Enterprise

Ripples Story: “The power of circular economies”

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In this article, Fiona Keir, Operations Officer at Green Hive, shares how the Green Hive workshop became self-sufficient in income from selling their recycled products, in order to meet their running costs.

Green Hive is a community development and environmental charity based in Nairn, on the Moray coast in the Highlands. We have been operating since 2015, with 2022 seeing the most significant evolution in the charity, which coincided with our becoming a Rank Network member.

We have two sites in Nairn. One is a plastic recycling workshop that upskills volunteers and empowers them to create outside furniture using recycled plastic. We can recycle plastic locally, and the volunteers love nothing more than a local project using locally recycled plastic with the new product being used in the community – an actual circular economy. The Green Hive workshop has always run as a social enterprise. In 2023, we became self-sufficient in income from selling our recycled products. This has been a target to reach in the four years since it opened and one we are proud of. Some of our recycled plastic benches can be found outside the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. A custom-made accessible picnic bench is on the riverside beside the kids’ play park, and we are about to install a newly designed table and seating at the beachfront as part of a new accessible path project.

We expanded in 2022 with the acquisition of Seaman’s Hall. We were successfully inducted into the Profit for Good programme at a timely point when we looked to create a sustainable community hub in a Victorian community hall that had been out of public use for some time. Last year was a whirlwind of learning for our staff as we appointed new positions and embedded an ethos of social enterprise across all business aspects. Even our Outdoor Volunteering section took on the task of diversifying income streams. It was successful in gaining commissions to teach other community groups how to create community orchards and to share learning about social media and volunteer tracking software that we use. With a new riverside location, our e-bike hires exceeded expectations, and we continue to look at ways to expand our offer to the community and visitors sustainably.

We were successful in securing a Time to Shine candidate in January 2024, and already, we have seen a significant increase in our capacity to run fabric workshops. Using fabric diverted from landfill, we’re teaching the community how to sew. One of our biggest successes in this area has been parent-child workshops, where parents and children learn together, and young people’s workshops, where the next generation begin their dressmaking futures.

One of the biggest challenges we have faced has always been how to create a social enterprise model without excluding the vulnerable and marginalised in our community through a fair pricing structure for our activities and workshops. We have managed to overcome this hurdle by predominantly using a ‘pay what you can’ offer. This has proven successful and exceeded our income projections in almost all areas where we have deployed this pricing option.

Seaman’s Hall is flourishing and has become a ‘much loved’ community asset. Hall hire from external groups continues to grow month on month. In our first year, we focused on community engagement, ensuring an open-door policy and offering events to bring the community over the threshold. Word has quickly spread, and we now have regular bookings every night of the week and a diverse calendar of external events using our space. We have formed a crucial connection and partnership with the local leisure trust, Highlife Highland. They use the hall six days out of seven for community fitness classes and will soon offer NHS classes.

Everything we have achieved to date, has centred the cornerstones of our work: we are entirely community driven and volunteer led, and we focus on environmental impact in all we do.

Fiona Keir

Operations Officer at Green Hive

Ripples Story: “Building relationships”

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In this article, Elenid Roberts, Transport Coordinator at Yr Orsaf, describes how her organisation transformed an empty building into the Cymru Fydd community hub, a beacon of support and opportunity in Gwynedd, North Wales with help from our Profit for Good Programme. 

Located in the heart of Dyffryn Nantlle in Gwynedd, North Wales, Cymru Fydd is part of Yr Orsaf, a community enterprise providing support and opportunities for the community. This includes an accessible community hub for friendly advice and support with everyday needs such as cost of living, meeting spaces for people to hire for various activities, workshops, and workspace. It also houses a co-working space for individuals to use. There is an enterprise centre for young adults to develop the skills and confidence to start and run their own businesses. We also provide a community transport scheme using our electric vehicles for vulnerable people. It targets those affected by lack of public transport, a growing problem in rural parts of Wales. We also run an electric bike hire scheme to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their health.

