Projects that need a business plan
- Projects with total costs of more than £1 million
- Complex projects with costs less than £1m, when requested
Templates and guidance
As a funder, we are looking for a document that pulls together the project in its entirety. We really want to understand the overall project beyond just those elements identified for YFS funding. This is to fully determine the wider community benefit of the project.
There are several online resources for business plan templates and guidance, some examples include:
- Business Planning Guidance for arts and cultural organisations (Arts Council, PDF)
- Business plans and templates (Prince's Trust)
- Write a business plan (GOV.UK)
- Business plan template and guidance (National Lottery Heritage Fund)
We would encourage you to follow the process set out in these online guides to compile the business case.
We are looking for a coherent document which would cover the following aspects. It is really important to provide evidence to support any statements made within the document, which will help strengthen the overall business case. This includes references where used, and benchmarking evidence.
What we expect to see
Below is what we would consider the elements required. However, you may wish to add to this.
- Executive summary
- About your organisation
- Governance and management structures
- Strategy
- Market appraisal and your approach
- Financial appraisal
- Risk register
- Monitoring and evaluating your organisation
- Organisational impact assessment
- Contact details for your organisation
- Appendices
