Our friends at Sunny Govan caught up with Trudi from Wild & Kind and Vicky from The Wee Retreat to find out how they are getting on with Chrysalis, our brand new programme of wraparound support for social enterprises.
Listen below
Glasgow Makes Connections
We are pleased to work with our partners in Glasgow to deliver capacity building support to the third sector. We have worked closely with Glasgow City Council. GCVS, Volunteer Glasgow, Glasgow Life and Jobs and Business Glasgow to create a useful resource bank, which you can access here http://www.gcvs.org.uk/learning-and-development/capacity-building-resources/
Supporting Communities affected by Coronavirus
“All the partners and the communities we serve have hugely welcomed the grant awarded to the consortium. In these very uncertain times, food on the table is essential for life and there are people who are now relying on this service due to job loss, shielding or self-isolating.
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A number of CEIS client organisations, including FARE Scotland, New Tannahill Centre and Community Transport Glasgow, have secured funding from Scottish Government’s Supporting Communities Fund to support their communities’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The communities supported by these and another 250 organisations are amongst the first to benefit from Scottish Government’s £350m package of support to address the social and economic impact of COVID-19. These funds include the £40m Supporting Communities Fund, which has been established with an initial £10 investment targeted at eligible community anchor organisations that are playing an active role in providing vital local services. A further allocation of £10 million has been approved to support the second phase of the fund. A list of the 250+ community groups that will receive funding so far: https://scvo.org.uk/support/coronavirus/funding/scottish-government/supporting-communities-fund
“The response from the local community to the COVID-19 epidemic has been heart-warming. Local people supported by businesses and organisations have gone above and beyond to support those most affected by social distancing measures. Funding from the Scottish Government will directly support these inspiring volunteers and key workers by providing them with the resources and support they need to keep themselves safe, distribute food donations and support our most vulnerable address more complex needs such as fuel poverty, benefits advice and social isolation.”
Client Evaluations Spring 2020
“The business adviser totally understood exactly what we are all about, the passion of our Board and volunteers and this made it so much easier to work through the business plan. He made the process easy to understand and also made us think more all the things we actually do and how important it was to include them in the business plan”
We like to understand the impact that our support has on our clients, not just in the short term but over the medium and longer term too. Every year we go back and ask clients to reflect on their experience of working with us, which allows us to continuously improve.
Here, we share a few highlights.
Satisfaction Levels
90% of clients surveyed were satisfied or very satisfied with our support.
“First Class Services’
“The support and information provided by CEIS was extremely useful”
“Thank you for all the support. It has been hugely helpful and we are very grateful’”
“It was very welcome and very helpful”
“We have received support with cash flow forecasting and marketing and both have been excellent for us, thank you”
“Thank you for the important service you provide”
“We greatly value CEIS support”
“Keep providing this - it has been really helpful, but as suggested, an allocated person to support throughout new business development and bring additional capacity is needed”
“Secured a Contract on the back of the Business Plan that you helped draw up for me”
“Two heads are better than one. Just having the business adviser in the room with me to think things through together was a relief. I can do all of this myself, but the pressure on me is considerable already”
Social Impact
We also asked clients how our support impacted their ability to fulfil their social mission
25% have been able to offer new products or services to their client/communities
31% are able to support more client/community needs
19% are offering their products/services to a different client group/area/community
“The people who provide the support are knowledgeable and experienced - this was hugely beneficial to our development”
Much of the above support was provided with the kind support of Glasgow City Council.
If you would like to explore how we might be able to help your charity, social enterprise or community group please contact us today.
Make Do and Grow
We enjoy working with Govan based social enterprise, Make Do and Grow and at a recent catch up were delighted to hear how they’ve reacted to the COVID19 pandemic, responding quickly, creatively and collaboratively to ensure the needs of their community are met.
Extended Interview
Working with CEIS
Huge thank you to Trudi from Wild & Kind CIC who recently shared a few thoughts on her experience working with us
Come on Board - Social Enterprise Week
Strengthening Social Enterprise Boards
As a team who are passionate about social enterprises, and who are lucky enough to work with them every day, we see the massive difference a good board can make to these organisations.
