A compact for success

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Kay Caldwell reviews progress since the setting-up of Community Fund Scotland’s innovative three-way agreement

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An unsuccessful lottery application is often weak in just one or two aspects –weaknesses that could be quickly addressed. Yet the Community Fund in Scotland realised that four out of five unsuccessful applicants were failing to reapply. Unable to engage directly with applicants to rework these bids, in 2001 the CF sought help from partner organi-sations. A year later these partners are not only meeting disappointed applicants and helping them resubmit their bids, they are providing a full pre-application service to all potential applicants for CF grants in Scotland.

The service is the result of a ‘three-way agreement’ between the CF, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. Initially brokered in 1998 at a national level, the agreement took time to be implemented locally, but by March 2001 the CF had arranged 32 meetings (one in each local authority area) which were attended by officers from the local Council for Voluntary Service, the local authority and senior CF management. The agenda was to meet three key objectives in each area: informing the local voluntary sector about CF pro-grammes; working together strategically to ensure that CF grants meet genuine local need; and enabling consultation on CF priorities and policies. The actions agreed – outreach meetings, training events, targeted leaflets and publications – were signed up to formally on a template document which became the tool for monitoring progress and agreeing further actions at review meetings a year later. The strength of the agreements lies in the fact their responses are tailored to local eed. Some areas set numerical targets for applications, others established qualitative indicators, such as changed perceptions of the CF, or improved understanding of local issues and funding gaps. Yet all of them opted to establish pre-application advice and support. An evaluation of the initiative is now under way and there are early indications of success. Among those areas that had been producing fewer than average applications, more than half are generating a substantial increase. Thirteen of the 32 areas have also shown a marked increase in their success rates. This is likely to be as much about partners discouraging inappropriate applications (ones that don’t meet CF priorities, are over ambitious or not well planned) as about pre-application advice.

Figures on pre-application advice are less impressive. A survey of recent applicants shows little difference between the success rates of organisations that had consulted a CVS and those that hadn’t. Through the three-way agreement, CF staff are training CVS and local authority staff in their assessment processes, which

should encourage a consistency of approach and widespread understanding of what makes a good application.

However, those the three-way agreement was first aimed at – the unsuccessful applicants – have clearly benefited from being able to take their feedback along to a partner agency and discuss it. At 54%, the success rate for these resubmissions is considerably higher than the current average for all applications (42%), and the CF is hoping to make further improvements. What is not yet known, but is being monitored, is whether there has been an increase in the numbers of rejected applicants who resubmit their bids. As for the CF’s partners in the agreements, all say they value the face-to-face contact with the distributor and easier access to grant officers. Many say it has given the CF, previously perceived as just another government quango, a human face in their areas. One CVS, which boasts a 100% success rate for applicants in the first year of the agreement, says that the meetings have allowed the partners to reconcile the differing perspectives they have on local voluntary sector activity. Other areas have said this is the first time that the CVS has been involved in discussion with the local authority about strategic planning of voluntary sector development. Everywhere it has helped dispel myths about lottery funding.

The next challenge for three-way agreement partners will be helping to manage demand for the diminishing resources of the CF. The Scotland grants budget is down from £32m last year to £25m currently, with further reductions forecast. For the first time the distributor is regularly turning down applications that are good enough to be fundable. In future, partners may be asked to discourage bids that have little or no chance of success, because they cannot indicate that they will have a substantial impact on disadvantage, because the level of funding requested is unrealistic, or because they don’t meet any of the published priorities. That will be a tough line to take when local authorities and CVS naturally want to maximise lottery funding in their areas. They may need to be smart about signposting to other sources of funding. The outcome will be less time and effort misplaced by local organisations and higher success rates for the area. While it might not mean first-time success for every applicant, it will mean that more applications address strategic priorities for the area and ultimately a more focused use of lottery funds. At a UK level the CF is reviewing its provision of pre-application support. The Lottery Review is concerned with making it easier for people to access lottery funds. There may be something to learn from in the approach being piloted in Scotland. 

Kay Caldwell is Communications Manager for the CF in Scotland; email: kay.caldwell@community-fund.org.uk