The Beat Project delivers a wide range of community development programmes to engage with disenfranchised young people, young carers and parents, minority groups and deprived communities across the South East of England. Bright Ideas worked with the Beat Project to raise the capital funding needed to convert a vacated school building into a Community Centre and Arts Café. We secured £135,000, including a grant of £25,000 from the Clothworkers’ Foundation and £51,000 from BIFFA. For more information about the Beat Project, please visit their website.

Bright Ideas has recently completed a 3-year Business Plan for the end-of-life support charity, Compassion in Dying. In addition, Bright Ideas has been mentoring a staff member at this charity with no fundraising experience to develop their trusts and statutory fundraising skills. We have supported the individual to make applications to set up a pilot telephone helpline, raising £55,000 from funders including the Rayne Foundation. To find out more about Compassion in Dying visit their website.

Bright Ideas have delivered training courses, including a one day introduction to grant fundraising for International NGOs, to members of the Consortium for Street Children covering how to research funders that support work with street children and how to make a funding application. We have also supported the Consortium to put in funding applications to the Department for International Development. To find out more about the Consortium for Street Children visit their website.

FareShare is a UK wide charity that redistributes surplus food from the food industry to vulnerable people in the community. Bright Ideas provided mentoring support to the Grants Development Manager, helping to develop new approaches for their trust fundraising programme. To find out more about FareShare visit their website.

The Hope Foundation works to help street children and their families have a better life in Calcutta, India. During the absence of a permanent Director, Bright Ideas provided Interim Director support to The Hope Foundation for five months. In this time, Bright Ideas managed existing staff members and volunteers, liaised with staff at the Head Office in Ireland and in the India office to develop funding proposals and undertook a fundraising review recommending key fundraising streams to focus on. In addition, we recruited a new, full-time Director to take over the role on a permanent basis. For more information about the Hope Foundation, please visit their website.

Justlife is a Health and Social Care charity working in deprived areas of Manchester to engage with people who are vulnerable due to poor health, addiction, inadequate housing and social exclusion. In 2009/10 Justlife had a turnover of £30,000. Bright Ideas mentored the Director of Justlife through a second stage bid to Reaching Communities, requesting funding for a centre providing health and social care to these vulnerable people. This bid was successful, raising £380,000 over three years, allowing Justlife to make a significant step change in the size of their operations. For more information about Justlife, please visit their website.

Network for Africa works with communities in the aftermath of conflict and genocide. The charity especially focuses on helping vulnerable women and children. With the support of the Bright Ideas Partnership, Network for Africa secured £100,000 from the Baring Foundation for their trauma counselling project for victims of conflict in Patonga, Uganda. To find out more about Network for Africa visit their website.

The National Union of Students (NUS) is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, representing the interests of seven million students in the UK. From April 2008 to April 2010, Bright Ideas provided interim fundraising support to NUS. This support involved setting up fundraising systems, making funding applications and providing strategic advice, which resulted in over £2.5million in grants from statutory funders. Bright Ideas also assisted NUS to recruit a permanent trainee Fundraiser, and provided ongoing management and training to this worker. To find out more about NUS visit their website.

Bright Ideas managed Interact Worldwide’s Trust Fundraising Programme during their merger with Plan UK. This involved researching potential donors and making funding applications on behalf of Interact Worldwide as well as communicating with the donors about the merger. Bright Ideas successfully secured £5,000 for a sexual health project working with men at risk of HIV in Pakistan from the Mercury Pheonix Trust. Bright Ideas also reviewed Interact Worldwide’s Trust Fundraising Programme following their merger with Plan UK. This involved analysing trends in their trust fundraising, assessing the cost effectiveness of their programme and identifying prospects for future growth in their trust fundraising income. For more information about Plan UK, please visit their website.

The Salvation Army is both a church and a registered charity. It is the largest provider of social welfare in the UK after the Government. Bright Ideas provided fundraising support and management of The Salvation Army's Trusts and Foundations Programme. This included providing management support for a team of fundraisers, making applications for funding as well as providing strategic advice. Bright Ideas has helped to secure a £200,000 donation to build a carpentry workshop at The Salvation Army's Employment Training Centre in Hadleigh, Essex. To find out more about The Salvation Army visit their website.

The Bright Ideas Partnership secured £251,466 for Splitz Support Service over 3 years from the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund. This funding will allow Splitz to provide support, advice and advocacy to people experiencing domestic violence in the Wiltshire area. For more information about Splitz, visit their website.

Turning Point is the UK’s leading social care organisation for people with complex needs. Bright Ideas recently secured £145,000 from the Northern Rock Foundation for the evaluation of Turning Point’s Connected Care pilot project in Hartlepool. Connected Care is an innovative approach to service delivery, which brings together health, social care and a range of other services, in seriously deprived areas.

In the absence of a permanent fundraiser, Bright Ideas has provided interim support to Victim Support in London to produce applications for funding opportunities. This has resulted in a number of successes, including £140,000 from Greenwich Council for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Service. In addition, we ensured that Victim Support in London continued to provide reports to key funders, including the Victims Fund, the London Councils and the City Bridge Trust. To find out more about Victim Support visit their website.

Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) is the regional voluntary sector network for the North West. VSNW, in partnership with Clinks, recently ran a regional funding roadshow for small and medium sized charities and not-for-profits working with offenders. At this event, Bright Ideas ran a workshop for attendees, called ‘Fundraising Strategies’, which covered fundraising ‘quick wins’ through to practical steps for developing a full blown fundraising strategy. For more information about VSNW, please visit their website.

Watford New Hope Trust helps the homeless in Watford by providing shelter, food and opportunities to rebuild damaged lives. Bright Ideas provided interim management of their grant fundraising in the absence of a permanent fundraiser. Bright Ideas secured over £350,000, including £32,192 for a mental health floating support worker and £75,000 from the JP Getty Charitable Trust for the Tenancy Sustainment Team. Bright Ideas also helped the charity to recruit a permanent fundraising officer and trained this member of staff to take over the management of the grant fundraising programme. To find out more about Watford New Hope visit their website.

Women in Prison works with women at risk of going to prison, in prison and after release to promote their resettlement, personal development, education and training. Bright Ideas has helped Women in Prison by reviewing fundraising bids, producing funding applications and providing mentoring to its senior staff. This support has resulted in £294,572 from the London Councils (to support women offenders/ex-offenders with mental health issues), £120,000 from the Lloyds TSB Foundation (for a Parenting Worker to enable women to be reunited with their children post-release) and £481,787 from the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities Fund (to provide 'through the gate' support for women leaving prison).

Bright Ideas were commissioned, alongside consultants David Carrington and Bill Bruty, to explore and define income opportunities for Zurich Community Trust. This involved three and a half months of research to address how Zurich Community Trust could attract additional funding for its Transformation Programmes from other grantmakers through collaborative working. To find out more about Zurich Community Trust visit their website.

To find out how Bright Ideas could support your charity please contact us.