Hands-on-help: case studies

Working from the ground up

A large national charity asked me to get a self-contained mental health project off the ground for them in York. The aim of the project was to create a small market garden and craft workshop where people with mental health issues could acquire skills and find employment in a flexible, encouraging environment.

At the beginning all I had was the building and the idea! My challenge was to generate enough revenue to fund a Project Supervisor, two part-time Project Workers, a part-time administrator and pay for the initial set-up and running of the project.

Within six months I’d secured three years’ worth of funding – £100,000 per annum – from a range of local and national charitable trusts. I then continued a watching brief on the project over a three-year period to make sure it was running smoothly.

A capital concern

I was seconded to work for SADACCA – the Sheffield and District Afro-Caribbean Community Association – to help them raise £650,000 to convert an old 19th century steel forge into a day centre for elderly people in the area, which was sadly lacking in community resources.

It was a considerable sum of money to generate for a relatively niche concern and proved to be quite a challenge. In fact, I was told I had “no chance”.

Undeterred, I took on the role of Appeals Director, approached a powerful figure in the local business community and spent just over a year cultivating the many Sheffield business contacts he kindly gave me, by which time we’d created an Appeals Committee. Within nine months of its inception we’d generated every penny needed from the National Lottery, charitable trusts, corporate funding, community sources and individual gifts.

The project involved a two to three day-a-week commitment over a period of two years, during which I managed everything from initiating contacts and meetings to handling all the paperwork, as well as the creation and sponsorship of their appeals brochure.