Now a ‘good’ board will look different in each organisation, but we do know that social enterprises often struggle to recruit the right people so we were delighted to sponsor an event organised by our team member Zahra, and created in association with Volunteer Glasgow, Changing the Chemistry and Glasgow Social Enterprise Network.
Hosted in the Vounteer Glasgow offices, the event brought together more than 20 people interested in joining a social enterprise board, many of whom came from outside the third sector. We then heard brief ‘pitches’ from 8 social enterprises to allow the audience to gain a glimpse into each organisation - what they do, why they do it - in order to discover if they felt a particular ‘fit.
Thanks to all who came along, and our social enterprise ‘pitchers’:
Social Enterprise Academy, Glasgow Eco Trust, Govan Community Project, Maryhill Burgh Halls, Queens Cross Workspace, Repairel, The Wee Retreat and the Advocacy Project. Please follow the links to find out more about each of these marvellous organisations.
Catering was provided by the fabulous Soul Food Sisters.
Supporting Social Enterprises in Glasgow
CEIS are very proud to work with Glasgow City Council, delivering support to social enterprises, community groups and charities on their behalf. From advice on the best legal structure to marketing strategies, a review of financial systems to business planning, we work with organisations across the city to help them become more stable or sustainable, as well helping them to pursue growth ambitions.
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement we follow up with these clients to be able to report on the impacts we are having, and are delighted to share some highlights from our work over the last financial year.
Implementation of Support
Many clients report that they enjoy the process of working with our team. The mixture of support and challenge is in itself useful when going through a difficult period or facing an opportunity. We co-produce all of our assignments as our aim is to build capacity in the sector, not just to write amazing business plans.
As the Business Development lead for the department, I always tell potential clients that they will have to put time into working with us, and at the end there should be nothing surprising in the final report because they will have been involved all the way through.
Has your organisation since implemented/used any aspects of the support provided?
This is one of the reasons why we are able to report that almost all of our clients are able to implement changes based on our advice - it’s an unfortunate truth in the world of business support consultancy that sometimes reports, strategies and recommendations (often expensive) can lay forgotten in a drawer if the client hasn’t felt sufficient ownership. As our results show, this isn’t a problem for our clients, 100% of whom either have or will implement the recommendations.
Word Cloud recent client survey
Impacts of Support
Not only did clients report increases in income and staffing levels, but also commented on the impact our work had on their ability to deliver their social goals, like developing new services and products to their clients and being better able to understand and support their client needs.
In terms of looking to the future, 80%of respondents expect to grow their business over the next year, and 20% expect to be able to sustain current levels - this is a huge achievement and we are very proud to have played a small part in the ability of these organisations to carry on delivering their vital services across the city.
Customer Satisfaction Survey
We work with social enterprises, charities and community groups on behalf of Glasgow City Council and the headline results from our annual survey are in!
Scottish Learning Disability Awards
Recognising people with a learning disability who are engaged in enterprise
I had an inspiring end to my week on Friday (17th May) when I attended the third annual Scottish Learning Disability Awards gala event, organised by the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh.
A key part of Learning Disability Week, the Awards are a platform to celebrate the contribution of people with learning disabilities in their communities across Scotland. There were 8 Award Categories which were centred around this year’s Learning Disability Week theme of ‘Community – Active, Connected, Included‘, and over 100 nominations received across the 8 categories.
As Scotland’s largest social enterprise support agency, and a social enterprise ourselves, CEIS was delighted to support the Awards. In my role as a Business Adviser with CEIS’ Enterprise and Communities Team I was invited to join a judging panel of 3 in March this year to consider nominations for the Community Enterprise category and help present the category awards.
There was real range and contrast in the nominations with varying emphasis on product/ service development, skills development, personal challenges faced, community benefits, and plans for enterprise growth. Narrowing it down to a final 2 involved a lot of discussion but, for me, both finalists demonstrated a strong customer focus and the difference that enterprise can make to people’s lives – both essential components of a business with a social purpose.
