Rebecca White

What will you be doing to support the community around you this year?

Many of us will volunteer, buy from charity shops, fundraise with your business or something else. How do you decide? And how do you know it has an impact?

These can be difficult questions to answer, especially when there is a wealth of volunteering opportunities and we are bombarded by good causes to jump out of aeroplanes on behalf of.

I lack time and already have two voluntary roles. So I tend to think strategically – that there’s more than one way to have an impact. You don’t always have to get directly involved.

This has turned my attention to our fine city of Norwich, the small voice and influence I have and what I can do to leverage more community impact. So this year my thoughts turned to how we can make it easier for businesses to make a difference.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the goods and services that businesses buy anyway were bought from other businesses that employ homelessness people or guys out of prison? (Did you know that every time you get your keys cut at Timpson’s you’re doing just this, as they employ ex-offenders?).

That means that this year I’m running a Buy Social Steering Group working with key partners from Norwich City Council, UEA, Chambers of Commerce, Norwich BID and local social enterprises. We will be looking at how we can register Norwich a Social Enterprise Place and make it easier for businesses as well as individuals to spend their money with businesses that have real added social impact.

Taking on a loan is never a decision to be taken lightly. Ironically (or not), just as we promote due diligence amongst our trainees around borrowing, so we at YOP have considered this very carefully, starting the conversation over a year ago.

Why have we done it? Being a social enterprise is tough. In that way we’re no different to a charity. What we do is complex, and therefore time-consuming, and therefore expensive. We are genuinely striving to find solutions to one of society’s most intractable problems – homelessness

What is different to being a charity? Our ambition to a) not be dependent on short-term restricted income, the shortcomings of which I have written about before b) to be on a level playing field with business in our language, professionalism and ambition and c) to reinvest 100% of our (unrestricted) profit into achieving our aim.

Why Sumerian? We’ve been approached and have approached social investors over the past few years. There is little experience to draw on locally and most investors’ terms simply don’t suit the small, high-risk, stand-alone business. I met Chris from Sumerian giving a talk to us on The Young Foundation accelerator programme. A chance encounter that I followed up on and started a conversion. Chris, Amy and Sumerian Partners get us and they get the sector.

They understand that social enterprise is tough. That progress is slow and that at our age it’s common to hit a brick wall, through which many enterprises fail to push and therefore stagnate or close. As such the terms of a long-term loan that has been negotiated as equals on a journey of learning, feels akin to our values, ambitions and the work we do.

What are we going to do with the cash? We’re recruiting an Operational Manager. This post will be overseeing YOP, all projects and our incredible team. This will in turn free me up to develop the business and make it sustainable.

To say it’s exciting is an understatement. To say it’s squeaky bum time is also an understatement. It’s the most fantastic opportunity for a new member of the team, for me, for YOP and we can’t wait to work alongside Sumerian.

It’s my last blog of 2020 and I’m delighted to tell you about a new partnership. We can share what we will be aiming to achieve as well as a few reflections about what makes a good partnership.

The sector is constantly told to collaborate. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. After all, you don’t generally hear of Superdrug and Boots collaborating do you? And yet we’re all meant to against a backdrop of increasingly finite resource and growing demand as well as need.

In January we will be working with Prince’s Trust, a small group of volunteer mentors, a number of local employers and HMP Norwich to support a small cohort of men pre-release. With the overall aim of preventing reoffending, we will be tailoring and delivering a fantastic package of life skills training and soft employment skills training to prepare the men for release.

In addition we will be delivering our uniquely restorative and strength-based workshops to both employers and mentors to equip them with the skills and confidence to support the men on their journey to release.

The employers will be offering interviews, work placements and even jobs as well as accommodation.

We are very excited to be offering this unique package as a pilot project in an area where it can have a massive impact on people’s lives, offending, homelessness and life outcomes.

Partnership is never easy though. What has made it easier is a shared mission and ambition. Prince’s Trust bring this passion to achieve the mission as well as connections and capacity. We bring the expertise, experience and skillset to make this happen and in our uniquely engaging and impactful delivery style.

What has been vital to the partnership is ongoing communication, complementary capabilities as well as patience and forgiveness. We all work differently and sometimes think we’re the best. Chances are we’re not and that each party brings something to the table. Without each other this wouldn’t be happening at all.

A good message this Christmas perhaps.

We can’t wait to share the learning with you and hope you have a fantastic break.

Thanks personally for taking the time to read my blogs too!