" where
millions of pounds were directed at schemes helping to
support groups of people (not normally companies) who
were trying to improve the area they lived in with
facilities and activities. In 2002 the fashion is for
"neighbourhood
development", and
although Civil Servants have been busy drafting strategic
aims and objectives, they still haven't a clue how these
could work "on the ground" - perhaps you can
help them with your ideas !
The rules governing the distribution of funds from the National
Lottery were
changed in 1998, but there is still some
misunderstanding. Sine then, the lottery distributors
(such as the Arts Councils) are allowed to solicit
applications and to take a management role in overseeing
the project that is funded.
On the other hand, it will be necessary to find some
funds from somwhere else, which must not be another
Lottery Fund. If you have a good Lottery Application to
submit and are lucky enough to have a second fund to
match it, such as from the National Foundation for
Youth Music, then you shouldn't have any difficulty
in finding out whether or not they would also be offering
you Lottery funds. (In their case, they are!). That would
not be accepted as matching funds.
In your
search for other funds, I would advise trying for a mix
of, say, three sources. The National Lottery, another
foundation or trust, and a commercial sponsor.
Two very supportive foundations which fund music projects
in the UK are :-
The
National Foundation for Youth Music,
and
The
Performing Right Society Foundation.
Both of these trusts have considerable funds for musc
work. N.F.f.Y.M. is eager to support projects that
involve young people in making music, and the P.R.S.F.
aims to support performances of live music. Study their
web sites to see if you might be eligible - if so, seek out
someone locally who has already benefitted from their schemes
and have a good conversation about what had to be done to
satisfy the funder.
Sponsorship
Suitable commercial sponsors would probably depend on
where you live and the details of your proposal, but
there have been many succesful music projects funded by
commercial sponsors and it is worth looking carefully at
what the sponsor was looking for (and hopefully got) from
the scheme, in each case.
Points to consider when approaching commercial
organisations are:
- they probably allocate their budgets for marketing,
sponsorship and any community support more than a year in
advance.
- they probably have a very clear idea of how they want
to use their budget, don't waste time trying to tell them
about your idea (unless you are proposaing to do what
they already intended doing).
- they be interested in your event from its value as a
marketing opportunity for their business and wish their
name and logo everywhere, to the exclusion of any other
names and logos.
- they may have a community involvment programme which
works on the basis of staff and community people working
together, or other "support in kind".
In any of these cases, you will have to know all about
their existing plans and aims before approaching them for
sponsorship. This will simply involve asking their
Corporate Affairs office about the company's policy on
sponsorship, grant giving or community support. They may
even have a small handbook ready to send you on the
subject, but don't be dissapointed if your
"perfect" sponsor doesn't seem interested -
just look at the next candidate on your list!
In the
meantime, if you want to start your own research into
funds for music projects, you could search
the META database for keywords "Funding",
"Grant" or "Trust" and speak to the
Arts Development Officer at your local authority (many of
them are also in the META database - just search for
category "Public Sector" or for keyword
"Arts Development").
Borrowing
money. Money can
be borrowed from the banks (at 6-10% p.a. interest), from
friends (maybe with no interest at all) and from
commericial investors (at up to 30% or more). Only aim to
borrow the amount your business plan shows you need.
Each of these may wish some security to cover the value
of their loan. This might be "a charge" on a
house, or if you already have a trading business which
has some serious value, the security might be a
percentage of the business and a seat on the board.
Increasingly, the value of intellectual property in music
(see the copyright article here) is being recognised as a
real asset, though you would need a professional
valuation of your intellectual property, based on your
success to date. Most importantly, the investor will want
to be convinced that their investment will be returned at
the time agreed.
Managing
your project. It might
take a long time to find the money you are looking for,
though once you have your first offer, the rest really
will become a little easier. Some funders put most of
your hard work in the application process, and more or
less leave you to ge on with it after that. Others,
particularly European of Governement funding, will
require regular monitoring reports and financial
statements. Make sure you have costed all this work into
your initial budget. A set of annual accounts will almost
definitely have to be produced and you should agree this
with an accountant at the outset, so that they can tell
you what records you will need to be keeping.
The next thing you know, you'll have a project to manage,
and it could be a full time job. Don't be surprised if
that brings other people to your door asking you how its
done!
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