Our fully funded support programme was accessed by over 30 organisations between Aug-Dec 2021. But how exactly did we help?

By offering flexible and accommodating support.

We launched Keep Going Keep Growing to help organisations to do just that.

Operating a not-for-profit organisation certainly comes with its own challenges. However, the global pandemic introduced new obstacles for business owners to overcome such as limited capacity, income shortages, and increasing pressure. With all this to adjust to many were asking, “how will my organisation continue to survive and grow?”

Nurturing Organisations

The Keep Going Keep Growing programme offered participants access to a selection of masterclasses, 1-2-1 support, as well as the opportunity for us to complete work on their behalf.

With the impact of COVID, we were facing our own issues on how to share this support most effectively. Communication with potential and existing participants made it clear that the most common challenges were:

1. Time availability
2. Capacity within the organisation to take time away from operating

After consulting with participants, we made the decision to host all masterclasses online.  Resources and recordings of the sessions were then shared with all who registered onto the programme. That way, these sessions can be replayed at a time convenient to participants.

Keeping the offer adaptable like this, and listening to each organisation’s needs, allowed us to share best practice, knowledge, and tools that people may have otherwise missed out on.

What support did we share?

Masterclasses consisted of topics that would benefit organisations, whether they were focused on operating sustainably or experiencing growth (or planning to!). To ensure the highest quality content we utilised our own Junction Point team but also partnered with external consultants to cover their specialist topics.

Diversifying Income Through Trade, Chelsea Clarke.

This workshop showed organisations how to plan and introduce new revenue streams. Participants identified potential customers and their needs and developed financial plans around their product or service.

‘It will help me to have confidence and understand my business to improve the support to my community.’

Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan, Chelsea Clarke.

In this class, we introduced participants to the SOSTAC marketing plan model to develop a strategy marketing plan for their organisation. This was based around their customers and their organisation’s capabilities. Participants also examined how to tactfully use social media.

‘I now have a replicable model for approaching my social media content.’

Project Management, Lizzy Hodcroft.

These masterclasses demystified the project management processes, developing a framework to plan projects from start to finish and building a toolkit of resources to assist with project planning.

‘It will help to breakdown the work involved in any new and existing projects.’

Recruiting Representative Board Members, Kathryn Sullivan & Colette Harrison.

We brought in two expert speakers for this session: Kathryn Sullivan from Mira Gold Consultancy and Getting on Board as well as Colette Harrison from The Community Foundation Tyne and Wear. The session explored the importance of representation as well as the practicalities of identifying and recruiting people who can truly represent their organisation. This included discussions around current diversity on boards in the sector, barriers around open recruitment and how to remove them, the process of advertising and recruiting to improve processes along with some signposting to additional resources to support organisations with this process along with support around Trustee matching.

‘This was such an engaging session, both Kathryn and Collette brought such different experiences to the table, I feel like my understanding increased ten-fold as a result of this workshop.’

Theory of Change, Matt Wilson.

Delivered by Matt Wilson from GoodLabs, these masterclasses introduced and guided participants through the theory of change model. Participants were supported to develop a clear description of their interventions and what makes them effective and under what circumstances. By the end of the sessions, participants had visually communicated relationships between the social issues they addressed, the projects they deliver in response and the changes that will be brought about if they are successful.

‘It clarified some ‘words’ that are at the core of who we are and what we are about. Identifying this will help generate a conversation of where we go to grow and focus on.’

Growing into 2022

Interest in our Keep Going Keep Growing package reached many more people than we had anticipated, which tells us that this kind of support is highly sought after. That’s why we’re pleased to announce the opportunity for more support through the BIPC Experts in Residence programme.

We’re offering 12-hours of fully funded consultancy to use however you wish. So, if you missed out on this project, or still need further assistance, please sign up by clicking below.

Thank you again to everyone involved in this experience. Keep Going Keep Growing!