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
Writing the plan
The following guidance applies equally well to the development or
expansion of almost any kind of charitable or community venture,
include those where trading is not involved.
The basics:
• Use the right tools: It hardly needs to be said that word
processors, spreadsheets, email and memory sticks are vital for
any document which is evolving, which may end up in different
versions, and which you need to share with colleagues.
• Be flexible: You don’t need to write the sections of the plan in
sequence. Jumping around through the text can help to keep
the ideas fresh and connected, and may make the job feel less of
a slog. You can fill in the gaps later.
• Revise the plan progressively: Your understanding of the
project will improve the more you think about it. One possible
approach is to build it up layer by layer, starting with an outline
plan and then filling in more detailed information in several
stages.
• Dishonesty is rarely the best policy, and if you want to use it as a
tool you need to be really good at it to get away with it:
− unsupported assertions and exaggerations stand out like sore
thumbs to someone who is a seasoned appraiser of plans
− once you have lost the reader’s confidence on one point, the
veracity of the whole document comes into question.
− if you tell lies in your business plan to impress a funder or
supporter it is all too easy to lose track of the truth in future
dealings with them or even with your own organisation.
• Emphasise the real positives by all means. But don’t make
statements you can’t stand by if challenged on them later.
• Be honest about weaknesses too. A good plan acknowledges
what you are less good at and shows how you will overcome
deficiencies. This improves your credibility and demonstrates
the capacity for self criticism.
What about the truth? The best plans describe real enterprises
which have a good chance of succeeding, so it’s best to forget
about the fiction which you think the funder wants to see.
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