The objectives
Despite having only been set up in 2017, North East Young Dads and Lads Project (NEYDL), a charity that supports young men under the age of 25, has shown rapid growth and built a strong presence in its area.
Born out of an awareness of a distinct lack of support for young fathers locally and nationally, the charity focuses on supporting young men who are out of education and employment with their self-confidence, employability and parenting skills, providing peer support, and advocating and campaigning on their behalf.
Following its rapid initial growth, NEYDL was looking to expand and diversify its income streams to support the expansion of its services. With its current income made up largely by grants, the charity was wary of becoming solely reliant on grantmaking foundations and wanted to increase its long-term financial sustainability. NEYDL was keen to understand how it could develop relationships with relevant businesses as part of a cohesive corporate strategy, including what the charity could ask for and how to ask for it. This is where CAF came in.
Our support
No fundraising strategy can be looked at in isolation, so to help inform the best direction for a corporate engagement strategy, our Charity Advisory team worked with the charity’s leadership to truly understand what other governance and resources might be needed, including the capacity and skills of their teams and trustees.
Any knowledge or skills gaps identified helped pave the way for the creation of a clear set of recommendations, a benchmarking report and list of prospective corporate partners the charity could approach.
Our support helped NEYDL understand:
- The potential for corporate support, particularly in terms of core costs rather than project-based work
- What they could offer as a package of support to corporates
- What return on investment they could expect from corporate partnerships
- What capacity and resourcing is required when pursuing corporate support
- How to set ambitious yet realistic income forecasts
- How to prospect potential corporate partners