Funding Accelerator: Why Be Involved?

The aim is for public, private, and third sector organisations to create projects in collaboration with Lancaster University to not only further research but also provide tangible benefits for their local community.

Building on our strategic alliance with Blackburn with Darwen Council, and together with local health, private, and third sector organisations we spent the first six months of this project facilitating the creation of cross-sector collaborative project ideas and assisting project teams through the process of developing their idea, writing the bid, and submitting for funding.

We are now looking to expand this initiative into the Blackpool & Fylde area as well as help our own local communities of Morecambe and Lancaster.

Getting Involved

There are myriad reasons to get involved in this initiative, not only for third and public sectors, but also for local businesses. By collaborating with others you can create projects which will bring in funding which could support the continuation and growth of business as well as raise your profile in the community. Robust research can contribute to the increase of your bottom line and opens up possibilities to create more jobs and opportunities for your business and the local community.

But I have questions … and so did two of our project partners from stage one.

“When myself and Tamasin were first informed of the project our first thoughts were ‘will we be out of our depth’, ‘will the others be really knowledgeable on writing funding bids’.

However our colleague soon put our mind at rest by putting us in contact with Sharon who immediately made us both feel very welcome. Our biggest regret now is that we did not attend the workshops from day one however what we did attend has put us both in a very good position as we are ready to submit our bid.” (read the rest of their post here)

Some of the other benefits of being involved with the Funding Accelerator

• Constant support which creates confidence to write other bids in the future
• Networking and making useful connections
• Shared interests opens up further possibilities
• Bringing together unlikely people which leads to interesting and innovative ideas.
• Opportunity for meeting like-minded partners
• Working with people you wouldn’t normally work with
• Develop new relationships with people who can inform and advise
• Broader/wider representation of different sectors on a project can be beneficial to its success

You’re often in your own little bubble of work and working relationships so you could be missing opportunities through not seeing, knowing, or understanding the perspective of other sectors and different businesses. Here is an excellent opportunity to develop new networks, potentially grow your business, and benefit your local community.

Book your ticket here or contact Sharon on s.a.summers@lancaster.ac.uk if you have any further questions.