Pick of the Month - October 2024

Welcome to October's Pick of the Month. Keep reading to hear from our inspirational individuals!

 

Charity Leader of the Month – Danielle Bridge, Black Minds Matter UK

Black Minds Matter UK is a Black-led organisation designed to help the black community access safe mental health support. The charity was founded after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Danielle told us a bit more about her work and mission:

“Black Minds Matter's vision is to see a community of black people readily accessing mental health support and recovering fully from mental illness and thriving – it's a big vision! 

The reason why BMM UK exists is because the access and barriers to support for black people have never been at the forefront of statutory services. Because of the systemic racism that takes place in large institutions within the country, black people never access those services because of distrust and lack of representation. Often, when they go into statutory services there's nobody in those services that can understand their lived experience. As such, it's really important that, when they come to BMM UK, they know there's going to be a therapist matched with them who has the same lived experience.

It's really important to say that just because the person and the therapist is black, it does not necessarily mean that they're going to have a shared lived experience – we have to take into consideration the intersections."

 

Danielle explained her professional journey to date:

“I came on board with BMM UK in 2023, with a prime objective to scale, taking it from a fund into a fully functioning charity. My job is to make sure that we expand our therapist network and the amount of people that we can get into services, as well as implement our fundraising strategy with the right people.

In 2010, I established ABC Life Support CIC to make life-saving skills in physical and mental health first aid accessible to everyone. This was driven by personal experience; I myself lived in a refuge with my mum, dad and brother and we experienced some extreme challenges. My mum would have really benefited from this support. My decision to found ABC Life Support was a direct response to this need. My role at BMM UK was entirely unexpected; it was a fortuitous opportunity, not something I actively sought.”

 

Considering what she’s learnt thus far, Danielle offered some advice for prospective leaders:

“Follow your gut – I've done what I've done because I am who I am and I've learned and I've made mistakes along the way… and I've made some catastrophic mistakes along the way and I've often thought “what am I doing?”, but there's always been that drive beneath everything I do around delivering impact for communities. That's the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.

 It's never been about me or my journey or the things I've done as an individual, it's always been about people. Put one foot in front of the other daily and you'll get there.”

 

Danielle envisioned a strong future for BMM UK and considered ways to overcome present challenges: 

“I'm extremely aware that the cost-of-living crisis, austerity and pandemic have all contributed to us being where we are. Nevertheless, there is still a collective power within the communities which we serve.

As a leader of a Black organisation, I believe it's crucial to directly engage our Black community for support.  We cannot ignore this responsibility. Our aim is for BMM UK to become a cornerstone of our community, serving our parents, siblings, and children. To achieve this, we need the active involvement of our community. Their support is vital to our survival and growth.”

 

To find out more about BMM UK, click here.

 

Social Entrepreneur of the Month – Adam Waterman, Eden's Forest CIC

Adam Waterman is the Founder and CEO of Eden’s Forest, a Community Interest Company that provides woodland-based programmes centred around wellbeing and compassionate care. Eden’s Forest supports and helps people across a range of ages, abilities and backgrounds through Wellness, therapeutic, and rehabilitation programmes, The company also offers curriculum-based educational activities, holiday courses in skills such as bushcraft, and corporate away days and birthday parties.

Adam began by talking to us about the inspiration for Eden’s Forest: 

“Having completed a PGCE in Primary Education in my forties I found that I didn’t enjoy being confined to a classroom, so I left to help a friend who was setting up a day nursery. I supported with the outdoor provision and, at the same time, I set up a partnership called ‘Eden’s Forest’, supplying outdoor learning and Forest School delivery. Once I had seen the impact of our delivery, I set up the social enterprise ‘Eden’s Forest CIC’ to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all ages.”

