Spring to Action Ltd

Our Leicester Day a Roaring Success

Our Leicester Day, held on 11th September in Leicester Market, was an opportunity for local community and not for profit organisations to showcase their work to Leicester.  It will be remembered not only for being very windy (we lost a brochure or two to the wind and puddle combination) but for being a clear indicator of the amount of work and community involvement the sector has in Leicester.

You can catch up with the day here, with a short film from Pukaar News.

Spring offers help to get your business idea off the ground

People with business ideas in Leicester are being offered support to consider self employment as a viable career option.

As well as one to one support the project offers you specialist workshops to help you understand the key aspects of starting a business and to build your confidence and motivation.  After you’ve participated in these workshops to provide you with basic business knowledge you’ll be supported to start with access to a business mentor.

The project, Enterprise As a Life, is open to anyone resident in Leicester City over the age of 19 years.  You may either have a clear idea or several ideas and not sure which to follow. We’ll help you with the information you’ll need to make that decision.

The next course starts on 20^th September, at 9.30am at St Martin’s House in the heart of the city centre (next to the Guildhall and Cathedral).  Get in touch to book your place.

All this support is offered free of charge, thanks to funding from the European Regional Development Fund and Leicester City Council.

For more information contact Kate Cowan on 0116 217 9250 or email kate.cowan@springtoaction.co.uk

Conference for Social Enterprises

Save the date - SEEM will be holding their annual conference on Social Enterprise Day (18th November) at Curve, Leicester.

It will no doubt be a great way to raise the profile of social enterprises to a wider audience, especially during Enterprise Week.

Find out what else is happening in the East Midlands from Unleashing Enterprise.

**Update: Book your ticket here**

Grants: Startups and Social Enterprises in East Mids

There's no doubt these have been tough times for startups and businesses in the East Midlands.  For those of us working in business support we've all noticed a significant gap in the number and amount of small-scale funding - those all important little pockets of funding that can make the difference between a business succeeding or failing.

Good news: there are 2 new schemes for people living the East Midlands.  As usual, there are eligibility rules for each, so check with your Business Link contact before you get too excited!

The first is a £3,000 grant from Business Link for people / organisations who are starting up or in their first 3 years of trading.  You must not have had any contact with Business Link before to apply.    The grant will be matched 60% to 40% (i.e. you need to provide 40% of the funding) and will receive a minimum of 12 hours of support to enable your business to be even more successful.  My understanding is that this could include bespoke support / consultancy.

The second is a CEBA grant available to social enterprises.  Up to £1,500 grant is available for social enterprise specific support / consultancy.  In previous rounds of this grant we've offered Voice UK, for example, consultancy to develop their trading activities and a long term business plan to enable them to bid for NHS funding, which they were subsequently successful in gaining.  Again, speak to your Business Link contact and they will help you find a suitable consultant, or you can nominate your own.

Get them fast though, they will run out very soon, and who knows when there will be more funding like this!

If you don't have a contact at Business Link already just call them on 0845 058 6644.

Sources of Sports Funding - Leicestershire

At our recent Bid Writing for Beginners workshops, there has been an interest in specific sports funding schemes, for organisations working with young people and communities across Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

North West Leicestershire District Council has its own comprehensive list of funding schemes, many of which will apply out of the area too.  There are also a couple of schemes which will apply to other projects and ideas for community work.

Some key tips for coming up with a killer idea for funding:

• Talk to the end users of your service.  What are the problems they are facing?  The project must solve a genuine problem, but occassionally we all make assumptions about our areas of work and it's good practice to continue to refer to the end users or customers of your service.
• Keep it simple. Over-complicated projects are difficult to manage and difficult to explain in funding applications.
• Write your explaination of your project in a long paragraph.  Then go back over it and re-write it until you can explain the project's purpose in one simple sentence that anyone can understand.
• Write a mini project plan.  Carefully plan the journey of the user step by step and think through any budgetary or other resources your ideas will have.  Are there any ways to reduce costs or make the project even better at this stage?

What else do you do to help you come up with a killer idea? 

Spring Reaches Out to Sinfin and Social Enterprises

Social enterprises were today given an opportunity to find out about what support is available to them, at an outreach event at Sinfin Enterprise Centre.  As well as literature from a range of business support agencies and voluntary groups, social enterprises were given access to 4 free Top Tips sessions from agencies - including Spring!

It was also a great chance for us to try out our new literature and recycled display stands - which we think looked pretty good alongside our bright and welcoming flowers.  

As we enjoy helping people we dispensed a few pieces of wisdom along the way, which hopefully the participants will find useful in developing their business ideas and social enterprises.  It was a really great opportunity to meet new people and make sure they were aware of us and how we can assist.  The workshop on Bid Writing for Beginners is going to be very popular - I'd suggest you book your place very soon to be sure of getting onto the September course.

Our mailing list is growing bigger by the day, so it's time I got on and starting writing our newsletter to let people know about what we are doing to help support business development and growth in the Derby area.  If you'd like to join our mailing list please do email us at kate.cowan @ springtoaction.co.uk - we promise to never sell or give your details to anyone else, so you can be rest assured of confidentiality.

Meanwhile, just add us to your 'favourites' or sign up to receive updates when we change or add to the website (on the right hand side of this blog).  You can also keep in touch by joining our facebook group.

Kate

Meet Spring at the Social Enterprise Trade Fair, Derby

Next Wednesday 22nd July 2009 is an opportunity for local social enterprises in Derby to meet other social enterprises.  It'll be the chance to learn new skills, sell your products and services and find out about support to help your business.

Spring will be leading a Top Tips session into writing funding bids, to help local social enterprises and the voluntary sector to learn new skills. Its a great chance to learn some tips before deciding if you want to commit to attending a longer workshop, like our Bid Writing for Beginners Workshop.

The event will held at the Enterprise Centre, Sheridan Street, Sinfin, DE24 9HG.  Pop along to see us on our stand.