Have you set up a non profit?

I mean this kindly, OP, but you do sound a bit naive about the challenges of running a not for profit organisation. I'm not sure where you'd be looking for funding, but the vast majority of grant giving trusts and foundations will only fund registered charities. How much, roughly, do you think you're going to need, both in terms of your start-up costs and your ongoing running costs?

As others have said, the funding environment is crazily competitive these days, and it's very tough to get the money in. Even harder if you can't demonstrate any kind of track record, though innovative ideas can be easier to "sell" in the early stages of a project... and then they become harder to sustain when they are no longer "new".

If you want to set up as a company, rather than a charity with trustees etc, might it make more sense to charge end users for the resources that you provide? You could still do it on a not-for-profit basis? Or are your target audience likely to be unable to pay?

What a lot of incredible useful information from generous posters, sharing their expertise. I have been contemplating setting up a charity because I am doing a lot of philanthropic work through my company, but we don’t qualify for grants as a result. But this has reassured me there is no point. Thank you to those who have shared their expertise!

Surely you shouldn't be putting the cart before the horse? Why not check what funding/grants are available and check the criteria. Then you'll know whether charitable status is a requirement, whether a Limited by guarantee is a requirement or a CIC is a requirement (or a mix, i.e. a limited by guarantee registered as a charity). You can't really set up the structure without knowing the eligibility criteria.

When I was involved with re-opening our village library, that's exactly what we did, i.e. worked backwards from the grants/funding and created a structure that would maximise the grants we'd be eligible to apply for at the same time is providing a structure to operate the library, in terms of management, oversight, day to day "trading" activities, etc. We ended up with a limited by guarantee registered charity which owned and operated the library itself, that worked alongside a trading CIC, the latter being responsible for local fund raising, trading, etc., which "donated" all it's profits to the charity, hence no corporation tax on the trading profits.

Ive been involved in the not for profit sector for decades

everything costs OP and all though it’s called “not for profit”, that’s actually a misnomer. Charities or CICS do need to make a profit because costs go up. An income base that remains static and does not bring profits to be reinvested is a recipe for a failed organisation

you have to think of it like a business. Someone has to pay whether that is grants, individuals, companies, whatever

websites cost, accounts cost, the design and production of materials cost, your time costs, marketing costs - all of these costs need to be covered

you could try something like unltd https://www.unltd.org.uk/ or the school for social entrepreneurs https://www.the-sse.org/wp-content/themes/sse who will work with individuals for more advice

This is all a bit confusing... are you wanting funding for materials or salaries?

So you don't want to be paid for this work?

It may not actually be the case but can you see that it might be how potential founders might view you.

GW won't fund charities with less than one year annual accounts. They also won't fund specific posts.

Just going to focus specifically on your questions about funding here. As others have said already on the thread, by setting up as a company limited by guarantee with an asset block you will be locking yourself out of many (perhaps even the vast majority) of grant making organisations. Generally speaking these organisations specify that they only support registered charities, and sometimes CICs/exempt charities and other similar structures.

It’s not so much that the funders want there to be loads of volunteers and staff involved in the organisations they fund, and perhaps more that traditional charities structures with trustees/volunteers offer some assurances/

1. That the money will definitely be used for the stated charitable purposes (legal obligation of the trustees of a charity with serious repercussions if they don’t abide by that).
2. That there is definitely a need and interest in the service you are providing beyond your own personal interest. It’s much more convincing to say ‘this board of 8 trustees are willing to volunteer their time and take on legal liability because they also believe it’s an important cause’ than it is to say ‘I think this is important but I don’t want any other people involved, now please pay my salary.’

Charities are governed by a rigid set of regulations to ensure that funds are definitely used for public benefit, and so there’s a reason that funders are more likely to support organisations where they know that they are beholden to the Charity Commission.

None of us here will have a comprehensive knowledge of all of the funders in the U.K. at the moment, so we cannot definitively say that there is no one who will fund you. What we can say is that based on our experience of the sector, you will find it very tricky to find funding without:

1. a governance structure like a charity or CIC
2. evidence that you will be able to succeed in your aims (I.e. through previous years of annual returns and evidence of your own personal success in this area)
3. very clear evidence of the public benefit of the work you are planning on doing, include evidence that there is a distinct need from your beneficiary communities for the service you hope to provide.

Most funders in the U.K. at the moment are overrun with demand for support and it would take something extraordinary special for them to choose to fund a start-up charity over an existing charity who’s work they can already witness, if that makes sense.

Every charity will have different guidelines so there isn’t really a document to direct you to, but I’d recommend looking at the websites of some of the bigger ones like Garfield Weston to get an idea of the strict nature of their criteria (and actually, GW are known for being not particularly strict but I think you would still struggle to gain funding from them, just one example).

I’m not a community or crowdfunding specialist, but it is certainly a route you could look at. A few questions it might be worth thinking about for this:

1. Who is going to support your crowdfunder? Do you have any existing communities who will believe in your cause and will have the capacity to support?
2. How does crowdfunding work in the long term? If you succeed via one initial campaign, what will you do when that funding runs out?
3. How will you actually collect donations? Will you use one of the big platforms like JustGiving and is that compatible with your planned company structure?

I’ve no idea how feasible or not crowdfunding would be for you, but again suggest you may struggle without an existing pool of warm potential supporters.

A bit cheeky of me perhaps as I haven't googled it, but can you link one of these documents which sets out all these requirements? You really need to do your own research on this! No-one reading this thread has any idea what you are trying to do in your 'unique' idea. Grant funding tends to be really specific, there's no point linking to a grant giving body that is not related to you area.

However, for example, the National Lottery Awards for All programme which has some of the widest criteria I know of, are clear that you need 2 Board Members and that they do not fund sole traders or individuals. Their criteria are here: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/national-lottery-awards-for-all-england#section-2 www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/national-lottery-awards-for-all-england#section-2]]]] You also need a separate bank account. However unless someone is already willing to pay for your work towards this particular cause, then you won't have any trading history or transactions.

I cannot think of any organisation that would give funding to someone in your position - unless you're thinking of something like a government contract to provide a product or service that they have already prioritised and have set aside cash for (e.g. PPE during covid). Then you would be in competition with other commercial providers.

Crowd funding needs a massive base of supporters, and usually extensive media support in the popular press. e,g, Oxfam and Glanstonbury combined to give free tickets to lucky winners / donors and raised £1m for the Turkey/Syria eqrthquake disaster fund; the disappearance and death of a 14 year old in Belfast raised £180,000. I'm guessing you're not in that league in terms of publicity.

You seem certain that you have a unique concept, that has never been done before, and also that you are the ONLY individual who can do this work. I don't want to appear negative, but that seems rather unlikely.

Anyway, I'm not in a position to offer any further advice. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I am chair of a small hospital charity. All our trustees are volunteers and I can only describe it as hard work.
We don’t usually depend on grants but did so during COVID when our main source of income dried up and demand increased hugely.
We obtained some funds, some practical support but it was a huge effort from everyone.
It would be great for you to observe one round of audit to show you how regulations work and how difficult it is to account in detail for all your actions.
I too feel if you could piggy back onto another organisation, learn the ropes and try and provide the service under their auspices, that might achieve your aims with less pain.

Having an asset block doesn't mean that funders will view you in the same way as a charity particularly as that asset block can be easily removed if you're the only member/director of the company.

You are essentially asking funders to pay you a salary for doing something that is of interest to you. That is hard to get funding for.

Have you already done any work on the project that could be shown to potential funders?

I think your best option would be to sign up for some free courses via your local businesses gateway or charity support organisation. That will help you learn more about different options.