Falkirk Environment Trust

How the funder thinks....

2012-02-28T09:18:00.003-08:00

Have you ever made an application for funding, and been rejected? Wondered what on earth the funder wanted you to say or do to get the money?

Firstly let me explain what a “Funder” actually is: It’s effectively a hive mind – an entity consisting of several individual volunteers who make a decision based on a pre-existing set of rules known as “The Constitution”. In FET’s case our constitutional documents are called “Articles and Memorandum of Association”, as we are registered with Companies house as a Company Limited by Guarantee. It is not, generally, the officer employed by the Trust (or whatever). That person carries out the will of the hive mind, and pursues it's decisions in the real world. All application for our main grants scheme are carried back to the Board of Directors.

So how can a community group access this group mind, and convince it that their project shines brighter than the others presented at the same meeting. After all, in these straightened times there is less money flowing in the coffers of grant making bodies, as with most other institutions in the UK. You can read the rule book and provide a good application, but sometimes that’s not enough. What I would like to attempt here is to give the FET Blog readership some insight into what the funder wants, how they (generally) think and hopefully give you an edge when project application time comes around for your group.

It does really start with the constitutional documents of your target funder. If they are a government agency, they will have a code of practice upon which their decision making is led. So point one is to do some homework on the Funders that you wish to approach. Constitutional documents tend to be a bit long winded and legally phrased, so if you are going ask for said documents, look for the “Objects” section. This is where the organisation states their reason for existence, and what they want to achieve. Most organisations that have enough money or are connected enough to make grants will be registered charities.

Collect all of the standard “who & what we can fund” “past projects” and other introductory material, but also take the time to have a look at the objects of the organisation. Gain an understanding of the types of projects that particular funder likes and dislikes. If you dont see many Church roof repairs in their past projects then chances are they dont spend money on church rooves. The point is that each Funding entity has it's own personality, it's preferences and it's dislikes. As the Board of Directors changes over the years so too will this personality, but probably not by very much. Remember the Constitutional Objects? That will always remain as the core and guiding document.

There is always the chance that you have got the wrong end of the stick about what sort of thing the organisation wishes to fund. The real problem of course comes when your project only tenuously matches up against their criteria. For example if a sports club with a private membership approaches the Landfill Community Fund wanting a new clubhouse roof, but does not wish to allow general public access to the site once the project is completed, then they are not compliant under the LCF access rules and won’t get funded.

Therefore pay close attention to what the funder is asking you to do, and what proofs and assurances you need to provide. If you cant get hold of something that your funder wants, then communicate this with them. Lots of groups are disappointed because the left something out that they didn’t consider important, but which was in fact a critical component of their application.

Any good funding body will have an officer who is there to assist you with information and advice. Listen to what they have to say, and do as they ask you to do. Nothing annoys a funding officer more than giving good advice about something they have detailed and intimate knowledge of, and then being ignored! Poor communication with the officer is the cause of many funding failures, and it's a lot more common than you would think.

Speaking of application failures, in my experience most that fail do so for one of the following reasons;

The project is not well planned and gaps in things like "who will manage the work?”are apparent.

The application is unclear as to what the final outcomes will be, or is incomplete in some other way.

The costings are unclear or are obviously wrong

The application does not fit the criteria of the funder in some critical way

The applicant has not attempted to gain enough additional funding from other sources, leading the funder to feel over exposed to risk

The applicant has not followed through on essential preparative work, such as a community

consultation, gaining permissions, doing surveys or seeking letters of support from stakeholders.

A successful application must seek to address the funders needs – remember all funders have a source that they need to satisfy, and will have to answer to this source at audit. Ion our case this is HMRC, but it could be a corporation or bank, local, national or central government direct, a wealthy benefactor or a trust set up by a family.

Funders have the opposite agenda to most other groups or businesses – our success is measured by how much money can be moved out the door. Not as easy as it might first appear, as every grant made must be properly formulated, be fully compliant and be both transparent and auditable. The auditability of any given project is always on the funders mind, and should therefore be on the applicants mind as well.

So remember – most funders want to help, but you must provide them with the means to help you through good application and preparation. In every case, good communication throughout the application process is essential. In every case, be sure that your project matches the fund requirements.

Thats all for now - Please feel free to ask any questions, which will be answered in the comments section below this post.

What the weather did...

