Understanding the Audited Accounts of a UK Foundation

Overview

In this four-part online learning cluster, we will equip you to understand, navigate and use the audited accounts of Foundations to improve your fundraising success.

We will take you from a rudimentary understanding of these documents to the point where you can interpret the most complex accounts and use them to make predictions for the future. You will be able to answer questions from your manager, CEO, trustees or other stakeholders who prefer a numerical and factual approach to research.

We will use eight real-life funders as case studies and ‘take you through the gears’ of their accounts, gently going through each layer of complexity. We will concentrate on four elements of these accounts:

1. The Trustees Report

2. The Statement of Financial Activities and the Balance Sheet

3. The Notes to the Accounts

4. The Grant Lists

Presenter:  Bill Bruty

What you will learn

Pod 1.1: Introductory

• The meaning of the key terms

• The purpose of the key sections and how to read them.

Live Online Workshop Times and Dates:

11.00-12.30 20th September 2022

Pod 1.2: Basic

• How to spot changes in decision makers and explain the implications for fundraising

• The range of different income sources and how they impact upon philanthropy

• The key investments and how these will impact on grant making

  Live Online Workshop Times and Dates:

11.00-12.30 22nd September 2022

Pod 1.3: Intermediary

• How to get more detailed information on the grants they have given.

• How to assess their commitment to philanthropy and judge whether you can engage this funder

• How to interpret their investment strategy and how that will impact upon their grantmaking

• Whether they are a passive or active giver and whether they have a ‘carousel’ of beneficiaries.

Live Online Workshop Times and Dates:

11.00-12.30 27th September 2022

Pod 1.4: Advanced

• How to predict whether new decision makers will transform a funder.

• How to anticipate changes to their income which can open up new opportunities for you – or close them down.

• How to engage this funder now and in the future.

• How to predict whether you can get into this funder, stay there or get more.

Live Online Workshop Times and Dates:

11.00-12.30 29th September 2022

This cluster will involve research and reading in between the sessions.

What you require

A curious mind.