Assess Costs and Funding

Costs

In some instances a WARP can be set up and run at no external cost by using volunteers and manual processes. Some recent WARPs have managed to set up with a first year cost of ~£40k which includes building and running the Filtered Warnings Application (FWA) software with appropriate resources to create their own Notifications and manage all three WARP services. This can be the best option if the WARP operator is thinking of creating multiple WARPs as each successive WARP can be provided for a fraction of the first set up cost given the economies of scale. If a WARP operator is only considering creating a single WARP then they may find it more economical to outsource the WARP infrastructure and FWA operation from another WARP or a third party supplier. Several WARPs have expressed an interest in providing this service and you can find a list of all WARPs, with their contact details, in the WARP directory. Not all WARPs run the FWA software.

The following spreadsheet has been extracted from a real WARP business case for a partnership between a commercial company and a local University and shows the breakdown of costs which can be used to base your own costing analysis. In this case study, the first year costs were £54k and the following years' running costs were £47k. It should be noted however most of the budget cost is manpower and this cost depends heavily on your chosen method of resourcing this, and the level of service you plan to offer.

Case study - WARP costing spreadsheet

To help in this cost analysis the related 'Case study WARP registration application (V3.0)' is included below -

Case study - WARP registration application

Funding

There are different opportunities for funding a WARP, including:

• Internal -

  where the WARP operator’s host organisation decides that it will fund the WARP. This does not have to be new money as it may be possible to utilise existing budgets and existing resources. This funding could for example, be used to help start-up the WARP and then move to another funding model after the first or second year

• Member subscription -

  the costs of setting up and running a WARP are shared among the WARP membership

• Member co-operative -

  the costs are offset by the members working as part of a virtual team

• Partnership -

  the costs are shared with a partner, which could also have a relationship with the chosen WARP community. This partnership could be commercial, or with an organisation that has some form of corporate responsibility for the community and wishes to take advantage of the trusted community the WARP can create

• Sponsorship -

  the costs are offset by external organisations providing sponsorship. This is most likely to help start-up the WARP, which may then move to one of the other funding options after the first year. This sponsorship could be by public sector bodies such as Regional Development Agencies or potentially EU sources, or possibly central government. It could also be via commercial sponsorship, which is discussed in more detail in the next section

Commercial sponsorship opportunities

The experience of existing WARPs indicates that there are many commercial companies who are prepared to sponsor WARPs. This sponsorship can manifest itself by discounts on products and services, sponsorship of events and supplying resources at cost or even at no charge.

Next step: You should now have the information you need to produce a business case

• Set up a WARP
• Identify Community
• Review benefits
• Assess costs and funding
• Produce business case
• Register your WARP