Funding Updates:

*Updates 26/07/06* Lottery Bid

The outline bid has been accepted, so they sent through an application form. This is in the process of being completed and should be sent back to them by the end of August.

*Update 20/07/06* Grantfinder responses (from Suffolk ACRE):

IBM United Kingdom Trust - wakefim@uk.ibm.com

UA1930 Business Link Suffolk - info@bls.org.uk

UG4450 CT Bridge House Trust

UGC750 LG MSDC grants

*Updates 21/05/06* Suffolk County Council & Big Lottery Bid:

Suffolk County Council have agreed to provide the back room of the Youth Club building as premises for the project. This is essentially 'funding in kind'. The exact financial value of their contribution is yet to be confirmed, however it will be equal to the 'commercial rent' figure that is estimated by their Estates Management team.

An Outline Bid has been prepared for the Reaching Communities grants from The Big Lottery. It will be submitted w/c 22/05/06.

*Update 20/04/06* Grantfinder responses (from MSDC):

Section 3 EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

UE5730 CT: Equitable Charitable Trust

Section 5 GENERAL

UGE610 CS: Microsoft Community Learning Awards

Section 9 INFORMATION SECTION

UC9670 EC: e-Europe 2002 - An Information Society for All

Funding Ideas

In principle, a project such as this fits with a diverse range of local, regional, national and even European funding targets. Thus, funding should be sought at every level.

Those responsible for delivering targets set out by the Needham Market Health Check (2005) should be approached in the early stages. Suffolk County Council Community Education should be approached with regard to premises. Partnerships and joined-up working with both statutory bodies and other community or volunteer groups should also play a key role in funding, for example through joint bids to avoid duplication of services.

Funding will obviously be dependant upon the services being offered and the people being served.

The core users are anticipated to come from the following groups:

Young people in Needham Market have identified an Internet Cafe as their number one priority (as per Health Check - Youth survey).

People seeking 'leisure learning' opportunities (as per Health Check).

Disadvantaged groups - elderly, unemployed (and underemployed), ethnic minorities, single mothers, working poor. These groups will be accessed through outreach work to encourage their use of our services.

Retired people; Community groups; Disabled users; and Children at risk.

Parents of school children (as per outcomes from Town Meeting).

The Internet Cafe will provide numerous and varied benefits both to individuals and to the wider community.

The provision of ICT skills will obviously be the core benefit, but also enhancing parenting skills, providing a signposting service, and after school care. Social inclusion should also help with anti-social behaviour and low-level crime. The key outcomes include:

Meet the needs of Young People (as per Health Check).

Meet the Leisure Learning needs of local people (as per Health Check).

Improve skills, employability and job prospects to unlock the energies of local people and let them determine the extent to which being online improves life in their community.

Tackle social exclusion and promote neighbourhood renewal.

Reduce rural isolation and exclusion.

Provide a comprehensive service of access and supported learning to develop community consultation and participation, capacity within the community and voluntary sector and ICT skill levels.

Provide economic strengthening, promote self-help and lifelong learning, test e-government services, and enhance school-home links.

Provide parents with skills and confidence to enable them to get involved and help their children with homework and out of school projects (as per Town Meeting).

Demonstrate how individual access to the internet can transform opportunities for people living in a rural area by supporting new ways of accessing education, work, leisure and other services.

Enhance local Social Capital by using new technology to strengthen and extend existing social networks.

Potential funding sources:

sudbury / gt cornard has a similar project - funding from the big lottery

Funding from those responsible for delivering targets set out by the Suffolk Development Agency, the Mid Suffolk Community Strategy and the Needham Market Health Check (2004).

suffolk cc. ian dunnett - external funding. officer - can advise on grant funds available

district council + scc locality budget - J Truelove 01449 678652

Grantfinder and similar services (Funder finder, grants online, etc) - acces through MSDC, Suffolk ACRE, Anglia Care Trust

debenham accessed over £600,000 in funding as a result of their health check - this fits many outcomes identified in Needham Market HC.!

Funding from CAB re: outreach, and extension of their services... maybe just as a contact point?

Corporate sponsorship - Barclays ("Community Manager"), BT (Martlesham!), the Co-Op, PPG, Bosch, Local business's, Tesco's - utilise their transport somehow to bring people from surrounding area?. Barclays Bank Young Entrepreneurs and BT Community funds, Lloyds TSB Foundation, Tesco's, Dulux / B & Q community grants - must be more too.

