Funder Plus
Learn about Funder Plus and how it can help your projects to succeed.
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You are probably already aware that the Community Foundation for Surrey can provide funding for your organisation, but did you know we can also help in other ways? Under the name of Funder Plus we can provide a highly skilled and experienced volunteer to support you with advice and guidance in a range of critical business areas.
We have volunteers who will freely share their skills, bringing their experience and expertise to work with you on a short-term project. They will work to understand the issues that need to be addressed and then provide practical steps, solutions and guidance to help you achieve the desired outcome.
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Utilising the skills and expertise of a small team of volunteers, Funder Plus is currently working on or completed 17 Assignments for charitable organisations in Surrey since launching in 2020.
The organisations benefitting from Funder Plus range from the small to the large, from registered charities to community interest companies to unincorporated organisations, operating in all areas of the charitable sector. However, they all have one thing in common with their Funder Plus Volunteers – a desire to provide a helping hand for those in Surrey most in need.
To apply for the the role, please send your CV and cover email to: recruitment@cfsurrey.org.uk
See our latest Funder Plus Volunteer role description and person specification:
Funder Plus Feedback
See what charities who have received help from Funder Plus have to say about the experience below.
You can read more about the Funder Plus impact our corporate partner, discoverIE, has enabled in their Impact Report here.
Disability arts Charity and CIC, providing a range of theatrical provisions to help further the personal development of adults with learning disabilities.
“I had contacted Funder Plus following a rejected grant application where a member of the Community Foundation for Surrey had flagged up a few issues with our accounts. We then gained invaluable support from Laurie from Funder Plus who went above and beyond to firstly understand our charity and how we operate to building bespoke software to suit our needs. This has since cut down on time managing our accounts, being able to manage, forecast and provide up to date SOFA for potential funders. Since working with Laurie, we have gained numerous grants and donations helping us to continue to run our services for adults with learning disabilities. Thank you for all your time and help!”…
Karen Davies, Director at Dramatize
Inclusive award-winning theatre company that uses drama to improve the quality of life for adults and young people with disabilities and mental health conditions.
“Like many young organisations our financial management was reasonably straightforward while turnover was small. Five years on, with the company expanding in terms of project delivery, we had started to struggle with our accounting processes. When I applied for help through the Funder Plus scheme, I had no idea how deep or expensive that help would or even could be. My directors and I were thrilled when we were provided with the assistance of Laurie Mutch and immediately it was evident that this would be a game-changer.
The first few months were mostly about organisation and then the ‘magic’ began. Laurie has set up an accounting model for Prospero which is generic enough to be easily applied to any funder’s criteria. But it is tailor-made for us, based around our ongoing and one-off projects. It has been fundamental to the development of the company. We now use the model to help us set strategy, to identify trends, and to pick up gaps and weaknesses before they get to a point that jeopardises best practice. At any given moment we are able to see exactly where we are with any part of any project. Perhaps the outcome that we least expected was being able to identify strengths as well as weaknesses, so that we can refocus and prioritise towards these areas and projects. And the upkeep of this level of detail and accuracy takes less than an hour a week.
Laurie has been, throughout, incredibly patient, and extraordinarily insightful. It has never been just about the numbers. We have felt from the beginning that he is one of us, invested in the work of the organisation. He has certainly been much more of a teacher than I had expected, inspiring us to see the wider context and uses for the model. I cannot recommend the Funder Plus scheme more highly, nor thank the Foundation enough for finding us Laurie.”
Beth Wood, Director, Prospero Theatre
Protecting a unique and ancient part of Farnham’s agricultural heritage for the enjoyment of people and to provide a very precious wild life corridor.
“Funder Plus has given the Trust a system for overview, day by day of the accounts and it has now a financial model that can complete all the necessary forms in real time. It has given me the information to report back to any other Trustee on the financial position, which includes a balance sheet, statement of financial affairs all which show on any day how the money is going around. This also means it keeps a ‘latest budget’ and can be compared with the assumed budget from last year’s accounts accurately and automatically. Everything works automatically as long as the input matches the bank statement and it’s wholly transparent which we consider important. All this work hasn’t happened overnight and the first efforts were very complicated and primitive but over time they have been streamlined and Laurie has been brilliant at leading me through it.”
Nick Green, Bishop’s Meadow Trust
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