Comic Relief and monitering

thanks Sandre, it does say on their website that they only have limited funds, that's why I'm so keen to ensure that we have the best application possible. I have a close friend who works as a funder and I know from her how easy it can be for the applicant to not understand what is required.

Lisa
[url]www.luciacharity.org.uk[/url]
[email]info@luciacharity.org.u[/email]k

Silly question...

but have you called Comic Relief and spoken to a grants officer?

Funders are in the business of giving money away. We (yes, I work for a funder, London only I'm afraid) don't *want* to say no. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to for no other reason than there simply isn't enough money to go around. We have a disproportionate amount of applications from a certain minority group - but we have to fund proportionately. There's nothing wrong with many of the applications - but we simply can't fund everybody, and someone else got there first. HOWEVER good your application is, that will be completely out of your control.

Even so, most applications are declined because someone hasn't understood what we're asking for/what we want to fund - the "between the lines" stuff which would be far too wordy to try to put in our guidelines in order to cover all possibilities, but is the work of minutes to explain on the phone as it relates to a particular organisation. (This is no secret by the way - our guidelines say "Please call before applying")

Best way to ensure that your application meets all the guidelines is to call the people who know best - which will be the assessors: they see literally thousands of applications. If you haven't done so already - ring them :)

[quote]Is your charity a member of BOND?

"BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development) is the UK's broadest network of voluntary organisations working in international development."

They have much information about these issues and can offer advice. See [url]www.bond.org.uk[/url]

RE Comic Relief -- you must follow their guidelines closely. Monitoring and local involvement in project development is important.[/quote]

thanks to you both. I've not heard of BOND before, but it looks fantastic. We work with a well established NGO in Addis (they also work with Oxfam), so we would run the project through them. I'm going out there in a few weeks to do the consultation work with the local people who would be involved in the project.

As this is our first time asking for a funding grant, I'd love to be able to discuss it and ask those silly little questions with somebody who has already successfully completed one.

Lisa
[url]www.luciacharity.org.uk[/url]
[email]info@luciacharity.org.u[/email]k

Is your charity a member of BOND?

"BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development) is the UK's broadest network of voluntary organisations working in international development."

They have much information about these issues and can offer advice. See [url]www.bond.org.uk[/url]

RE Comic Relief -- you must follow their guidelines closely. Monitoring and local involvement in project development is important.

Re: monitoring

I would suggest that your best option is to link in with another NGO in Ethiopia - who else is funding in the area in which you are working? The Embassy in London might be able to supply you with a list of NGOs who work in Ethiopia who you could contact. Don't just consider international NGOs though - the local Regional Development Association might be able to assist (Oromiya Development Association for where you are working in Ethiopia - our Addis branch has a sucessful partnership with them).

Perhaps they would be willing to carry out monitoring for you at the same time as they carry out their own visits? - of course you will have to negotiate on terms, funding, partnership deals etc. But possibly still the cheapest and most effective option. NB although the organisation I work for carries out projects in Ethiopia, the operations are entirely managed from our Ethiopian-staffed office in Addis, so no-one here has the authority to agree to assist you sorry.