Elliot Ballantyne works with social enterprise, The Green Team, in the Scottish Borders. Elliot sells and delivers kindling to customers across his rural community using his customised tricycle. Many are older people or live in remote locations and depend on Elliot’s deliveries, which he makes regardless of the weather. Elliot’s efforts and customer service are reflected in his sales, which have grown by over half since he first started.
The Sunshine Kitchen is an enterprise in Fife for young adults with additional support needs, which makes food products from locally-sourced produce in a supportive work environment. It sells these at local farmers’ markets and events, and also provides a catering service. The young adults are closely involved in the planning, development and production of the food products, as well as branding, packaging and other marketing materials.
On the night, the event was ably hosted by television presenter and journalist Rona Dougall with keynote remarks from Clare Haughey MSP, Minister for Mental Health. It was a real celebration of the achievements of people with a learning disability and the people that support them. Although, as SCLD’s new CEO Charlie McMillan pointed out, these are only some of the success stories, and the talents, achievements and contributions of many more are less well known or recognised.
When the time came, I presented the ‘Highly Commended’ award to Elliot with the category winner being The Sunshine Kitchen. The joy of both finalists, and of those in the other categories, at being recognised for their efforts and achievements was self-evident. You can find out more about the 2 Community Enterprise finalists by watching their LDA videos at:
Elliot Ballantyne https://vimeo.com/showcase/6001881/video/337093444
The Sunshine Kitchen https://vimeo.com/showcase/6001881/video/337093633
And if their stories inspire you to start your own social enterprise, or grow your existing one, then take a look out at Scottish Government’s Just Enterprise programme (www.justenterprise.org) or the free development support that you may be able to access.
Just Enterprise - Support for Social Enterprises
The Scottish Government today announced it will invest £5million to support social enterprises and enterprising charities across Scotland.
The announcement follows a competitive tender process won by the Just Enterprise consortium of business consultancy specialists led by CEIS and including Social Enterprise Academy, Firstport, Impact Hub Inverness and CEMVO .
Previous iterations of the programme led by the same team engaged with over 5000 organisations and almost 10,000 individuals across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland. Reported benefits include increased employment, better business and strategic planning, greater sustainability and resilience, and more efficient working practices.
Just Enterprise will provide fully funded business support including start up specific advice, internationally recognised leadership development programmes, marketing strategies, income generation, tendering and procurement, financial systems, business planning and impact measurement in the form of tailored one to one consultancy and learning opportunities.
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said:
“The social enterprise sector contributes over £2 billion to the economy every year and employs over 80,000 people so it is vital that they are able to access the support and advice they need to succeed. Social entrepreneurs are driven by a passion to improve their local communities and provide a service for the greater good. They benefit and support people, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, and create jobs in the process. It is essential we continue to support their vision to create a better and fairer Scotland.”
CEIS CEO Gerry Higgins said:
“Following the positive independent evaluation of Just Enterprise last summer, we were delighted that our recent bid to continue to deliver these key services was successful. As social enterprises ourselves we know the challenges for our clients in balancing income generation with social impact and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners across Scotland to deliver an innovative and effective programme of business support to the third sector.”
The full programme of support will launch in August, but interested organisations are urged to register their interest via www.justenterprise.org now.
Hey Girls! received Just Enterprise support in 2018. CEO Celia Hodson said:
“Just Enterprise enabled us, as a new social enterprise with ambitious growth aspirations, to bid for and win a significant government contract that boosted our organisation’s turnover, credibility and profile. We simply wouldn’t have been in a position to bid for this without the Just Enterprise support.”
Notes to Editors
- The Just Enterprise Consortium partners are: CEIS, Social Enterprise Academy, Impact Hub Inverness, Firstport, Lanarkshire Enterprise Services Ltd, Inspiralba, Community Enterprise Ltd, Forth Sector Development, CEMVO Scotland and Social Value Lab.
- Social Enterprises are businesses which trade for an environmental or social purpose and which invest their profits in furthering this mission.
- There are more than 5,600 social enterprises in Scotland contributing £2billion to the economy. Social enterprises employ more than 80,000 people and over 80% sell directly to the public.