2012-02-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

Over the previous 2 years th UK got a serious taste of a continental winter weather system – Weeks of subzero temperatures, falling at night to double minus digits on a regular basis, and snow falls of up to a foot and more at a time. The sheer weight of the snow affected not only conservatory roofs,but our oldest and largest trees, snapping off big radial limbs under tonnes of accumulated snow.

Whilst winter 2011 – 2012 has been generally quite mild, we have had to endure high winds. On 2 occasions these were strong enough to cause structural damage, and specifically in central Scotland. Whilst much has been reported of roofs being ripped off, chimneys toppling and the dangers associated with flying soup cans (Remember the lorry that went over and shed it’s load of tinned soup on the M9 before Christmas?) I haven’t seen any reports on how the windstorms affected our woodlands. So here is my mini photo blog showing “What the weather did” to Falkirk in January 2012.

Feel free to send in your own photos of the destructive power of our weather, or indeed any Environmentally led topic, and I’ll post up the best!

The Oak pictured above appears to have a very shallow root system - Disease perhaps?

You can see in the backgound of the above shot that a lot of trees have gone over and become tangled up in the branches of their neighbours.

The Callendar forest is littered with big limbs snapped off of old oaks and sycamores, due to either winds or previous years snowfall

This Beech has obviously taken a beating over consecutive years.

What is amazing is that only a relative few trees were damaged, with many remaining unaffected

A side view of the previous shot

There is a bench in amongst the branches of this broken limb, which survived unscathed!

The question is this - are these extreme weather events a completely natural part of Scotlands weather cycles, or are they driven by global warming. If the latter is the case then extreme weather is not only here to stay, but will possibly escalate year on year.

A few winter items

2012-02-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hello again from the Falkirk Environment Trust, and a belated Happy New year to everyone.

As always I arrive in the blogosphere with too much to tell ad too little time to tell it, so straight to business;

FET news – The Board have decided to increase the lead time between the between the applications deadline and the board meeting to a period of 5 weeks.

Given that the next board meeting is on 28^th of March 2012, the dead line for Main Grant submissions will be the 22^nd of February. This is mainly due to the high number of applications in the last few years, and the time it takes to get each one ready for the board.

Next up is a link to Life - Falkirk’s Biodiversity Newsletter, Issue 13 , produced by Falkirk Council’s biodiversity officer Anna Perks. Well done Anna. She also asked me to publish the link to the Falkirk Area Biodiversity Action Plan 2011-2014. This document is invaluable for anyone wanting to mount a biodiversity project in the area, naming the species and habitats that an applicant would be potentially working with.

And in that vein, I’d better give you the link to the latest, and indeed greatest New Leaf News; click http://www.cgiscotland.org/, then in the left side of the site, look for the “New Leaf News” navigation link. This will give the most recent copy, as well as all of the back copies. If you’ve not come across it before then it’s worth checking out.

On a different note, FET is talking to various stakeholders about the problems in the Falkirk area created by Mink infestation. Any project that comes of these discussions is going to have to be heavily volunteer led. Is there anyone interested in getting trained up in the area of voluntary Mink tracking and control? Please let me know either by commenting below or emailing me on info@fet.org.uk

That’s it for now.

Art Berg

And to all a good night!

2011-12-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

At this point in time, FET considers itself to be very fortunate. In the last 12 months FET has been able, through your applications, to become involved in projects that have, or will (and in no particular order);

Renovated a large garden for public use.

Upgraded Country access ways in several location.

Create a new play, sensory and wildlife garden for a community to use.

Perform habitat works on a local post industrial site for invertebrate life

Renovate a much loved and used pedestrian footbridge

AND

Fight the incursion of invasive species in a local wooded glen

And that’s just the new allocations from the previous several months. Many projects have started and / or completed this year that FET was fortunate enough to be involved in.

Clearance of a major river system and it’s tributaries of materials that stopped migratory fish from reaching their spawning Grounds.

Combating Rhododendron Ponticum in two large Falkirk woodlands.

Pulling of Himalayan Balsam in a community woodland

More countryside access creation and upgrading than you can shake a stick at.

Indeed the list goes on and on, as these are but a few examples of the work that’s either recently completed, is ongoing, or is about to start. We are particularly looking forward to the habitat enhancement of TWO of Falkirks Sites of Specific Scientific Interest.

The Board of FET would like to continue to encourage enquiries and applications to both Main and Small Grant systems, so as always, if you have an idea, please get in touch with us!

A Special thanks goes out to Avondale Environmental Ltd, the source of the Land fill Community Funding, to Falkirk Council, our main partners; to all the organisations that have assisted with the projects, but most especially to YOU who have brought these projects to life in the first place.

