Need Help!!

[ffv]

Hi Guys,

From one Angler to hopefully a lot of others, we trying to drum up support for a worthy cause and we are looking for your help. Myself and a few colleagues are attempting to crowd fund a project to give veterans, serving personnel and their families a chance to experience sea fishing for free.

Despite working tirelessly we are really struggling, if you want to read more you can visit our page at:

Fishing for Veterans, a Community Crowdfunding Project in UK on Crowdfunder

Thanks guys we really appreciate anything you can do, even if it’s not donating just a share on Facebook or Twitter every little bit helps.

I think we owe it to our veterans and been one myself I just trying to give something back.

 

[markluker]

Excellent idea. As a veteran myself I think every little project like this deserves support.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[no-one in particular]

You do not say what sort of boat you are looking for however, this is just something that came to mind. The RNLI might be able to help you, either with advice, a boat, raising funds. Just a thought. Contact page https://rnli.org/about-us/contact-us. Could just send them an email and ask, they have a large network, been in the game of raising funds for a long time and might get behind your project, nothing to lose by asking..

A decommissioned lifeboat might be ideal for your purposes.

Also the Royal British Legion might get behind it or help in some way. I expect you might have already contacted them but in case you haven't http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/ .They have a huge network and do a lot of work for veterans and this kind of thing might be up their street. If nothing else they could make it known across the country, they have their own magazines etc and I am sure they would love to do an article on it.

Another one is the Angling Trust, why not try contacting them; they could get you much needed coverage and maybe financial help, http://www.anglingtrust.net/

I would also try contacting the TV channels, a piece on the one show for example could get you sailing; they are always looking for good causes/stories. Even Buck Palace, Prince Harry is a great champion of this kind of thing and its a ringer for the Lottery Fund. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Its a good cause but largish funds required and bigger publicity=bigger funds.

 

[ffv]

Hi the Two Marks,

Glad you think our idea is a good one, also thanks for the advice. We have contacted the veterans foundation so far and they have been asking us to fill out an application but, the maximum fund they will offer at the moment is £5000. Now that would be amazing but it would only take us to around 30% of our intended target meaning the funds will sit in a bank account for an indeterminate amount of time while we try and get the rest of the funds together. We feel this would be irresponsible as there are probably other projects that could use those funds right now so it's something we may look into later.

As for the Royal British Legion, the Angling Trust and the RNLI we haven't considered contacting them as we assumed they would be raising funds for themselves and not to give away to other projects. Shows how new to this we are, but we are trying very hard and learning a lot every day. Also the other suggestions you mentioned are worth a shot too, like you said, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

As for the type of boat, something like a Quicksilver 640 weekender would be good as it's an all rounder with a cab for shelter and enough room for a small family inside and out. We don't want anything too big because we are covering the costs of the mooring, maintenance etc. so a used lifeboat maybe a little on the large side for our current requirements. Also something road transportable would be good as we can move it around the country to give lot's a different areas a chance to use it.

Anyway, thanks again, we will follow up on your suggestions but in the mean time please feel free to help out in anyway you can, we need all the help and funds we can get right now.

 

[no-one in particular]

I would definitely try the lottery Fund, its online form to initiate the process, see where it goes; nothing to lose.. https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding.

The Angling Trust must have many ex forces as members and the RB Legion use their money to help ex services in many ways. Email them and ask if they would put links to your funding request, if nothing else I am sure they may do that. But they have already raised money and want to spend it. You may struggle trying to raise it yourself and some big organizational help may be the answer.
I thought the decommissioned life boat would be a bit much.
I wouldn't reject things like the Veterans Foundation, offer to take it as a promissory note until you have neared your target if they do offer you money once you have gone through their process.
Its up to you, I am just thinking of ways to help you raise money and more importantly maybe , get as much publicity as you can--good luck with it, perseverance may be needed but keep banging away, doors may open.

 

[ffv]

I would definitely try the lottery Fund, its online form to initiate the process, see where it goes; nothing to lose.. https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding.