- The Scottish Government’s National Social Enterprise Strategy sets out the shared ambition for the social enterprise sector and the role it can play in a more inclusive, fairer Scotland. It can be accessed here https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-social-enterprise-strategy-2016-2026/
- The full evaluation of the previous Just Enterprise programme is available here https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-business-support-third-sector-organisations-contract-research-findings/
Top Tips for Community Engagement
Recently we’ve been involved in building communities in Dumfries and Falkirk, two places that are struggling with the effects of poverty and have been identified as receiving less investment than other similar areas.
Over the last five years, we’ve used roadmaps, ideas and a whole lot of empathy to engage with the citizens living in Dumfries and Falkirk. This process has brought out some lessons that our Community Engagement star Judith McVinnie has kindly collated into some top tips to get your projects off to a flying start.
A Year Out of the Office
I recently returned to my job from maternity leave and the tremors of how much had changed in the space of a year are only just starting to settle. Either I was hiding under a fuzzy pregnancy blanket before going off, or things have changed quickly. I don’t think I was, I mean I remember being at work the day that labour started. Maybe when you are in the sea of change you don’t notice it so much, it takes a step back for whatever reason to see it. The question I have for you is this; have you noticed the pace at which things are changing, or is it just me?
Community not Customers
Image Huel (c)
Packed lunches are so out. And, drinking fuel is in. Which is good as I don’t have time to make my lunch anyway and not being hungry feels great.
There is no better example than Huel for demonstrating that the private sector are into Community Building and Community Engagement, not just in a CSR sense, but as core to how they engage with their customer. Community Building is at the heart of their marketing strategies.
‘It’s not about selling something. It’s now about growing a community.’
Good Job
I think we might have done it. Social Enterprise, Social Business, Doing Good – whatever you want to call it is firmly now in the mainstream. Sure, there is more to do. The planet is dying, the robots are coming (more on this later). Seriously though it looks to me that all companies now are being expected to provide some kind of offset for their impacts. They are doing this because consumers and tax payers are demanding it and so that they can hire and retain talented employees working for their mission and because they care obviously.
Image Business Comparison.com (c)
Not that this all happened in the last year, certainly not. It’s been years of back breaking work and advocating from the whole sector. I do think we’ve reached a more positive point than we’ve ever been in before and that’s worth celebrating.
We recently were involved in putting together a MOOC and would highly recommend catching up on it, especially if you are a corporate out there interested in doing good or better things in this world, duvets allowed. How Social Enterprise Enhances Supply Chains
Welcome to the Learning Culture
Everyone is now officially up for learning. Yay! Online courses and the sharing of free and useful information seems to have uncontrollably blossomed. MOOCs, Universities, all kinds of different companies are all sharing freely their pearls of shiny wisdom. You can learn pretty much anything at a time that suits you online. Now. Like today.
Quality control – and the challenge of knowing which bits of the information deluge are best suited to your particular circumstance – now seems to be the hard part.
CEIS recently announced that we are bringing the Social Enterprise Institute to the UK, accessible, interactive online learning for businesses building impact. Find out more here
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
My phone now recognises my face. Take a minute to think about that for a moment. Wow.
Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash
Social media channels are no longer just a fun little thing that you do on the side. It’s a key part of work. Of life. LinkedIn is a way that you can connect with your colleagues, not around the water cooler with small talk but about stuff that drives you, motivates you and challenges you. Not just your existing colleagues, all the colleagues you’ve ever worked with and might work with in the future. And by the way more people are on Facebook in the UK than are registered to vote apparently.
Now how do you create a change in the workplaces in Scotland to embrace our robot friends? I can’t help feel there are lots of transferable skills here and what we’ve been doing in community development over the years - getting people in communities engaged and on board – is now being embraced beyond our bubble. Everyone wants to know how to change your company culture and for their products to be “human centred”. It seems like the skills we’ve got in creating positive change and putting people at the centre of that are more important than ever before.
Innovation
I used to be on the innovation team at work. On one occasion we went mad with post its, competitions, ideas and prizes and although shared space was provided for it to happen year round it was difficult for the wider staff team who were kept really busy with the day job. But now, it seems everyone is in to it. It’s the thing. I know Scottish government has invested in it with things like the CAN DO initiative. It’s the secret behind massive trillion-dollar companies like Google and Amazon and the how to make your services and company something that is relevant now and in the future. Oh that’s another word that appears to have taken the work place by storm. Future. I met a Future Living Specialist and I had to ask the man - that do you do? An engineer. Ah, oh okay. Gotcha.
