A guide to third sector trading - WCVA

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
Get consulting: There is no one way to document the needs of the
people you aim to help. Here are some suggestions:
• Set aside a meeting of the steering group to brainstorm
members’ views.
• A larger open community consultation meeting has benefits
of generating more community support and giving more valid
results (but be careful you don’t raise expectations you won’t be
able to meet).
• If you have the resources consider a planning for real’ exercise,
where residents are helped to create a model of the changes
they would like to see in their community.
• Some social groups can easily be overlooked – you may need
to take special steps to find out the needs of disabled people or
single parents for instance, who can’t easily get to meetings.
• Check what previous research has been done; invite the researcher
or the commissioning organisation to come to a meeting.
• Census and health figures and other government statistics can
give an excellent idea of the needs of communities and groups
of people – they are available on the internet from the Office
of National Statistics (www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk)
and the policy or economic development section of your local
authority have digests of statistics which you may find useful.
• New organisations may need to carry out a community survey with
questionnaires (but don’t duplicate what’s already been done).
• You may employ a researcher or consultant to carry out a
feasibility study or write a business plan: pool the results of your
own consultations, and if you are paying them to consult, check
that they sound out the right people.
Be realistic about ‘needs’: Keep discussion of community needs
balanced and realistic.
• Are you being objective? It is easy to make assumptions about
people’s needs without checking the facts.
• Are you being swayed? Campaigners may exaggerate the needs
of particular groups of people they support; be careful that this
does not produce an unbalanced view.
• Are you mistaking wishes for needs? While it’s entirely right for
people to want to improve the quality of their lives, funders and
supporters won’t necessarily think everything they ask for is a
serious need.
• Are you setting achievable goals? While local authorities are
bulldozing swimming pools, there’s no chance of residents
getting a sports centre in every village. But what about
enterprises that make better leisure use of existing local
buildings or transport to venues further afield?
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