A guide to third sector trading - WCVA

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It’s an idea, but is it business? A guide to third sector trading 1: Getting started 2: First steps 3: Business planning 4: Legal and governance 5: Funding and resourcing 6: Financial controls 7: Managing growth 8: Management and governance 9: Social enterprise 10: Sources of support • a pool of future board members to draw on in future as directors change • opportunities to recruit other volunteers • supporters to help make your case and open doors • business contacts • specialist knowledge and skills to run the business • ready access to (sometimes free) professional help • a visible and genuine sense of purpose to motivate your efforts • validity for your efforts • feedback: a measure of your impact, and free ongoing market research • a degree of protection if there are serious internal disagreements. Going public: holding community meetings The aims: The work really starts with the first formal planning or consultation meetings. The aim of these is to: • share your ideas with residents, local organisations, potential supporters and other interested parties • sound out views and get people to voice support • keep interested people and bodies informed • define the geographical area the project will serve • identify or confirm the needs of the community or other beneficiaries, and how the enterprise can help • identify possible sources of assistance and funding • begin to form a broadly-based project steering group to help with planning and developing the enterprise. Tips on bringing people together: Going public can be worrying. But this is not a time to be shy or defensive. • Send invitations to named individuals and organisations to come to an ‘open meeting’. A fully ‘public meeting’, may be difficult to handle and unproductive. • Distribute invitations widely, and suggest that these are passed on to other friends and colleagues. • Target individuals as well as officers and representatives of local community organisations and public bodies. • Invite potential opponents too. They can help you to evaluate the difficulties you will face, and shutting them out only gives them ammunition. 30
It’s an idea, but is it business? A guide to third sector trading 1: Getting started 2: First steps 3: Business planning 4: Legal and governance 5: Funding and resourcing 6: Financial controls 7: Managing growth 8: Management and governance 9: Social enterprise 10: Sources of support • Circulate an attendance list at the meeting to collect email, phone and address details. Keep a simple database of contacts. • Feed back notes of each meeting to everyone on your list, including non-attenders. The agenda for the first one or two meetings might include: • appointing a chair for the meeting • a short presentation on social enterprise • a speaker from another trading project • a discussion of why a project is needed and its hoped-for social benefits (new organisations will later need to provide evidence of the need for their enterprise) • the help and funding you need • next steps and the date of the a follow-up meeting. Running the start up meetings • Have a good chair – someone who can lead and manage the open discussion. Brief someone in advance if at all possible. (This is about good management, not who holds power). • Try to establish common ground − look for consensus, but recognise differences openly − acknowledge, but don’t be thrown off course by negative views (sceptics often disappear early on; but if they stay with you they can help to keep it real). • Be positive and upbeat, but be realistic: Successful trading organisations can have an extraordinary impact. But this may take years to achieve. Be open about this. • Don’t try to decide too much: Share ideas and let people have their say. But don’t make binding decisions – you will need more information and much more planning later. • Keep going: The only vital decision you need to make at the first meeting is to meet again soon – in two or three weeks if possible – to keep up the momentum. 31
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