Finally I can at last say that the new FET website is up and running – thanks to the good people at BTCV Scotland who took on the job of re-designing and then coding the new site layout and content. Many thanks to you – and you know who you are!

Click the link below to check out our modernised, leaner and meaner FET website!

www.fet.org.uk

It only remains for The Board of FET, and of course, myself, to wish you all a very happy festive period!

Best Yuletide Regards

Art Berg

It's getting cold and dark out there - Time to get busy

2011-12-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

As the cold weather starts to take a grip, and we move into mid winters dark, thinking about conservation or environmental project work might seem a little redundant. Or just plain foolish! What can we do out there between now and the advent of spring? Suprisingly, an awful lot.

Observe

As the plants and trees reconsolidate after the bud, growth, seed & fruit cycle, so can we. Now is the time to plan out that action that you recognised as needing done in the warmer months. Perhaps you noted a stand of Japanese knotweed or Himalyan Balsam near where you walk your dog that requires springtime attention. Maybe you noticed that a hedgeline had died right back and could use a bit of TLC, or that a local pond is now completely clogged up with rubbish and weeds.

As we move our leisure activities indoors to community halls, have a good nose around to see what needs to be tackled. You may notice that the hall toilets aren’t wheelchair friendly, or the kitchen needs an upgrade, the roof is leaking or any one of a thousand other things. Items of maintenance that if left unattended will eventually cost a lot more or will even shut the hall down.

Plan

The planning phase of any environmental project is quite involved and requires thought, consultation, collection of prices and the gathering of friendly partners.

There are habitat surveys to be quoted against and funding sought. There are consents to be garnered, deals to be struck, and plans to be drawn up. There is, in fact, much to do in winter.

“Resolve what you ought to do. Do, without fail, what you have resolved” - Benjamin Franklin

There is no argument that for many environmental projects the late spring to mid autumn are the best times to do project actions. As with most things 90 per cent of doing a really good job is in the preparation.

Falkirk Environment Trust is now looking forward to a new year of Environmental Project activity in 2012, and as such we are inviting our next group of applicants (ie YOU) from the communities of Falkirk, to contact the FET Development Manager (ie ME) with project ideas to be brought forward at the March and June 2012 Board of Directors meetings. We are particularly welcoming smaller actions more suited to Community Groups. So don’t be shy, lets hear your ideas!

Action

If you cannot wait for spring, and are feeling up to the challenge of winter conservation tasks there are still a number of actions best suited to winter in Central Scotland. Examples include rhododendron ponticum clearance in our woodlands (as you my know FET has declared war on alien invasive species, and the local rhodies infestations are first for a kicking!). Rebuilding drystane dykes as biodiversity habitats, willow spiling – building woven willow fences to retain exposed riverbanks, pond works - ponds are dormant no, so winter is the best time. Don’t forget, there’s always path-works to be done, and the absolute best time for litter picks is in the winter months when all the vegetation has died back.

BTCV Scotland operate a series of midweek group activities that run right through the winter. I have included their December and January timetables below, just in case you feel like getting out there and doing some real environmental good over the winter.

Upcoming BTCV Scotland Conservation dates in Falkirk area;
December
6th-8th Ladywell Park Bannockburn, Willow Spiling (River height permiting)
13th-15th Ladywell Park Bannockburn, Willow Spiling (River height permiting)
January
10th-12th, Muiravonside Park, Standburn, Avondale Quarry, Pond Clearence
26th Westquarter Glen, Rhododendron Ponticum Clearance
Feburary
9th, 23rd, 28th & 29th Westquarter Glen, Rhododendron Ponticum Clearance
March
1st & 5th-8th, Westquarter Glen, Rhododendron Ponticum Clearance
12th-15th, Muiravonside Park, Standburn, Avondale Quarry, Pond Clearence
19th-22nd & 26th-29th, Westquarter Glen, Rhododendron Poticum Clearance
Note: all dates and projects subject to change

If interested give will Smith or Alistair Lawson a call at BTCV Scotland on 01786 479697

And whatever you do, don’t forget to feed our indigenous birds that stick around through the harsh Scottish Winter – The subject of a future blog I think.

Thanks for reading

Arthur Berg

Development Manager

Falkirk Environment Trust

01324 504816

info@fet.org.uk

Latest FET News October 2011

2011-10-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all - I must first of all apologise for the lack of input from us here at FET over the summer months - It's a super busy time and it was truly difficult to find the opportunity to write for this Blog. I will do better in future!

