A guide to third sector trading - WCVA
A guide to third sector trading - WCVA
A guide to third sector trading - WCVA
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It’s an idea, but is it business? A <strong>guide</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>third</strong> sec<strong>to</strong>r <strong>trading</strong><br />
1: Getting<br />
started<br />
2: First steps 3: Business<br />
planning<br />
4: Legal and<br />
governance<br />
5: Funding<br />
and<br />
resourcing<br />
6: Financial<br />
controls<br />
7: Managing<br />
growth<br />
8: Management<br />
and<br />
governance<br />
9: Social<br />
enterprise<br />
10: Sources<br />
of support<br />
Fostering an enterprising culture: There is little point in<br />
attempting <strong>to</strong> take the social enterprise route, unless your whole<br />
organisation is committed <strong>to</strong> the sustainability goal, and unless<br />
you mobilise all the resources at your disposal. Among the steps<br />
you need <strong>to</strong> take are:<br />
• Identifying every potential enterprise prospect in what you are<br />
already doing – even if you dismiss them all, the act of analysing<br />
the possibilities can get you all <strong>to</strong> think commercially.<br />
• Put existing projects on a more businesslike footing – your<br />
nursery or café or social centre probably need <strong>to</strong> market<br />
themselves better; examine the way they are staffed, the way<br />
services are costed, the charges which users pay, how you apply<br />
for and use grant money.<br />
• Identify new <strong>trading</strong> ideas, start the business planning, build up<br />
a programme of possible enterprise launches for the next three<br />
years.<br />
• Negotiate with local authority and other funders <strong>to</strong> substitute<br />
grants and service level agreements with more commercially<br />
orientated contracts.<br />
• Get optimum value from the accommodation you are using –<br />
sublet <strong>to</strong> earn rental income, fill spare space with your <strong>trading</strong><br />
ventures.<br />
• Explore options for acquiring property assets – they are<br />
probably your best prospects for a sustainable future.<br />
• Make management freer, more opportunistic, flexible and<br />
business-orientated.<br />
• Give adequate support <strong>to</strong> the new ventures you establish.<br />
• Communicate the urgency and ethos of enterprise <strong>to</strong> junior staff<br />
who have no experience of business.<br />
• Separate commercial activities from the work of any associated<br />
charity.<br />
Spend grants like a business: Grant dependency in the non<strong>trading</strong><br />
<strong>third</strong> sec<strong>to</strong>r is unwelcome but it is an almost universal<br />
necessity. In <strong>trading</strong> organisations it may at times be essential, but<br />
it can also be a will-sapping evil that should be fought off with the<br />
energy of the best vampire hunters. Do whatever you can <strong>to</strong>:<br />
• stretch grants <strong>to</strong> go further than they are intended<br />
• use working capital grants <strong>to</strong> wean your business off<br />
dependency with ruthless self-discipline – if you still need heavy<br />
financial support at the end of the funding period the enterprise<br />
has usually failed (community groups and charities which retain<br />
a grant-dependent mentality have the capacity <strong>to</strong> use business<br />
investments in absurdly profligate ways)<br />
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