We looked at a couple of pitches from a DTA conference Dragon’s Den competition.

Steph assures us that there is a very clever system to keep track of all the goods though it might not look it!

Georgeous Gramaphone sold for only £25

It was also great to get such positive feedback for the course too, which we are continuing to develop and improve even more. We’re also exploring ideas for continued support we can provide to all participants, with goals and form a peer-learning ‘club’.

Key points that arose from the sessions for third sector organisations in this sectors include the understanding of how to ’swim’ in a highly political environment and being flexible enough to adapt to the changing marketplace. Acumen Development Trust had to go down many different routes in order to make it work and did very well in developing their own course and getting it accredited.

Click here to access the online session recording

Acumen Development Trust / Possibility Place video and resources

DANNY’S DREAM – http://www.dannysdream.org/, an organization based in Hull, is a vision of hope for children, young adults and adults with severe physical disabilities and/or learning difficulties who face social exclusion because of a lack of suitable facilities and support to enable them to be integrated into mainstream society. Their services include providing high quality support to enable people with complex needs to experience social inclusion in a safe environment.

Danny’s Dream was started from a community action group of family carers and has grown into an in demand specialist service through funding from the Learning and Disabilities development fund and support from Goodwin Development Trust. The staff and their skills was identified as their most important asset, particular as there were aiming to offer a premium service in a specialist niche. They have developed this well, having a high staff retention rate and providing the carers with the customised training they need.

An inspiring startup story and great community service.

Click here to view the full Elluminate Session (Latest Java update needed)

The DTA publication, ‘To Have and To Hold’ is relevant.  This Guide provides a broad range of information, resources and contacts that you can use to develop a land or building project that is an asset for your organisation and local community.

Below is a balanced scorecard and tips she created for us.

Balanced Scorecard – Managed Workspace Example

Managed Workspace Tips

Our discussions included:

KEY INGREDIENTS TO SUCCESS
• Tenants likely to be motivated but will need a lot of TLC!
• A good rent collector! Clear legal agreements, and agreements about use of shared space.
• Managing Void periods
• community developer – did work with other orgs about getting DDA compliant etc.

IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
• Property no longer a guaranteed asset, but it may be more available
• Small/new businesses may not be resilient – loss of tenants?
• Increasing utilities bills (v difficult if tenants have inclusive agreements)
• Downsizing companies might wish to take smaller spaces: flexible as possible? Make it easy for people?
• Maintenance/upkeep – cleaning?
• Rent and service charge? Often this split, rent and share of common bills (insurance, cleaning, security, maintenance of common machinery etc). What policy did Ibstock adopt? All-inclusive, including business rates, although these were separated out later.

Click here to view the full Elluminate Session -You may need the latest Java update installed on your browser which you can find on www.java.com and allow the download when prompted.

Goodwin Volunteer Doula Project

The main aim of the project is to train, nurture and support local women to become volunteer doulas. A Doula is a trained and experienced partner who accompanies a woman through pregnancy and childbirth and the first few weeks of family life. 

The balanced scorecard and top tips can be found in the resources section here – http://communityst.co.uk/resources/doula-project/

Here are some key points that came out of the session:

Pitching – We were very impressed at the clear explanation of the business model in the video. There was a real sense that Heather knows what she is talking about and that all aspects of planning and delivery are well thought out and documented. The sources of funding were clearly identified although additional social return on investment details such of cost per child/doula—volunteer expenses would have been interesting. While the video was not intended to be promotional, we felt more could have been done to cover the fantastic social impact the project delivers by involving the parents, babies and doulas.

What are the “unique selling points” of the business venture? What is the competition?
Clearly a win/win/win—for mums, volunteers, and PCT—need longitudinal study to show Doula support improves outcomes for target group. Also highlighted was the engagement of BME communities. Competition –other birthing partner services, NHS midwives, –could this service be developed in conjunction with a Health Centre/GPs?

Is the business model replicable?
It was great to hear there was now funding secured to replicate the project in new areas of the country. We felt this looked like a really replicable project hitting outcomes from major policy platforms. However it was highlighted that one of the reasons for success was the support that was provided by Goodwin Development Trust.

Grassroots Training

Grassroots Trianing is a social enterprise that supports communities to prevent suicide. They deliver training that challenges stigma and discrimination relating to mental ill-health and suicide. Chris made a very confident pitch that really convinced us of the social need for her organisation.

Points raised include:

• The possibility of accreditation of the courses delivered and importance of benchmarking was brought up as it was clear the organization was competing as a specialist training organisation. Funding in many instances being linked to accreditation.
  It was acknowledged that measuring overall social return was difficult for this project. Work done by Professor Richard Layardon the Economics of Happiness was recommended research.

• Being a project that addressed local concerns of Brighton and Hove, we discussed the size of the market and whether there was a need regionally and nationally.

• There was interest in Community Interest Company structure that Grassroots Training adopted -http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk/. Hugh emphasised that structure should be one of the last things to consider as there are many options that could perhaps suit need and form should always follow function.

• Great pitch – although the balanced scorecard was quite crowded and it was suggested that this could be reduced to soundbites and care taken on choice of language.