Fairbridge Cymru-Consultation Response

The Funding of Voluntary Organisations in Wales

Fairbridge Cymru works with over 500 disengaged young people per year. Through a challenging programme of activities and skill building courses, Fairbridge Cymru supports young people to increase their confidence and motivation, and to improve their personal and social skills. These young people are the most disadvantaged NEET young people in Wales. Last year, 92% of young people leaving Fairbridge engaged in full time education, employment or training.

Considering our widespread experience of working with the application processes, grant schemes and monitoring, Fairbridge Cymru would be willing to expand on these points further and become involved in any proposed changes to WAG grant giving that result from this consultation.

Please note, Fairbridge Cymru would like to present its views to the Committee.

Contact: Rebecca Rumbul, Partnership Development Manager Fairbridge Cymru Tel: 029 2030 3910

Please find below, the consultation discussion points:

1: Ease or difficulty of obtaining funding from the Welsh Assembly Government or relevant national funding bodies

Fairbridge Cymru is fortunate to be in receipt of grant monies made available by WAG. These grants have been secured indirectly, from streams such as Cymorth and Volunteering in Wales, and administered by agencies such as local authority or WCVA. These grants are appreciated and used for the benefit of more young people in Wales. This year, funding from WAG delegated sources will amount to £35,000. This is only 4% of the Fairbridge Cymru budget.

These grants are however, comparatively small sums, and cover only specific projects that are additional to the core work of Fairbridge Cymru. It is the vital core work that is consistently overlooked where funding is concerned. We believe that full cost recovery models should be employed where project grants are concerned, recognising that small grants make up a significant part of organisational income.

Fairbridge Cymru has experienced significant difficulty in securing core funding or information concerning core funding from WAG and its departments. It has been common to receive conflicting advice or to be referred between several different departments. This interdepartmental confusion and signposting can consume large amounts of time, and is rarely beneficial.

Recommendation:

1. Nominated contacts within WAG providing advice on the range of funding available and the correct channels to access would be beneficial to the whole of the voluntary sector in Wales.

In particular the issue of core funding has been difficult to discuss with WAG and its grant distributors due to a general policy of funding only 'national’ organisations. Several departments and grant assessors have expressed their own beliefs as to what constitutes a national organisation; however these are not necessarily consistent. Fairbridge Cymru, and a number of other voluntary organisations, would welcome set criteria applicable across grant schemes that defined a "National”, "regional” or "local” organisation.

Fairbridge Cymru has been recognised by schools, politicians and various local youth workers as the leading NEET agency in Wales, with a proven ability to reach out to some of the most marginalised young people in the nation. Fairbridge Cymru has been recognised for reducing the number of young people who are not in mainstream activity and, through this, improving economic and social well being in some of the most disadvantaged areas of South and West Wales.

The decision to financially penalise organisations that do not operate across the entire nation has a detrimental effect on their ability to sustain delivery in their local or regional areas. Fairbridge Cymru recognisably fills an essential gap in services across South and West Wales yet receives no core funding support from WAG.

This effect is exacerbated by the concentration of funding programmes such as Communities First on a ward level where an organisation such as Fairbridge Cymru may be viewed as too large to be eligible.

Additionally, the policy of funding only 'national’ organisations provides a financial incentive to expand into areas where a similar service may already be in existence. This may create duplication of services, increasing competition for funding and further reducing sustainability. This could destabilise the voluntary sector as a whole.

Considering the above, Fairbridge Cymru has already documented its intention to begin operations in North Wales once a feasibility study and social audit to validate the need for the service has been completed. Fairbridge Cymru will have difficulty, raising the full amount to open a centre in North Wales in addition to obtaining funds for its core services in the South and West from private sources (trusts, lottery, events and corporate donors) alone.

It is this vicious circle that hinders the work and growth of Fairbridge Cymru. Our desire to serve higher numbers of young people across Wales is frustrated at the time of consultation, as we do not meet the criteria of operating nationwide.

Fairbridge Cymru understands the difficulties in allocating statutory funding, and appreciates the consideration taken in selecting those to support. We believe that WAG would gain confidence from the voluntary sector in this decision making process if support was shown for organisations operating regionally as well as nationally.

Recommendations:

2. Clear definitions of national, regional and local voluntary organisations be promulgated.

3. Rather than restricting funding to "additional” or "new” projects it should be provided to sustain the core operations which provide such a valuable supplement to those provided by statutory authorities.

4. WAG funding allocations should take account of the need to maintain services of regional and local VCS organisations that support statutory provision, in addition to national organisations.

2: Ease or difficulty in complying with constraints or conditions placed on funding

Fairbridge Cymru endeavours to comply with all grant eligibility and monitoring requirements.

The current and previous grants Fairbridge Cymru has secured indirectly from WAG have all been monitored successfully. In some instances however, the inflexible nature of such grant schemes has meant that additional work has needed to be carried out to ensure enough signed documents are secured or enough boxes are ticked to avoid reduction of grant monies.

Fairbridge Cymru supports WAG and its grant giving organisations in attempting to prevent fraudulent activity, and to ensure monies benefit those at greatest disadvantage. There is a need however, to ensure that the nature of the beneficiary groups is taken into account during the monitoring of grants and contracts. In particular, the amount of paperwork required to successfully monitor a grant can actively hinder the organisation’s delivery capacity by diverting valuable beneficiary contact hours to completion of forms and collation of data.

Recommendations:

4. The requirements for monitoring of work should reflect the sums allocated and be proportionate to the capabilities of the receiving organisation.

5. The work involved in monitoring should not reduce the capacity of the delivery organisation.

3: Issues related to the duration or timing of funding

Fairbridge Cymru has managed grants ranging from a few months only, to 6 years. It is the experience of the charity that long term funding improves the stability of the organisation, ensures confidence in the future and allows for long term sustainable plans to be set in motion. Fairbridge Cymru supports the concept of long term project grant funding from between 2 - 5 years.

Fairbridge Cymru would welcome commitment from WAG to releasing core funding for more than one year.

Recommendation:

6. WAG improve the sustainability of core services from the VCS which supplement those provided by the statutory sector by extending such grants over 2-5 years.

In the experience of Fairbridge Cymru, the scheduling of grant rounds and the time allowance for application has been adequate to collate the required information. Fairbridge Cymru would welcome prompt responses to applications, to ensure that adequate time remains towards the end of the financial year, in order to seek alternative funds.

Recommendation:

7. The importance of a prompt response to applications for the VCS be recognised at all levels. It is particular importance in the latter half of the financial year.

As detailed above, Fairbridge Cymru would be willing to expand on these points further and become involved in any proposed changes to WAG grant giving that result from this consultation, or in presenting these views o the Committee.

Rebecca Rumbul
Partnership Development Manager
Fairbridge Cymru

Rebecca.Rumbul@Fairbridge.org.uk

Tel: 029 2030 3910

42 The Parade
Roath
Cardiff CF24 2AD