A Catch up Culture
The pace of change in the workplace seems to have increased. I’ve been back 6 months and only now am I finding time to reflect and putting my thoughts out there. I’m sure I’m not just catching up anymore from the time off. I think, everyone is catching up permanently.
I know friends have found it hard to balance life and family. Change is hard. Even if millennials don’t think so. I thought millennials were young things, but recently I looked it up. I am one. On the older side of the phenomena but still good to know.
My morning commute companion on the radio has changed for the better – and not just because she’s a female voice, Lauren Laverne has a feature while you were sleeping, which lets you catch up on music that’s been released overnight! Change and being on perma catch up seems to be inevitable. Goodness help me when I take my summer holiday. Now I know why the Japanese with their future thinking, advanced technology don’t take holidays!
Be a Mermaid and Make Waves
Judith McVinnie tells us about her experiences being on Sunny Govan Community Radio where she spoke to the listeners about how to start up a social business and what is involved in providing consultancy in community engagement.
‘Be a Mermaid and Make Waves’. That was what it said on the presenter’s mug. Perfect.
First question comes in, someone would like to start an organisation that fixes musical instruments and uses the profits to provide music workshops for the community, how do you go about starting up? Brilliant idea I say as I realise I’m live on air and the whole of Glasgow can hear me! Ah! As I stared at the mug, I thought this is really just asking How do you become a ‘mermaid’, someone who is a bit different to the usual fish in the sea and does something that most people will only dream of? My advice would be to just do it. Don’t give up the day job quite yet but you’ve got to just start. It might be small stuff if that’s all you’ve got time for, but that’s it you are off….
Don’t get me wrong initially you’ve got to do some research – is anyone else out there doing it for example? I would look at Retune and Musical Broth who are currently doing similar things, although not the same idea. Just get in touch, tell them about your idea – meet for coffee, understand what they do – whether you fit in with that or whether you want to start something new.
“There has never been a better time to get in touch. Because if you are a mermaid underneath your normal gear, yes you there, and you want to make waves in this world, see change for the better – I’ve got a question for you: if you don’t do it now – then when will you?”
If you are not sure who else is out there, we can signpost you to these groups or we can be involved in the development of a new project, organisation or community initiative too. We can provide desk-based research so that you’ve got some data and hard facts and figures to back up your idea. There can be a whole load of different structures for community organisations, CIC’s, SCIO’s – the main thing from our point of view - so that we can support you - is that the business is for public good rather than the individual. We can talk you through the various options and help you set up a structure that best suits your needs.
Then once you’ve got the basics ready, I would build a network of support, contacts, an audience. People that want to support you and your idea and see you flourish. You’ve got to build a network, develop a community for your project, your workshops, so that you can make your ‘waves’. You’ve got to start talking about your idea to people who are interested. People who are listening. Say you are interested up your project in setting it up in Govan for example. A great way to do this is to engage with your community, ask people if it would be something they are interested in and why. This is what I specialise in – community engagement - and of course I’ll tell you this, it is just so important.
If you would like to engage with your community and you’re not sure how to get started, talk to us. Or maybe you are already doing ‘community engagement’ but not getting much response from your community and want some fresh ideas. Or perhaps you’ve got an excellent community programme and you need help to clarify the impacts and sustain the benefits – then get us involved. We might just be able to help you access funding to make the good that you are providing more sustainable.
What I tried to get across on the airwaves was that when you work with CEIS you begin a collaboration, we are a team of business advisors who are all specialised and supporting Enterprise and Communities across Scotland. There has never been a better time to get in touch. Because if you are a mermaid underneath your normal gear, yes you there, and you want to make waves in this world, see change for the better – I’ve got a question for you: if you don’t do it now – then when will you?
Driving Social Enterprise Activity
We were delighted to be part of The Gathering, hosted by SCVO at the SECC in Glasgow. Not only did we have an exhibition stall for the two day event but we co-hosted a workshop with Social Enterprise Scotland called A Practical Guide to Driving Social Enterprise Activity.
