Our aim was to develop the capacity of local infrastructure support organisations in social enterprise and investment across the East and West Midlands.
We designed three projects, secured funding from the Connect Fund and delivered these projects with local partners Voluntary Action Leicestershire, Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council, and Co-operative and Social Enterprises Development Agency.
Social enterprise and investment workshops were held across the local areas in the Midlands, and training was delivered to CVS workers in Wolverhampton, Derby/shire and Leicester/shire. As a result a good diverse pipeline of organisations from across the Midlands was developed and targeted investment support and advice was provided. A pipeline of 40 local voluntary and community sector groups were supported in partnership with Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council, and more than 1000 groups were reached, receiving key messages about trading, social enterprise & social investment.
Across the East Midlands and in partnership with Co-operative & Social Enterprise Development Agency, Northamptonshire Voluntary Action, Lincolnshire Community & Voluntary Service, Amber Valley CVS, Derbyshire Dales CVS, Erewash Voluntary Action & Nottingham CVS we delivered 10 social enterprise & investment workshops and developed and supported a pipeline of 77 local organisations.
Testimonials:
"Coming into this knowing nothing to little about business finance I now have a decent understanding of the starting point to seeking finance", workshop participant, Social Enterprise & Investment Workshop, Derbyshire.
"Provoked thinking and increased confidence to progress further", workshop participant, Trading Strategies workshop, Leicestershire.
"Really helpful, helped me to think of a different way forward", workshop participant, Social Enterprise & Investment Workshop, Northamptonshire.
More recently we initiated and facilitated a partnership with local intermediaries Sortified, CERTs, and Co-operative and Social Enterprise Development Agency with the end goal of providing the right business advice and finance to support social enterprises in the East Midlands during the pandemic (and challenging times). A project called Sensemakers was co-designed. Outputs included case studies of social enterprises that survived and thrived through the pandemic, recommendations on how to support them during the post covid recovery phase and resources and tools to help others in the future.
Outcomes
Increased skills and knowledge in enterprise and investment of voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations
Increased skills and knowledge in enterprise and investment of CVS development workers
Increased awareness of social investment and what is can be used for
More VCS groups have diversified income sources that includes trading, to support their resilience
Our Director, Natasha Jolob, presenting at a local community venue in Leicestershire to a group of 20 local Voluntary & Community Sector organisations on social enterprise & investment. Delivered in partnership with Co-operative & Social Enterprise Development Agency (CASE) on 22nd March 2020.