 

The journey to establishing Eden’s Forest was not without its challenges. On the difficulties in creating the Community Interest Company Adam said:

“Over time, running both a mainstream business and a Social Enterprise became too much and I had to dissolve the partnership, donating the assets of the business to the CIC. Whilst a challenge at the time, this has had a positive impact and led to a social enterprise with a strong trading model and a grant: trade ratio of 25:75. We’re also fortunate as our trading income is spread throughout the year with school-based outdoor learning, holiday clubs, and wellbeing days.”

 

Adam went on to tell us about the most rewarding aspects of his work:

“One of my favourite aspects of creating and running a CIC has been meeting people; be it beneficiaries, potential partners, stakeholders and the people who run other ‘Third Sector’ organisations (although I’m not, personally, a great fan of that term).”

 

To end our conversation, Adam offered some advice to aspiring social entrepreneurs:

• “Seek out the best advice you can; Councils, Universities, town/cities/regions have SME business and social enterprise support that can give you great advice.
• Always keep your eye on the profit. We exist to support a cause, a social problem, but never fear dismissing the term ‘Not-For-Profit’. Without profit, you won’t be able to change someone’s life or steer a cause you really believe in.
• Read ‘Be more Pirate’. This has shaped my attitude more than any other publication. 
• Make the most of networking. Our single most productive opportunity, the first big corner we turned, came from a chance conversation walking across a car park with someone who had attended a completely different event.
• Be patient and accept that things take longer than you initially thought. That being said, also never stop being impatient!
• Make the most of opportunities that might take the organisation forward; be it joining sector networks, community-based groups, or accessing training opportunities.
• Learn how to say no to things!
• Try and delegate, especially things that distract you from your purpose.
• As you grow, accept you’re going to have to work more on your business than in your business.
• Last but not least, get some sleep … the intentional laying your head on a pillow kind of sleep not zoning out at a desk/reading/Team’s meetings or when you’re supposed to be having a good time with friends.”

To find out more about Eden’s Forest, visit the website. 

 

Fellow of the Month, Lisa Johnston, Prism Arts

Lisa has over twenty years’ experience in the voluntary and community sector and, for most of her career, she has been helping organisations to sustain, grow and transform. Lisa has held senior business development and strategy positions with four UK national charities, as well as supporting hundreds of smaller charities and social enterprises in her work with federated and membership organisations.

Over the course of her career she has raised well over £150 million in statutory and contract income from local and national government, the NHS, and trusts and grant funders.

In our conversation, Lisa outlined both her current role and journey into fundraising:

“As the Fundraising and Development Manager at Prism my main focus is on Trusts and Foundation fundraising. This involves developing a pipeline, understanding potential funders, refreshing our case for support to align with our business plan, and supporting our outcomes and impact work.

After decades of working for some household name national charities at a senior level, I am now pursuing a portfolio approach to my career with an absolute focus on using my skills and experience to support smaller charities.”

 

Lisa then mentioned some of Prism Arts’ key opportunities in the UK’s current context: 

“Partnerships and co-creation. We know that we can do more and better when we do it with other people and when our participants are at the heart of deciding what and how we deliver.”

 

Thinking about the year ahead, Lisa discussed what she’s looking forward to as part of the Fellowship Programme: 

“I'm pretty new to the arts and cultural sector so I'm looking forward to learning more about that - as well as learning more about types of fundraising where I have less experience. I also want to increase my network to include arts and cultural sector colleagues, learn about the great practice that is going on elsewhere, and perhaps even create some exciting new partnerships!”

 

Lisa concluded by stating that the changes she’s passionate about seeing in the sector are: 

“Short term-ism! When things are proven to work, invest in them for the long term. Allow organisations to take risks and evolve but don't make them chase new money every year!”

 

Keep up to date with the work of Prism Arts on Instagram: @peopleatprism

 

Trustees of the Month, Rachel Sharpe and Kirsty Hillyer, Anjali Dance Company

Anjali Dance Company is a pioneering organisation dedicated to celebrating the creativity and talents of people with learning disabilities through dance and the arts. It creates professional opportunities for learning disabled dancers and promote greater access and representation in the arts.

