Construction Youth Trust, CYT, supports young people whose journey to work can be challenging due to barriers relating to their financial circumstances, lack of awareness of opportunities in the industry, low self-esteem, gender or ethnicity. With the support of a number of major construction companies, CYT raises awareness and assists disadvantaged young people to access employment in the construction sector. The Trust achieves its goal by undertaking a number of programmes ranging from construction skills courses delivered via a mobile classroom to hands-on learning on projects for local communities, and from work placement schemes to guidance sessions.
When CYT first engaged with us, they were looking for some help with their grant fundraising. Overall, we worked with CYT for four years, delivering a range of services in addition to bid writing in order to help them grow and diversify their income. In total, £693,244 was achieved in grant funding for the organisation, including from public sector, the lottery, trusts and foundations across the UK. We also worked with CYT to put in place the systems and procedures necessary to support public sector tendering including monitoring, evaluation and impact reporting. As the demands of fundraising grew we assisted with the recruitment and induction training of an in-house fundraising assistant. As the fundraising landscape changed, we highlighted the growth of social investment models and the requirements they place on an organisation seeking funding.
Our support included:
- Research, consultation and analysis of beneficiary needs
- Grant prospect research
- Grant and Tender Bid Writing
- Preparation for public sector commissioning
- Project and Fundraising Recruitment support
- Monitoring and evaluation framework design and mentoring
“Charity Fundraising Limited have proved themselves to be a valuable source of advice and expertise across a wide range of financial and governance topics, both at strategic and at hands-on levels. Highly professional, they are approachable and always willing to listen; they adopt an open, friendly approach to working with our team and take the trouble to ensure that they fully understand our background, culture and what it is we are trying to do. Their contributions whether written, in discussion or in presentations are well researched, couched in appropriately accessible language and carefully considered giving us the maximum possible benefit from their time. Their concise monthly reports on progress and expenditure make it easy for us to understand and report to our Board on what we are getting for our money.
We have worked with Charity Fundraising Limited since August 2010. In that time they have not only assisted us to raise a good deal of money from the voluntary and public sectors, they have also supported the development of our in-house capacity, contributed to the induction training of new members of staff and continue to identify new opportunities for us to develop our delivery, services and indeed our organisation. Having worked with them for over two years and with their assistance having developed a significant in-house fundraising team, we are keen to work with them further, as they continue to provide higher value-add contributions at a strategic and developmental level.” Jo Hills, Operations Director
