Topical Issues

“If you rely on grants, it’s not sustainable,” said Kevin Brennan shortly after becoming Minister for the Third Sector. “The clever thing is to have contracts – provide a service to a company or a local authority. Then you’ve got a more secure source of funding.”

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

But what is really involved in trying to get those contracts?
And how secure a source of funding will it provide anyway?

The truth is that achieving sustainability and security of funding is very complex. Some important things we can do to optimise our funding positions are:

Recently, there have been major changes in the way many public sector bodies are procuring services. Increasingly, huge contracts are the order of the day - prime contractors are assembling large partnerships, and small organisations have to negotiate with a huge range of shortlisted tenderers.

Pricing, costing and financial risk are ever more of a nightmare. There is greater emphasis on outcome related payments, and outcome sustainability demands are ever greater. This means that cashflow is put under pressure with the widening gap between incurring costs and receiving payments.

We need to be nimble and flexible negotiators to respond to all these demands and pressures. We can’t achieve this unless we are very clear about how our services can fit buyers’ needs while also achieving our own objectives. Will the chances of success be greater with a wider range of smaller “products”? Are potential buyers looking for comprehensive coverage? What should our prices look like?

Maybe now is the time to have a good hard look at how your services are packaged. Contact us if you would like to talk about how we can help with your review.