Kirsty and Rachel began the conversation by talking about how they came to be trustees at Anjali Dance Company:

Rachel: “Whilst working at the National Trust I was sponsored to do an MBA (Senior Leaders in Arts and Culture).  As part of this I volunteered for the Royal Society of Arts, as the Midlands Regional Fellowship Councillor and, once I completed my 4-year session, I wanted to apply these skills to a smaller organisation.  I’ve worked in the arts all my career, and I’m a carer, my son Stanely is profoundly autistic and learning disabled. When I heard Anjali Dance was looking for a Chair, I felt my skills set and life experience were in line with their values and focus. When I got the role, one of the first things myself and the Director Alex did was to interview a new board and Kirsty was among those that we interviewed as I’d known and respected her work in the sector for a while.”

Kirsty: “I had never considered becoming a trustee until Alex approached me. We’d worked together on evaluating inclusive mass participation dance activity at a small and large scale level. Knowing the values and principles of how Alex works and seeing her bring that to Anjali and their company mission was something I wanted to be a part of, for the next chapter of what this organisation could accomplish. Rachel as chair, being someone I admired and with a very different skill set and leadership style to my own, made this an inspiring role to step into.

Rachel and Kirsty then went on to talk about how Anjali inspires them:

Rachel: “The work, the dancers, the staff and the parents and carers! It’s such an honour to govern an organisation that first and foremost creates the most extraordinary work.  Meeting the dancers (and their parents, carers and sometimes even their dogs) in our online board meetings, hearing about their journeys and successes is an absolute pleasure.”

Kirsty: “Anjali is boundary pushing and does so with the dancers at the core of all decision making. Their work is captivating and their process is so rich and collaborative. The creativity of the dancers and the impact being a part of Anjali has on so many different aspects of their lives and careers is really powerful. It humbles you in your role and why you are giving so much time to it.”

They also discussed their favourite aspects of being a trustee:

Rachel: “We have a board made up of the most brilliant humans! I enjoy the governance process, working through challenges and opportunities with our Director Alex and my Co-chair Kirsty. I like the agility and responsiveness of the company and have LOVED watching it grow and become stronger.”

Kirsty: Establishing the foundations for Anjali to realise it’s ambitions. As a board we have aligned values and a passion for authentically representing and advocating for the company and the dancers. I feel an immense sense of pride being able to do that on behalf of Anjali and surprising people with what they have already accomplished and everything they aspire to achieve. We are a board with purpose and action, learning something new from everyone around the table and the energy they bring to Anjali is a real treat.

However, the role has not been without challenge. On this they said:

Rachel: Being a Trustee is very rewarding and it’s a big responsibility, particularly in a ‘post’ covid landscape, funding challenges have dominated most of our thinking, and Anjali has been through major changes, new Director, board, and compete refresh of all our systems, processes, and procedures.  All this work has strengthened the organisation, and it’s taken time, commitment, and tenacity to get there.

Kirsty: On a personal level as a freelancer, it is absolutely the time commitment involved. In the scope of the role within the current climate it’s ensuring the sustainability of the organisation, particularly if it its core costs aren’t regularly funded.

To end, Rachel and Kirsty offered advice to prospective trustees:

Rachel: “Do it! I have loved (almost) every second of it. My biggest piece of advice would be to make sure you share the Directors values, and you get on!  We are so lucky to have Alex Henwood, who is brilliant!  The relationship between the Director and the Chair/Trustee is key, make sure the director is someone you can really get behind.”

Kirsty: “For any new trustee one of the biggest learning curves is the boundary between the strategic oversight role of the board versus what’s the operational responsibility of the Director and team. Being really clear on the difference between those roles and reminding yourself of that is really important so that you don’t overstep.”

You can read more about the work of Anjali Dance Company here.