The Angling Trust must have many ex forces as members and the RB Legion use their money to help ex services in many ways. Email them and ask if they would put links to your funding request, if nothing else I am sure they may do that. But they have already raised money and want to spend it. You may struggle trying to raise it yourself and some big organizational help may be the answer.
I thought the decommissioned life boat would be a bit much.
I wouldn't reject things like the Veterans Foundation, offer to take it as a promissory note until you have neared your target if they do offer you money once you have gone through their process.
Its up to you, I am just thinking of ways to help you raise money and more importantly maybe , get as much publicity as you can--good luck with it, perseverance may be needed but keep banging away, doors may open.

Thanks Mark,

All this is really helpful advice and is very much appreciated, I also think you maybe right about the veterans foundation, I think we need to return to them and explain that we do want the funds just not right now and only if they have the funds at the time we need them so as not to waste them sat in a bank account. As for "banging away" no fear of that, I have a personal savings account I keep adding to for this project and I'd like to think the others guys do too so even if we end up financing the entire project ourselves, one way or another, it will happen, it may just take a lot longer than I'd like. Lets hope though we can get the backing to get it off the ground, up and running fairly sharpish.

 

[ffv]

Hi Markg, and all other fellow anglers.

I'm just wondering if you, or anyone for that matter, had any more ideas of how I can try and gain some funding for my charitable project? I've made more progress over the last couple of days. I've filled in an application for a grant from the Veterans Foundation and posted the proof on my crowdfunding page in an update, it will be while before I find out if I'm successful though but fingers crossed.

I've spoken with the Anglers Trust today but they only really deal with matters relating to Fresh Water because of their affiliation with the rod licence, meaning they can't fund me but they have said they maybe able to help me out with advertising through there social media links. That would be amazing if that were to happen but I've yet to hear back from them to find out how and what they can do exactly to help

I've spoken to the The Big Lottery Fund on the phone this afternoon but they will only consider organisations with a minimum of 3 people on the committee along with all the necessary doctrine. I don't have any of that at the moment so this is something I will probably attempt to sort out when I get more time. I've had a look at a template for the documentation and it's not as daunting as I expected I just need people to volunteer to be a part of the committee even if it's just as silent members for administration purposes.

The RNLI got back to me but as I thought the funds they collect are purely for their own use, which is fair enough and it was worth a shot asking anyway.

On Monday once the offices re-open I will contact my local SSAFA branch to see if I can apply for funding from the Armed Forces Benevolent Fund.

The Royal British Legion I have yet to approach, I will probably start communicating with them tonight via email to get the lay of the land.

So that's where I am, anyone got any more ideas?

Thanks guys you've all been really supportive and helpful so far.

 

[binka]

Would it be worth approaching tackle companies, particularly those who sell sea fishing tackle, to ask if they would like to donate something to raffle for proceeds in exchange for the positive publicity?

Large tackle retailers might also be worth approaching.

You never know where it might lead, especially if they like the idea of their logos emblazoned on your boat to show their support of such a worthy cause?

 

[ffv]

Would it be worth approaching tackle companies, particularly those who sell sea fishing tackle, to ask if they would like to donate something to raffle for proceeds in exchange for the positive publicity?

Large tackle retailers might also be worth approaching.

You never know where it might lead, especially if they like the idea of their logos emblazoned on your boat to show their support of such a worthy cause?

Great idea for sure but already done, I've sent out letters to all the major UK tackle manufactures and distributors I could find addresses for, about 26 of them altogether I think. Yet to hear anything back from any of them but I'm hopeful one or two of them are decent enough to help me out.

Keep the ideas coming though, I'm open to all and any suggestions.

 

[no-one in particular]

Binka's tackle company idea a good one, hope you find someone to sponsor, it will give you more credibility which you do need and if you get that, more will follow. Crowd funding and asking people to donate on forums will only get you so far but with a bit of organizational backing/sponsoring and publicity, this will push you to a higher level that I think you will need in the long term. This is why official organizations are asking you for that. Good publicity is also important and will help with credibility so I would try contacting the One Show, this is there web-page for submitting stories, fairly straightforward, just click "a story for the show" and fill in the form https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7/contact. You never know, they do a lot of support stories for veterans so they just might. If they turn it down nothing lost really but a skit on there would be a huge boost.

