Consultation is important and shows potential funding organisations how serious, how inclusive and how well supported within your locality your play, sport or fitness development plans are.

If this is all new to you – don’t worry.

SMP has extensive experience in designing and implementing consultancy projects of this kind, and can advise and recommend the best and most appropriate actions to take... which groups within the locality you need to approach... and who’s views you definitely need to canvass.

We can help you plan a range of consultation activities, for example:

i) Organising door-to-door interviews in a particular locality.

ii) Holding information sessions at local schools or Neighbourhood Centres.

iii) Using social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter etc.), to exchange information and to canvass opinion.

iv) Creating project specific leaflets/ questionnaires.

v) advertisements for notice boards in public libraries, doctors surgeries etc.

Remember: One of the first questions potential funding providers will ask you concerns the level of support and degree of consensus there is for your project and how you have achieved this within the local community.

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Before you consider approaching any potential funding organisation you will need to be armed with good quality designs of your proposed play space.

To do this you can tap into the expertise and experience of our in-house Play Architects and Design Team.

Our Play Architects will visit your proposed site to do a Survey and to carry out a Risk Assessment.

Following the successful completion of both we will create a number of design concepts for the site which, through further discussion and consultation, will be refined to create a final, fully-costed design specification.

These will be produced using the latest CAD and 3D graphics software and will provide an accurate, scaled and visual representation of your planned development.

Remember, funding providers will expect to see good visual designs and representations of the play space area. After all it is what they are buying into.

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The design process therefore will help establish an overall budget for the site, broken down by its constituent elements – (e.g. Site preparation, Play equipment, Surfacing, Installation, Labour etc.).

Having a budget means that you also have a fundraising target, and will demonstrate to potential funding organisations that you haven’t just plucked figures from the air – but have applied sound business and budgetary principles to your planning process.

Remember: You will need to demonstrate to funding providers the way (method and activities) you arrived at a budget for the delivery of your play space solution.

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Following consultation, design and budget creation, SMP can create a bespoke Funding Options Appraisal Report.

Although this is not mandatory over 95% of the customers we work with choose to have a Funding Options Appraisal completed as part of the process. Here’s why.

Funding Options Appraisal Report

A Funding Options Appraisal provides an objective assessment of your project.

It identifies specific project strengths from a fundraising perspective, and highlights any weaknesses.

Where weaknesses are mentioned, the report will advise how these can be addressed.

For those projects where no or only marginal weaknesses exist, the report will identify and include a list of potential funding providers, contact details, application methods and relevant deadlines.

To create our Funding Options Appraisal reports we employ the services of professional fundraisers – all with exemplary track records.

Our team of fundraisers know the best and most effective ways to approach funding providers...what turns them on...and what turns them off! To download an example of a Funding Options Appraisal Report - click here.

Remember: Your be-spoke Funding Options Appraisal maps out what you need to do next and is a vital part of the planning process.

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