A peer to peer support programme to explore how charities develop social enterprise and successful trading.

About this Event

What can I expect from the peer to peer Group?

Enterprise development in the charity and social enterprise sector has never been more exciting or more challenging. This peer 2 peer learning set will enable a small group of charity enterprise leaders to share their experience with a group of others on a similar journey. It is not a webinar or training programme. We will use a highly structured action learning process to enable participants to share their ideas and their challenges in a confidential setting and with a spirit of professional generosity.

The focus will be the challenges of bringing together charitable and social purpose with successful income generation through trading.

The content of the sessions will be determined by the questions brought forward by the group but might include :

• “ My organisation has been looking at different governance models and I want to hear more from others who are doing things differently or with different governance models”
• “I have ideas about what to trade and I would like to hear what others in a similar field think before taking them to my team/board”
• “My organisationis struggling with prioritising values in a climate of competition and scarce resources and I would like support from peers to work out the boundaries”
• “I am meeting resistance or pressure from my team/manager/board and welcome ideas about how to approach the next steps”
• “ I am stuck trying to manage essential services when all our normal supply and support services are disrupted. What can I do?”
• ‘My organisation needs to broaden its customer base and would welcome ideas and support from others working in a similar field”

Skilled facilitation using a structured process will enable the group to learn from each other and develop innovative solutions to the challenges faced.

The facilitators both have extensive leadership and consultancy experience in the sector. They also have access to further sources of advice, support and expertise to which they can signpost participants as needed. Annie is an accredited ILM action learning facilitator.

Who is it for?

For CEO/Directors or equivalent leadership roles, or the lead business/enterprise development officer or Trustee of charities developing social enterprises in Oxfordshire.

If you are responsible for developing enterprise and trading within a charity, reviewing your trading model, or deciding how to develop your trading activities post Covid 19 this opportunity may be just the thing for you.

Why participate?

Participating in a peer learning set can help you gain fresh perspectives and change habits of thinking in a spirit of professional generosity.

The group is a place to try out new ideas before they are fully formed, and to share your difficulties as well as celebrate successes.

How will the peer group work?

This will be a small group of around 6 successful applicants. The agenda is set by the group. The context is supporting peers to develop new ways of working and building knowledge and skills to expand and develop social enterprise within your individual charitable organisations.

The programme offers ‘Time to Think’ with support and challenge from others with common purpose and experience, in order to make creative positive changes in your life and work.

Dates & Structure

There will be 5 sessions spread across July to October covering:

• Structured learning and support
• Focus on what matters to you now
• Support from peers on the same journey

This group will begin online via Zoom but may move to face-to-face meetings held at Flo’s, The Place in the Park in Oxford if current restrictions are eased. You must be able to attend all 5 sessions.

Dates: 9th July, 23rd July, Setember 10th, September 24th, October 8th

Times: 2.15 pm to 4.45 pm

Terms & Conditions

We will ask you to complete a short questionnaire upon registration to assess compatibility and suitability. You may receive a phone call as part of the application process. Groups are limited to a maximum of 7 participants.

Facilitators

This Peer Learning Set will be facilitated by Annie Davy and Sophie Kilmister.

Previous Participants say:

“Annie’s Action Learning set was without doubt the most effective professional support and development opportunity of my CEO years”. Tamsin Jewell, former Chief Executive of Elmore Community Services (2019)

“Annie is an excellent and enabling facilitator with a good balance of challenge, pace, empathy and reflection.“ Patsy Townsend, Director Thames Valley Partnership (2018)

The Hub

This peer to peer programme has been created by Aspire and Flo’s, The Place in the Park, who form one of our six social enterprise Hubs as part of the eScalate Programme.

Aspire is a multi-award-winning employment charity. Established in 2001 to tackle some of the most complex social issues in Oxfordshire. It supports vulnerable local people into and towards employment and housing, as the most powerful way to break the complex cycles of homelessness, re-offending and poverty.

For more information on Aspire, visit www.aspireoxfordshire.org

Flo’s is a Community Benefit Society and Social Enterprise Hub with community-owned café, nursery, refill shop, community midwives clinics and more. Based in Florence Park it opened in September 2018 in East Oxford, and has become a popular place for people to meet, eat, work, play, create, and learn. Located in the middle of a park with a strong environmental ethos it has nature in mind and wellbeing at its heart.

For more information on Flo’s, visit www.flosoxford.org.uk/

For more information about the eScalate programme , visit www.oxfordshirelep.com/escalate

Please note that this webinar is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is delivered as part of the eScalate programme to help SMEs. By engaging in this programme you are being offered assistance under the De Minimis regulation which allows a company to receive up to but not exceeding €200,000 of public funding (at the applicable exchange rate) of De Minimis aid over a rolling three-tax year fiscal period. This de minimis declaration does not cover undertakings engaged in: the primary production of agricultural goods and fisheries/aquaculture, road freight, services of general economic interest and export related activities and activities favouring domestic over imported goods. Please note, support cannot be given to undertakings (businesses) in difficulty. In order to receive support from this programme, you will be required to complete an application form and other relevant documentation.