Ann and Rodney Reed are experienced trainers and fund raising consultants and will deliver training and bid writing supported by colleagues from the other Consortium member organisations. There will also be a training opportunity for volunteer 'community consultants' so that during the 24 month life of the project local people will be able to gain experience and then continue writing bids for other organisations in the area for the foreseeable future.

The Consortium didn't want to waste SRB6 money on offices and equipment so we don't have an office for the project BUT we will be easy to contact by telephone and fax and e-mail. We'll also visit you in your premises to provide support in writing applications for money to a wide range of funders.

The Consortium also decided not to set up another training centre in the area. Instead we intend to rent training rooms from local organisations across the SRB6 area. This will make sure that we run training events near you AND will give money as room rentals to local organisations. If you have a training room that you want to rent out then please contact us and let us know.

So what happens after you fill in a Registration form? Our first step is to check your organisation meets the SRB6 criteria for support and the next is to offer a place on a fundraising training course. We realise that a lot of fundraising training has been provided lately BUT we are keen to 'transfer fundraising skills' to groups in the area. If we simply wrote a lot of funding applications for two years and then closed up the project when the funding finished everyone would just be where they were when the project started. After someone from your organisation - volunteer or management committee member or staff member - has taken part in the training day we can move on to the writing of a funding application with you.

We realise there are some organisations which will need more help than we can provide or that need 'capacity building' before they can apply for grants. For example individuals in the community with a good idea but no formed organisation, or an organisation that doesn't have a constitution or two signature bank account. We will 'signpost' these people and organisations to capacity building organisations and then 'welcome them back' to our project when they are able to make use of the help that we can offer.