With that said, I wanted to catch you all up on whats been happening here at FET;

Firstly, I would like to thank all the participants and guests of the "Aliens Amongst Us" Non native invasive species Expo day for making it a fantastic and memorable occasion. It was a great chance for me to network with all the groups and some of the key players from the likes of SNH and SEPA. The organisers foolishly asked me to do a seminar, and so my poor audiences had to listen to me ranting on for a good 40 minutes, but I think no major harm was done. FET was pleased to partially sponsor the event, and we hope that similar Expos will be held in Falkirk area in the future. A number of other councils sent representatives to find out what we are up to, and thats got to be a good thing!

A special thanks goes out to Communities Along the Carron for putting the Event togeather, and to Falkirk Council for co-hosting and co-funding the event.

Next, there is a need to share FET's current situation. We have, in the past been in a position to make grants of up to £50,000 each, and in some cases we took on sole funding responsibility, or at least the lions share. Recently the board has decided that we will require all future applications to show a minimum of 50% match funding. The bottom line is that we will be looking favourably at projects that use the FET allocated funds to lever in other funders. Whilst FET still is financially strong, we are not exempt from the current financial climate. New guidance will be issued as soon as possible.

As always, if you want to bring forward an application, please talk to me first. Contact details can be found to the right of this blog, or on our website.

I mentioned above a "High level of spend in the last couple of years". Expanding on that, we have in fact had 2 record years back to back! Financial Year 2009 - 10 saw allocations of over £550,000 main grants over a total of 15 projects. The total value of all funding for the projects (ie all the funding for all the projects) is about £1.1million. But wait for it - The last Financial Year racked up almost £700,000 in direct FET allocations, over 21 projects with a total value of around £4.2 Million (There were some really big ones this last year). Interestingly we also had a record number of successful applications from local community groups, as opposed to the big environmental charities. I believe this to be the greatest success of all, as it show Falkirk to be a centre of excellence for community driven environmental activities.

As much as I'd love to take credit for these successes, it's not down to me at all . It was in fact YOU LOT that did the hard work of putting togeather so many really great projects. Well Done to all involved - you know who you are!!

Finally I welcome our new volunteer, Fiona, who is going to be assisting at the FET office in publicity and administration tasks. Fiona is a local Environmental activist who finds herself with a little time on her hands.

Thats all for now - Keep those applications and project ideas coming!

All the Best for now

Art Berg
Development Manager
Falkirk Environment Trust

Landfill Community Fund Basics 1 The Biodiversity Project

2011-05-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

LCF Category DA - The Enhancement and Conservation of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is important. People at the very top are deeply concerned about biodiversity, mainly because human civilisation depends upon the ability of nature to provide goods and sevices. Unfortunately human activity is slowly but surely damaging the earths capacity to process pollutants, pollinate our crops, provide us hundreds of other services that we take completely for granted. Whilst there is a lot of talk at the top end of the social spectrum, there seems to be an unwillingness for everyday people to engage in biodiversity conservation on a local level. Biodiversity loss is sensationalised until it would seem that theres not much we can do about it. Be it rainforest habitat loss, the melting of the icecaps or the impending extinction of the white rhino, there is always the under pinning feeling that biodiversity is something that is happening a long way away, and is outwith the common persons control. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Biodiversity is the responsibility of everyone as we all benefit from natures services, without which, humanity would be in deep trouble.

I’m sure that everyone will agree that Scotland is a beautiful place in the main, with a rich and diverse history, culture and natural heritage, However, Scotland’s biodiversity is subject to all the stresses and strains of the 21^st centuary – Species and habitat loss due to construction and industry, pollution and invasive species to name but a few. Bearing in mind that it is everyones problem, there are actions that we can do, and when I say we I mean the partnership implicit between Falkirk Environment Trust and the people of Falkirk.

FET, as you know, Awards Landfill Community Fund (LCF) grants to community led environmental projects. One of the areas of these awards are biodiversity. To quote Entrust;

“Where it (ie the project) is for the protection of the environment and subject to paragraph (3A)

below, the conservation or promotion of biological diversity through:

(i) the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat; or

(ii) the maintenance or recovery of a species in its natural habitat

- on land or in water situated in the vicinity of a landfill site;’

(Extract from Entrust Guidance on Object da) – Click here for access to the full Entrust library of documents

Sounds fairly easy, but actually Biodiversity and habitat projects carry a few complexities that can trip up the unwary applicant. I have examined a few of these below.