Just tried googling "donate a boat". Some stuff that might be worth wading through, not sure if anything there that's interesting for you but there might be something.
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=donate+a+boat

Run out of ideas but keep pushing, its the way with these things, doors close but eventually one opens if you keep pushing. good luck - M

 

[ffv]

The one show I haven't chased up yet but for a reason. I work in an area of government that are very strict on disclosure making it very difficult as to what information I can give away. I'm awaiting some guidance on what I can and can't do but I think if I suddenly poped up on tv there wouls be some mini heart attacks going on all over the place.

 

[Steve Ruff]

For the last two years Aviva has run a competition called the Aviva Community Fund.

You can apply for funding for all sorts of different projects - you can apply for funding for between £ 1,000 up to £ 25,000

More info here ...

https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/

https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/acfcms/about-the-competition

The 2017 competition hasn't opened yet - the 2016 competition opened around September and the winners were announced in January 2017.

It may be worth keeping an eye out for when it opens and putting in an application.

These are the sort of projects which won last year :

https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/winners#h_ah7-2,ah7-1


Pretty sure you would get some votes from FM members and loads more if you spread the word around.


Steve

 

[no-one in particular]

The one show I haven't chased up yet but for a reason. I work in an area of government that are very strict on disclosure making it very difficult as to what information I can give away. I'm awaiting some guidance on what I can and can't do but I think if I suddenly poped up on tv there wouls be some mini heart attacks going on all over the place.

Ah well, if you cannot do that ffv, that cannot be helped. But keep trying for sponsorship/backing/publicity etc, it will come.

 

[ffv]

Thanks Steve Ruff,

I'll keep an eye on that one and hopefully get some votes once it opens.

markg, forums were only a very small part of everything I'm trying but it's one of the few places I can get relatively live feed back and advice from a sympathetic audience who share my passion for fishing. That's the reason why I seem to be on here a lot at the moment.

well back to door knocking....

 

[no-one in particular]

Thanks Steve Ruff,

markg, forums were only a very small part of everything I'm trying but it's one of the few places I can get relatively live feed back and advice from a sympathetic audience who share my passion for fishing. That's the reason why I seem to be on here a lot at the moment.

well back to door knocking....

Understood, you have try to all avenues and I hope you have found some help on here. It was not a knock saying you needed more credibility just we dont know you and now with a bit of discussion we do know you better and can appreciate more what your trying to do. If you had some tackle company behind you for instance you wouldn't be coming in blind and that's what my point was, it would help you a lot in any avenue you pursue from the onset. Its just the way these things work in my experience so its just honest advice..

 

[ffv]

Understood, you have try to all avenues and I hope you have found some help on here. It was not a knock saying you needed more credibility just we dont know you and now with a bit of discussion we do know you better and can appreciate more what your trying to do. If you had some tackle company behind you for instance you wouldn't be coming in blind and that's what my point was, it would help you a lot in any avenue you pursue from the onset. Its just the way these things work in my experience so its just honest advice..

Thanks Mark and you're defiantly right on the credibility issue, I know more than most that the internet is full of scammers and fraudsters that will literally try and make money from anything, there is no bar that's too low. Makes life very difficult for genuine people like me trying to do something good and prove that I really am doing what I say I'm doing. That's not going to put me off though its just another challenge to overcome. I've been in contact with an old buddy of mine, another veteran who is an amazing artist in his spare time, hes said he's going to look at my page create me a new graphic tailored to the theme of my project. He said a few weeks as he'll draw it by hand but can't wait to see what he comes up with. Got to be better than the chip shop graphic I threw together in 5 minutes.

Also someone said a video can be really helpful, was thinking of getting in contact with a College or Uni running media and marketing courses to see if they want to take it on as a project as part of their studies. I get some help with marketing and media and they get to work on a real project with a real charitable aim. Worth a shot maybe?