5. Identifying and demonstrating need

Most funders will ask you to identify and demonstrate a need for the work you want to do –- something you might have done when you developed your fundraising strategy.

It’s not normally enough simply to say that your organisation believes certain work is required, you need to provide evidence such as consultation with the relevant people in your community.

1. Some ways to consult:
   Questionnaires – Keep the questions clear and focused
2. Statistics – find out what relevant research has been done already
3. Focus groups – bring together a small group of people for a guided discussion
4. Stalls – set up a stall in your local shopping centre, at an event, or at a youth club so that you can chat to people informally.

Consultation and research can help you to answer some of the specific questions that funders might ask, such as:

• How many people will your project benefit?
• How is your project different to similar existing services?
• How will you make your project accessible?
• How will the project benefit those that use it?
• How will you monitor and evaluate the activities of your project?

Doing the research in order to answer these questions will take time. But the more evidence you can find, the stronger your case will be and the more likely it is that the funder will give you money.

This page is a summary of information contained in the full online toolkit.