Our panel comprised three guests all with different experiences of social enterprise - Selina Hales from Refuweegee, Stephen McLellan from RAMH and Anne-Marie Treacy Deaf Connections - who all generously and openly shared their experiences of the ups and downs of leading charities which generate some of their income through trade.
As Social Enterprise Scotland CEO Chris Martin pointed out, 75% of social enterprises are also registered charities so the sometime perception that you are either one or the other is a fallacy. Certainly, in our work at CEIS we see more and more charities that are looking to complement their traditional fundraising activities with more enterprise related income generation, whether that’s to improve sustainability, provide employability solutions or generate a steady stream of income that doesn’t have to be tied to project outcomes.
You won’t be surprised to hear that none of our panellists started enterprising activity purely because they wanted to make money. For RAMH, who now have a huge reuse superstore in Johnstone, the idea was born from a service user asking for help, while Refuweegee wanted to spread awareness of their project and allow people to physically show their support for the ‘refugees welcome’ message through a range of t-shirts.
Challenges
Our panellists were very clear about the challenges of moving into ‘enterprise’ including:
Perceptions. From Board to staff, service users to customers, everyone will have a view on what the purpose of your organisation is and moving towards charging for services or products can feel like drift to some people.
Risk. Enterprise is by it’s nature risky - you have to speculate to accumulate and all that jazz - and managing that risk goes a long way to minimising the impact of any potential pitfalls.
Skills. The people who have guided your charity thus far might not have the skills (or desire) to lead any enterprising activity. And even the people who really do see the value of the enterprise might not have the all the relevant skills.
Added Value
However, all three panellists were emphatic about the value that enterprise added to their work as charities:
Employment and Volunteer Opportunities. If you have your own business in house you can offer training and paid employment to the people who use your service. It can prove a safe and supportive space to practise real work skills allowing people to earn money as well as grow in confidence.
Awareness and Reach. Stephen McLellan of RAMH pointed out that not everyone will feel comfortable visiting their GP or otherwise raising their hand to ask for help when it comes to mental health, but popping into a shop and picking up a flyer doesn't seem quite so intimidating. Anne-Marie Treacy from Deaf Connections also notes out that opening their building and services to the general public is helping to reduce barriers between the deaf community and their local community. Finally, the Refuweegee T-Shirts and “Trump is a jobby” badges Selina’s team sells are a great conversation starter for the important issues they are trying to tackle.
Providing Services. Sometimes, the sad reality is that charities aren’t able to provide all the services that they want to, but subsiding costs through enterprise can make the difference between staying afloat and shutting the doors. Deaf Connections have had a number of different income streams for many years almost exclusively serving the deaf community. Now, they open their cafe, event space, theatre etc to the wider public they are far more confident that they will still be able to offer vital services to their service users for many more years.
Improving Services. As a social enterprise, you will be reinvesting all your profits back into your services or community. This means that you can focus on doing the best you can, without worrying about shareholder value. An upshot of this is the focus on delivering the best quality service that you can. It’s not to say that mainstream businesses don’t care about quality, they clearly do and we’ve all had some wonderful customer service experiences in the private sector, but social enterprises are really, really good at realising wider benefits. To use Deaf Connections example, they provide BSL interpreters and by their continued reinvestment they have improved the working experience for interpreters, employing and training more (as opposed to the freelance contracts standard in the industry) which means that their team aren’t thrust straight into complex or emotional medical or legal assignments straight away. This approach benefits the interpreters, the people they are working with and the professionals who are depending on them to convey often challenging messages.
Community. Often, by providing services of products you are able to be part of your wider local community in a different way to before.
Getting Started
So what where the lessons we learned on the day?
Use the support available. CEIS have worked with both Deaf Connections and RAMH many times over the years and our business experts are able to work with Boards and charity leaders to help them assess the best way forward, whether that’s feasibility studies and scoping, income generation ideas, costing and pricing, business planning and strategy, marketing or board reporting.
