Girl Geek Scotland: Funding Strategies

This workshop will be a hands-on interactive experience. Teams or individuals will learn specific skills related to fundraising, including research, exploiting network connections, and strategising for a campaign. It will address the needs of both for-profit and non-profit start-up propositions, as well as opening up new windows of opportunity for resource acquisition.

In pre-start-up business, considering how to constitute your business is important. Many female entrepreneurs work in third sector business (Social Enterprise, non-profit and charity), and need to be aware of the general landscape of funding opportunities available in Scotland and how public funding mechanisms work. You also need to build upon your successes in order to grow the business. Equally, women entering the private sector need to know the funding available to them in Scotland and how to access funding from Europe and further afield. Understanding how to value your business in terms of measured impact and turnover is important in preparation for funding negotiations.

By the end of the workshop you should...

• Understand various roles of actors in the fundraising process
• Understand the basics of legal structure, and financial instruments such as equity, debt, and convertibles
• Gain knowledge of the various sources of funding for private investment or public grants
• Gain skills and knowledge in raising resource from government and other public sources
• Develop research skills
• Develop network connection knowledge and exploitation tactics
• Develop and begin to execute a specific fundraising strategy
• Gain confidence in your ability to execute in the fundraising process
• Have an idea of target investors or funders and the contacts and connections to proceed with your strategy