Make cash for your Branch!

Need more money for your Branch? Here's a list of ideas to inspire you...

Keep an eye on our Fundraising News page - the latest grants and links are there.

[This is a list of TWO at present - but as more successful schemes are added, it will become a valuable database of practical tips for any fundraising group in need of a financial leg-up.]

Quiz sheet
Awards for All - small grants £300 to £10,000

Quiz sheet 4 October 2008
It's ridiculously cheap and simple to do. Your only costs are paper and photocopying! You could easily make £1000 profit. Oh, and it's fun.

Scroll down to download our free Christmas Quiz now!

You'll need 20 or so questions, or enough to cover at least one side of A4, preferably two. A round number looks professional. Leave room for the return address, form for contact details, a tick-box in case the entrant wants to go on your mailing list, and don't forget to explain what the prize is and when the deadline is.

A good mix of questions will include some standard quiz stuff (pinch from other quizzes or quiz books, or TV/radio quizzes), some questions requiring local knowledge, and a small number of desperately obscure questions that can't be answered using a Search Engine.

Charge £1 per quiz sheet. (They won't all be returned!) Give a postal address to return them to. Print out 100 at a time, and rope in as many sellers as you can. Many people will enter ANY quiz, even if they don't start out being interested in CPRE, so ruthlessly exploit all the local outlets you can think of. Print more if you need them. (It's worth numbering them, if you can be bothered, so you know how many you printed - it'll help you budget for the next one.)

Awards For All - small grants 4 September 2009
If your local group has come up with a good idea to improve a local area, but lacks the funds to make it happen, consider applying for a small grant from a new pot of money that has recently (2009) been made available.

Awards For All is a Lottery grants scheme which funds small, local community-based projects in the UK. It has updated its funding programme, and among those eligible to apply are community groups, not-for-profit groups, health bodies, parish and town councils.

A total of £45 million is available in England. This will be split into grants ranging from £300 to £10,000.

The programme aims to make a difference to communities and the lives of those most in need, and will focus on social and environmental projects that benefit local communities.

Among the projects it wants to fund are those that strengthen the community with more people working together to tackle local problems, and also schemes that will improve rural and urban environments for people to access and enjoy. Also eligible are projects that improve life skills or health and fitness.

Find out more or get hold of an application form at 0845 102 030.

Fiona Cowan
30 November 2009