Understand your Why. If you feel forced into generating income solely because your grant funding is reduced it probably won’t work. People working in social enterprises often need a bigger why than ‘because we need the money’!
Look at Alignment. Consider if you would prefer to stay in your comfort zone in terms of the services and products you already deliver or whether something completely different would be better.
People. Make sure you have the right people in place. Often organisations opt to create a sub committee from their main board to guide the enterprise activity.
If you are interested in understanding how CEIS can help your charity explore enterprise please contact us. You might also benefit from attending some of the fully funded workshops available at www.justentprise.org.
With thanks to Social Enterprise Scotland, RAMH, Deaf Connections, Refuweegee and Firstport
Social Enterprise Support in Feb 2019
Did you know our team of 12 works internationally as well as locally? These are all the places our clients are from this month
From business planning to pricing, service development to tendering, get in touch to find out how we can help your charity, community group or social enterprise become more sustainable and have more impact.
Making a Dream a Reality
Popeye’s Park, Lincluden
How it all began
Today it was announced that Lincluden Community Centre has been awarded over £375,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to develop a park known locally as Popeye’s Park. I speak to people every week that want to see parks improved in their local community and I’ve taken some time today to reflect on our journey, and how we’ve finally got there in Lincluden.
I first met folks in Lincluden four years ago and heard about the wonders of Popeye’s Park. How it used to be so busy at weekends with local families, as a space to socialise, have picnics, enjoy the boating pond and somewhere you could be proud of locally. Now, although it’s still a special space it is unloved and underdeveloped by today’s park standards.
After meeting residents who had so much passion, we encouraged people to set up into stronger community groups who would have more voice. Working with Dumfries and Galloway Council and DHGP we now see Lincluden Community Council and Maxwelltown North Tenants and Residents Association who are active and speaking up for the community in Lincluden.
Big Ambitions
We heard about the ambitions Lincluden Community Centre had for their centre and the wider community, and to put some of those plans into action the organisation restructured and are now a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The organisation decided it was time to take the matter of getting something done in Popeye’s into their own hands. If I was to pin the success on one thing for the development of Popeye’s Park, it has been this - leadership from Lincluden Community Centre. This organisation had the confidence to say they were willing to do what is necessary to lead a project of this size with the support of CEIS and other local partners. I’m sure the group would agree, it’s not always fun. Working out the legal details about the land ownership of the park was difficult and very time consuming! However, the group have continued to chip away at this, for years, keeping it moving for and with the community.
Learning from others
Part of the process has been learning, and that has involved study visits to see other communities who had already made it happen. I remember during one of the study visits, the group reflecting on what a beautiful part of the world Lincluden is and I couldn’t help but agree with them. There may be challenges in North West Dumfries* , however the green space in Popeye’s Park is beautiful with the stunning selection of ancient trees and the river Nith just a stone throw away. Even Rabbie Burns thought so as he pen’d some of his world famous poems just a few footsteps away! However, bad things may be in your local area if you focus on the assets, the good stuff, then you have all the ingredients to make a really good thing happen.
Involving Everyone
Not everyone has time to come to meetings and it is important to keep everyone involved with such an exciting development. The group continued to keep the wider community involved with their plans through a theme group which became a parks steering group and is now quite simply ‘Friends of Popeye’s Park’. Meeting is on Monday night at 6pm if you want to come along at the centre – open to all. Community consultation has taken place over the years, whether it be a questionnaire at the annual litter pick event run or a formal door to door survey the group commissioned. The most important thing has been for community consultation to be an ongoing part of the project, to steer decisions to make sure the plans remain in line with want residents want to see here.
Today is Lincluden’s news. It’s their project and we’ll be there for any support they need – with the new tenders, press or for a moan! CEIS have been supporting communities for over 30 years and we aren’t going anywhere.
“CEIS have been a great asset in our journey over the past 4 years with sound advice on funding applications, helping to bring the community together to achieve our dreams of a better place to live. There has been a return of Hope for the future in lots of ways from forming groups, liaising with like minded people and re-establishing relationships.”
Thanks for letting us in on the conversation and for trusting our process would work for you Lincluden, it’s been fab. With all these skills, experience and of course a new play park to enjoy –the question is now that the group has achieved this - what’s next?
