TRAINING FOR CHARITIES & SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
Open training courses
DowWe deliver face-to-face and online training courses for charities and social enterprises on fundraising strategy, trusts and foundations (i.e. bid writing) and other types of fundraising. Our training is suitable for fundraising staff, senior management and trustees. You can check the dates of all our upcoming courses, and book places, further down this page.
We've delivered training for a wide range of local and national infrastructure organisations - we run around 20 training courses per year with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and were an approved training partner for the Small Charities Coalition until their closure in 2022.
If you work for a local or national infrastructure organisation - or anyone else providing services to the charity sector - and you'd like to partner with us to deliver training, please get in touch to request a copy of our training brochure.
We've delivered training for a wide range of local and national infrastructure organisations - we run around 20 training courses per year with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and were an approved training partner for the Small Charities Coalition until their closure in 2022.
If you work for a local or national infrastructure organisation - or anyone else providing services to the charity sector - and you'd like to partner with us to deliver training, please get in touch to request a copy of our training brochure.
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Lime Green Consulting have run many fundraising training courses for our social entrepreneurs and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve been impressed with their understanding of the sector, professionalism and warm approach. We very much look forward to continuing our partnership.
Dave McGlashan, Head of Sales & Product Development, School for Social Entrepreneurs |
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Lime Green Consulting has provided an invaluable service to the charities we support over the many years we've been working with them. They've delivered countless workshops around fundraising and we always have the most incredible positive feedback from the charities that attend. The team are experts in their field and have a very friendly approach to everything they do. We'd highly recommend their services to any charity or infrastructure organisation and a massive thank you for their services.
Miles Lloyd, Project Manager, 3SG (a local CVS based in Bath) |
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In-house training
We also deliver bespoke in-house training for individual charities and social enterprises, tailored to your specific needs. For example, we can provide introductory or refresher training to your fundraising team on a specific area of fundraising, or provide an overview of bid writing for your project staff, to help them start creating their own funding bids.
Please get in touch with us if you'd like us to explore in-house training for your organisation, so we can discuss your needs and put together a costed proposal for you.
Please get in touch with us if you'd like us to explore in-house training for your organisation, so we can discuss your needs and put together a costed proposal for you.
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Lime Green Consulting designed in-house trusts and grants training around our needs as an organisation. They worked flexibly with us and were very friendly and approachable. The training was excellent! Our team were all at varying levels of experience and everyone (even the most experienced) got something really useful from it. Thanks again to Mike and the team, I would highly recommend them to other organisations looking for in-house training.
Kat Lazenby, Fundraising Manager, YMCA Brunel Group |
Upcoming open training course dates
We continue to deliver the majority of our open courses online, unless otherwise stated. These are typically split across two sessions on consecutive mornings, as participants tell us that this makes our courses easier to digest, and easier to attend for those who work shorter hours, do the school run etc.
Developing a Fundraising Strategy
This popular course will walk you through our tried-and-tested framework for developing a fundraising strategy and making difficult strategic decisions. We'll show you how to analyse your current fundraising performance and funding needs, explore your strategic position using our 'Enhanced SWOT analysis' and identify and prioritise different fundraising audiences. We'll then explain how to scope out a range of fundraising activities and accurately identify how best to resource them and forecast the financial return. We'll also cover how to set up your organisation for long-term success, looking at marketing assets, performance management and organisational culture.
This popular course will walk you through our tried-and-tested framework for developing a fundraising strategy and making difficult strategic decisions. We'll show you how to analyse your current fundraising performance and funding needs, explore your strategic position using our 'Enhanced SWOT analysis' and identify and prioritise different fundraising audiences. We'll then explain how to scope out a range of fundraising activities and accurately identify how best to resource them and forecast the financial return. We'll also cover how to set up your organisation for long-term success, looking at marketing assets, performance management and organisational culture.
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Your very enjoyable, clear and practical workshop has given me a structure in which to think about things and to implement a fundraising strategy. I've come away with a lot of useful information and - even better - a good set of tools.
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Winning Grants from Trusts & Foundations
We've designed this course for people who already have some experience of trusts fundraising but would like to add more quality and strategy to their approach, ensure they can maintain success in a competitive funding climate, and gain more insight into the mindset of funders. We'll be guiding you through our five key components of trusts fundraising, including prospect research, developing a compelling case for support and long-term relationship-building with funders. We'll also help you to understand things from the funder's perspective, including what they're looking for, what puts them off, and why they occasionally say frustrating things!