Learning and Skills Council (LSC) - Martin Kerokidis (sp?)

Connections - Nigel Ellis (Stow) - also Ipswich, Mrs Miles... look at what they're doing in Nacton, the drop in centre - community solutions.

Suffolk acre -Rural transport initiatives - Local Network Fund - Mrs Jeffcoe - up to £10,000 equipment etc for ages 0-19

CSV Media - work with them, extend their service delivery....

RES - Defra - http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/schemes/res/default.htm

Awards for All

Suffolk Single Gateway.

"community champions fund"

Social Firms Eastern Region. - SAVO, Suffolk Connect

Suffolk Regeneration Trust

Action for Market Towns - Capital Trust Fund.

General information on Finance and Grants is available at www.businesslink.gov.uk.

Further information and potential sources of patient capital include:

- www.governmentfunding.org.uk

- www.access-funds.co.uk

- www.j4bgrants.co.uk

- www.grantsonline.org.uk

- www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

- www.bridgesventures.com

- www.uksif.org

- www.esf.gov.uk

- www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk

- www.unltd.org.uk

- www.cafonline.org/venturesome

At the national level, there are some financial institutions that look particularly

favourably on social enterprise: www.charitybank.org; www.triodos.co.uk;

www.icof.org.uk; www.lif.org.uk; www.primeinitiative.org.uk; www.princes-trust.org.uk;

www.street-uk.com.

Government supported investment funds appropriate for some social enterprises

include Adventure Capital Fund and Futurebuilders. The Small Firms Loan

Guarantee scheme (www.dti.gov.uk/sflg) is a UK-wide, government-backed

scheme to provide guarantees on loans to small firms with viable business

proposals that are unable to obtain conventional finance because of a lack of

security.

www.socialenterprise.org.uk/regions.aspx

www.cdfa.org.uk

A trading enterprise’s principal source of financing will usually be its trading

income. In this way, users of goods and services provided by a CIC will be

investing in the ongoing sustainability of the organisation. Cash reserves built up

out of profits are available for the benefit of the community or reinvestment in

the business.

Grants may be available dependent on the expected activities and impact of a

CIC’s work. Grants are usually targeted at specific projects or for one off capital

purchases. Some grant-makers may provide start-up or running costs, or give

funds for investment in property and equipment, or for research and

development or training. Although grants have the clear advantage of being non-repayable,

conditions attached to them designed to ensure that the money is

used for the purposes intended may limit the capacity of an organisation to

operate and expand or leverage in commercial finance (for example, some grant-making

bodies will not lend to companies limited by shares which have the

potential to pay dividends). The dependence on social impact, rather than ability

to repay, the risk of donors changing priorities, their short-term nature and

payment in arrears often result in grants inhibiting businesses from operating on

an effective commercial basis.

Potential income sources:

Cafe - teas, coffee, snacks (potential for lunches, dependent on location, size, atmosphere etc).

Course fees - eg 6 session Introduction to Computers, or "From digital camera to perfect print-out in 2 easy sessions" - helps give people a stake, secures attendance, keeps people committed and provides income.

Membership free - advanced membership to include fees for providing additional benefits - access to members only advice forum, free print-outs, unlimited access, gaming teams, etc.

Fees for printing, scanning, writing CD's

Business training.

Rental of specialist equipment eg digital cameras, projector, maybe even laptops.

Income from agencies with individuals requiring services - eg disabled, school refusers - maybe going further - ex-offenders, long-term unemployed...?

Small rooms for meeting space.

Selling local produce - locally made jams, honey etc.

Local craft goods - sewing, weaving, woodwork, jewelery, etc

Local art on the walls, for sale - artist rents sales space?

Online trading (become a base for local businesses to trade through).

Straighforward charging per hour for internet - Not to be used if it compromises core aims (to increase access to those most in need [who are often economically excluded]).

Research from Leeds University (Devins, "Connecting Communities to the Internet", 2003) highlighted various issues relating to this:

"A number of issues emerged during the WuC programme (2000-2002) which resonate with other ICT-based interventions such as UK online centres [4] including:

Problem of obtaining stable long-term revenue funding

The challenge of reaching those most at risk of exclusion

The value of 'drop-in' flexible learning opportunities and peer mentoring"

As this shows, free drop-in access is vital in accessing those most excluded. For this reason, charging for access should be avoided lest it compromises the organisations ability to meet its core target of improving access to those most in need.

- TB 31/07/06