Time of Year for Last Minute Requests

March 2, 2016

 

For groups and individuals looking to secure government funding, now is potentially the most important time of year. Although it is essential to watch for and have an idea of when funding programs are having intakes, there is one time of the year when programs and projects looking for government funding are most likely to get a one-time injection of money. That time is the government’s fiscal year-end.

As you may or may not know, government’s fiscal year end is at the end of March, coinciding with the end of the first quarter of the calendar year. This means that as we approach the end of March, individual government Ministries and organizations are pulling their books together for their year-end assessments. This is when they will hopefully be seeing surpluses due to responsible fiscal management. Although they may be asked to return this money to the government coffers, they are often allowed a certain amount of discretionary spending in order to cover off those projects they deem worthy that may have missed out on other funding streams over the course of the year.

What does this mean for your organization or specific initiative? Well, if you are interested in seeking government funding, now is the time to make sure you are making your request known to the appropriate Minister, Minister’s office and your locally elected representative. Each of these people will have their own wish list that they will be approaching their colleagues in cabinet with, and making the case for why they should be getting some of those limited surplus dollars.

These decisions will be made very soon, so if you are looking to access government funding the best thing you can do this time of year is connect with a professional organization that knows how to approach government on these types of requests and get your request in front of the right people before it’s too late.