The Board of FET are especially interested in biodiversity projects in the Falkirk Council area, and want to see more good quality applications coming forward. Here are a few pointers to get you going.

1) Community Led - Application must be from groups, charities or non profit organisations. We will not fund projects brought forward by individuals, or that will in anyway benefit a business or land owner. You must be part of a group with constitutional documents, a bank account and a committee of volunteer decision makers

2) Habitats vrs species - The above guidance shows that you can create, conserve or enhance a whole habitat, for example a woodland, river system or hedgerow are all good candidates for a category DA grant. OR you can apply to help a single species, such as bean geese of greater crested newts. Either way the Habitat or Species MUST be named in the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. Click Here to link with this document.

3) Take advice - Always talk to the biodiversity Officer at Falkirk council with reference to your project who can advise you of the next steps to take. Do this BEFORE you make an application.

4) Wild life Surveys - You will almost certainly be required to perform a “Phase 1 Habitat survey”, to advise the project on what is at the site already, and what you can and cannot do there. Funds allowing, FET is able to financially assist in this type of thing through it’s Small grants scheme.

5) Be Concise – a lot of applicants put elements of work into their applications that are in fact Category D, ie Public Amenity works such as paths or structures. It is best to avoid this if only because it confuses Entrust and slows up the project registration process.

6) Legal Restrictions - There are laws to protect the natural environment, and as such you must be sure to follow these to the letter. Again talk to the Biodiversity officer, or Scottish Natural Heritage’s Forth Area Officer.

Click Here for the SNH’s Forth valley area contact details.
7) Management and Maintenance - in many situations a site may need to have a management plan drawn up, or may need to be maintained in some way over time. Applicants should think in terms of the site being an ongoing concern rather than a one off "Hit". Organiastions exist which can help with these issues, and as always, when in doubt, contact FET.

The list shown here is by no means exhaustive, but is meant to give you a taste of the kind of thinking and planning that you will need to engage in to get money for biodiversity projects

So if you are concerned about biodiversity in the local environment, or about a habitat near you that needs some help, there is help at FET! Give me a call or drop me a line and let me know what your plan is, or even just your biodiversity concerns for a local site.

All the best for now

Art Berg

Tel 01324 504816

Email info@fet.org.uk

Note – In all instances contact the development manager before you attempt an application for either small grants or main grants programmes

First entry and a few announcements

2011-05-17T01:55:00.001-07:00

Hello to everyone reading this entry - the first of the Falkirk Environment Trust Blog. The purpose of the blog is really to enable FET to get information out to all interested parties as quickly as is possible. That information can be anything and everything about FET, it's partners, applicants, Landfill Community Fund or FET Small grants. I also reserve the right to post up items & links that might increase the ability and desire of the readership to perform community led environmental projects.

So onto business:

First announcement comes from the Board themselves, who have decided to re-instate the "only up to 50% of the total required costs " rule. The idea is that applicants should seek out other sources of money to share the burden and risk with our organisation. To assist applicants I will include links to other funders in future posts and standing documents.

Second announcement for todays entry - again the board wish me to inform all potential applicants that they will not consider making an award of more than £50,000 per grant. This is effective immediately and applies to any main grants application not already allocated through a board decsion. It does not affect small grants for the time being.

Combining these two announcements, applicants can only approach FET for an amount of £50,000 if their project is worth £100,000 or more.

The above are linked to our third announcement, which is one of THANK YOU for helping FET to achieve it's biggest year to date. Record breaking in both number of projects allocated (at 21) and amount allocated (at £679,000).

I cant go into detail about the projects because not all of these are registered or assured of final delivery at this stage, but early indications show that we've had an excellent year in 2010/2011. .

To my mind the best aspect of FET's year has been an unprecedented allocation share going to smaller community groups this. This happy trend has been building for the last two years. Please keep those community group applications coming.

And Finally I wanted to put out some information on our forthcoming Board of Directors business meetings, as follows;

Summer         22nd June             FET Board Field Trips and Business meeting

Autumn          28th September   AGM & Business meeting

Winter            14th December    FET Business meeting

As always applications are strictly 3 weeks in advance on the appropriate meeting date for forms, enclosures and business plans. This gives me time to prepare the necessary reports and documentation

Thats all for now, so thanks for taking the time to read this. I will hopefully be in touch on a regular basis with news and further announcements

Art Berg