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I've learned a lot of new things and thankfully had confirmation that some of what I'm doing is correct which is fantastic! Thanks for a great session that covered an amazing amount of ground!
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Getting Started With Fundraising
This course is designed for people who are new to fundraising and want to start raising money for their organisation or project. You'll gain an overview of how fundraising works, what types of fundraising are most appropriate for you, and what you need to do next to begin securing grants and donations. We'll share guidance on how to develop your central 'case for support', how to make sure your fundraising is safe, legal and ethical, and some universal fundraising rules that will never let you down.
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Mike and Gemma were fantastic. Really well structured and clear. The group felt so comfortable, so lots of people spoke up and offered tips on their differing areas of expertise.
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Writing a successful funding application
This new three-hour course provides a beginner’s guide to how to write a successful funding application, using the National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards For All online application form as an example. It is designed for people who haven't written a funding application before, or want a refresher on the basics of writing a successful application in a competitive funding landscape. We'll walk you through a successful Awards For All application, explain how to get the fundamentals right - including budgeting, describing outcomes and demonstrating co-production - and give you time to begin sketching out your own application.
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An invaluable resource to educate you for a successful funding application...don't leave home without it!
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Ethical Fundraising and Problematic Philanthropy – a Talk and Q&A
The way that we view philanthropy is rightly changing. A number of recent developments have increased scrutiny on how philanthropists, companies and trusts accrued their wealth, and the ethical implications of this for charities and social enterprises. But how much should this matter to your organisation? In a challenging financial climate, when is it right to say no to a donation? How can you balance your obligation to protect your organisation’s reputation, but maximise resources at the same time?
Returning due to popular demand, our talk and Q&A will help you navigate through an area where people typically have differing and strongly-held personal views. We'll cover:
- Some examples of problematic philanthropy, including 'grey areas' that may make you think twice
- Recent examples of organisations that have accepted and rejected contentious donations
- How to start a challenging conversation within your Board or team
- What you can use, and what you shouldn’t use, to make difficult decisions about donations
This event includes a 30-40 minute presentation, plus extended time for questions, and we'll share the recording with you afterwards.
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Really thought provoking session about the challenges of ethical philanthropy. I really liked the opener of comparing the perception and reality of philanthropy, and I've been quoting this to all my colleagues!
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Crowdfunding For Charities and Social Enterprises
Crowdfunding is a great way to raise vital funds, engage your supporter base and attract new donors. But with fewer than 50% of campaigns succeeding, it’s more difficult than it looks. This course will walk you through every stage of a successful campaign, including choosing your platform, designing your ask, launching with a splash, and keeping up momentum when donations inevitably slow down. Thanks to a combination of insightful presentations, interactive exercises and real-life campaign examples, you'll leave with a clear plan for running a successful campaign, and a much stronger understanding of crowdfunding in general.
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I didn't expect to come away with so many things I can action straight away. I'm now really excited to go back and discuss everything with my colleagues.
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Getting Started With Trading
With grant funding getting harder to come by, many charities and social enterprises are seeking to generate their own income by monetising their expertise, entrepreneurial flair, lived experience or community connections. This is an area of great potential, however there are various barriers to overcome including lack of confidence, difficulty persuading your Board to invest, or simply not knowing where to start. This course is for CEOs, Directors, Trustees and other senior leaders who want to overcome these barriers and develop a profitable and sustainable trading model that complements their organisation’s charitable, social, and environmental objectives.
Open dates to be announced soon. Please contact us if you'd like us to run this course in-house for your organisation.
We've previously developed training courses with:
National voluntary sector support organisations and programmes including:
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Regional organisations and voluntary sector support groups including:
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Feedback from previous attendees:
Based on all 409 individual feedback forms that we've received since the start of 2020:
Knowledge of our trainers - 85% rated it as excellent, 15% as good
Quality of our training content - 73% rated it as excellent, 27% as good
"The course was useful for my organisation" - 97% strongly agreed or agreed
"I learned a lot" - 95% strongly agreed or agreed
"I enjoyed the course" - 98% strongly agreed or agreed
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Fab organisation. Attended a workshop and they were knowledgeable, friendly and adapted things to suit the attendees. It was interactive and fun as well as helpful. Their webinars have also been super informative and relevant.
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Thank you for today, very helpful and one of the slickest presentations I have seen on Zoom. Great team Mike and Gemma.
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