I can’t wait to find out.
*Five of the ten most deprived datazones (SIMD16 Quintiles) in Dumfries & Galloway are in North West Dumfries Ward. Four of them are in Lochside (SO1007576 Lochside and Lincluden 03, Rank 24; S01007577 Lochside and Lincluden 04, Rank 393; S01007578 Lochside and Lincluden 05, Rank 582; and S01007575 Lochside and Lincluden 02, Rank 625).
Seven of seventeen datazones in North West Dumfries are in Quintile 1, with a further five in Quintile 2.
Community Radio - Sunny Govan
By Business Development Manager Zahra Hedges (views author’s own)
I’m a big fan of radio. I listen to radio and podcasts more than I watch TV, and I love local radio, having spent much of my teen and student years volunteering at a hospital radio service.
A few months ago I was approached by Simone, presenter of the the Community and Social Enterprise show on Sunny Govan, a community radio station based in the South side of Glasgow but broadcasting to the whole city, and indeed the world via the website.
Simone interviews people from a lot of community groups, charities and social enterprises and she said that time and time again our name was mentioned as being a significant help to their organisations. Obviously, really heartwarming to hear but we both realised that we had the potential to do more and over the past few months we’ve been working on a few different ideas.
It started with a couple of interviews as part of the Communities show (broadcasts live on a Tuesday lunchtime and repeated in the week) where we covered a whole range of topics including my journey into social enterprise, the support landscape for social enterprises, some of the challenges our clients face and how we can help, and more generally how organisations can become more sustainable.
I have to confess that I didn’t tell anyone the first two times I went on the radio. Apart from my mum as she’d still love me regardless!
I had agreed with my manager that I’d be appearing but didn’t actually tell her when because I was so concerned that I’d mess up!
The idea of going on the radio can be intimidating - there were many ‘risks’ running through my mind - What if I dried up? What if I said the wrong thing? What if I ummed and ahed? What if? What if? What if?
But I’ve always embraced that which makes me uncomfortable and the older I get the more I realise that other people don’t pay as much attention to you as you think so I just went for it. And actually, here’s the thing. I am a passionate believer in the power of business to do good. I am a proponent of social enterprise and genuinely believe that charities, community groups and social enterprises are making massive difference to our world and should be supported. I also know that my amazing colleagues at CEIS provide fantastic and meaningful support to the third sector and I can talk endlessly about the ways in which we have helped our clients become more sustainable and have more impact.
So as soon as the mic opened, that’s what I was thinking about. Simone is an excellent and empathetic host and the time flew by. To anyone interested in promoting their cause via Sunny Govan, I’d say go for it. Your passion for your project is all people are going to hear, and any mistakes you make will really only be obvious to you.
We are now sponsoring Simone’s show on Sunny Govan and are looking to offer an Advice Clinic slot where staff and volunteers at charities, community groups and social enterprises will be able to write or phone in with questions or challenges and our advisers will give some hints and tips, so watch this space.
As part of our sponsorship we were invited to pop into the studio to talk more about what we do in the Enterprise and Communities team at CEIS but of course, being me, it veered off into other areas too. Have a listen , and then contact Sunny Govan about perhaps getting involved yourself.
Listen to my interview below
Listen to Sunny Govan Community Radio on 103.5FM or via http://sunnyg.com/
Contact us or read our case studies
Connect with me on LinkedIn
December - Where we've been
Whew! That was a quick month.
We closed on Christmas Eve so the team worked hard to see all of our clients and ensure projects stay on track.
To find out more about working with us, please get in touch. Read what our clients have to say here
November Activity Summary
There are very few days when our whole team is in the office. We’re lucky enough to have great Flexi Time and TOIL policies and in addition to that, most of the time our works takes us to different parts of the country. Out of curiosity, we decided to map our where the clients we worked with in November are, along with the types of assignments we’ve been working on.
It looks like a lot, but we have 12 in our team, ensuring that every organisation or individual we work with gets our full attention, as well as support from different members of the team as their specialisms are called upon.
If you’d like to find out about how we can work with you, check our our case studies and please contact us.
You can download a PDF of this document here