Glasgow, Drumchapel
Posted on Thu 19 June 2008
When making multi-year grants for essentially core activities, funders should request an annual update on the next year's budget and funds secured as well as seeking a report on the year’s activities. Where gaps in funding appear, we can then seek to support the group to identify suitable funding or plan for the consequences.
Summary
Priority: To support parents to manage their responsibilities and improve their families' quality of life.
About
This established group has provided a valuable service and attracted funding from BIG Lottery, Lloyds TSB Foundation as well as Scottish Community Foundation.
Monitoring received tracked some problems that the group had faced following a change of Co-ordinator, but was satisfactory - if late. We had no qualms about the quality of the group’s activities and the fact it was fulfilling the purpose of grant. Despite all these reassurances, however, the project found itself facing an unforeseen financial crisis as it approached the end of the 07/08 financial year. It transpired that there had been poor communication between the board and its (relatively new) Co-ordinator, over the timing of existing grants and the need to fundraise for the future. Consequently, the organisation faced a financial shortfall in the 07/08 year and a big gap in funding for the next year, ultimately threatening its future.
We became aware of these issues during a routine monitoring visit, when the situation had already been resolved thanks to some last minute fundraising and funding. However, it highlighted the fact that following a 3 year financial projection provided with the application in 2005, we had only sought retrospective financial information in our monitoring. Since no reports or accounts up to the point at which the crisis emerged had shown any deficit, we hadn't picked up on the impending problems and neither, it seems, had any of the project's other funders.