Last year, we were fortunate to be part of Rank’s Profit for Good Programme. It has allowed us to gain not only financial support but also provided us with the tools and a safe space to develop the skills and knowledge that are required to run a successful and sustainable business.

When we started the Profit for Good Programme, we were in the early stages of our enterprise, which was transforming an empty building (Cymru Fydd). During construction, we faced many uncertainties and delays. During this time, with Profit for Good guidance, we built relationships with skill-set organisations such as local colleges to offer varied workshops and training for young entrepreneurs. We also partnered with three other like-minded community transport organisations based in Gwynedd. Together, we are expanding our services and developing new bus routes that will allow us to help and reach more individuals. Through collaboration and intensive marketing, we have generated interest and have started to receive bookings ready for when we open.

Our enterprise is more effective due to the learning through the project. I have gained confidence and increased my knowledge through participating in the session and learning from other experiences. I have had the opportunity to raise problems I have faced with the Action Learning Set and have been supported in thinking about practical solutions to these challenges. As a result of the programme, Cymru Fydd and I have increased our impact. We are confidently looking forward to opening our doors at the end of the month.

Elenid Roberts

Transport Coordinator at Yr Orsaf

Handling Covid19 – Clean Break

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This week, we are shining the spotlight on Clean Break, a charity based in London. Clean Break uses theatre to keep the subject of women in prison on the cultural radar, helping to reveal the damage caused by the failures of the criminal justice system.


Clean Break is a women’s theatre company, founded in 1979 by two women prisoners who believed in the power of theatre to transform lives. Their vision is of a society where women can realise their full potential, free from criminalisation. Through theatre workshops and projects in prisons and the community which build confidence, resilience and wellbeing, Clean Break transforms the lives of women who have experienced the criminal justice system or have been identified as at risk of entering it. The team ordinarily work with 70 women each week as part of their weekly Members Programme. They have 10 full time and 11 part time staff and are usually supported by around 40 volunteers.

“We pursue our vision by producing ground-breaking theatre which puts women’s voices at its heart and creates lasting change by challenging injustice in and beyond the criminal justice system”

Photo Credit: Clean Break

The Members Programme is delivered from trauma-informed, women-only studios in Kentish Town. The Programme runs in ten-week sessions, and each week Clean Break will host workshops in Introduction to Drama, Advanced Theatre, Writers Circle, and Health & Wellbeing, as well as running a Young Artists Development Programme. The sessions are designed to help members cope with the long-term issues that can underpin women’s involvement in the criminal justice system, such as mental ill health, domestic abuse or violence, poverty, or alcohol or drug misuse.

The Coronavirus pandemic has meant that Clean Break has been forced to make some big changes to their programme delivery. They swiftly moved their sessions online and began to offer member support remotely. This was a challenge as many of their service users already struggle with isolation; and the crisis also presents challenges in coping with long-term issues. The sessions now include: 3 online creative workshops per week, members support in the form of check-ins, Zoom 1:1’s, and care packages, as well as new creative projects which foster connectivity and community. The plan is to maintain this service until the team are able to offer a reduced, in-person version of their Member Programme that they can run alongside their virtual workshops.

The biggest organisational challenge has been financial. Clean Break’s largest unrestricted income is hiring out their building (ordinarily generating £125K per year) which came to an abrupt halt in February. Other financial challenges have included the loss of donations as funders have diverted money to emergency delivery; a reduction in capacity as Clean Break have furloughed 76% of their staff; and loss of further trading income as they do not expect to be able to run training courses or earn box office income from theatre productions for a good while yet.

“Emergency funding support from both existing and new funders has been essential to navigate this crisis and stabilise our organisation; funders such as the Rank Foundation have been absolutely vital in protecting our resilience, securing our future, and making sure that we will be able to return to a full Members Programme as soon as possible.”

For more information about Clean Break, please visit www.cleanbreak.org.uk

You can also follow on Twitter @CleanBrk, Instagram @CleanBrk, Facebook, or find them on LinkedIn.

If you’d like to contact someone at Clean Break for more information about their work, or supporting them, please contact Head of Development and Communications Sally Muckley at sally.muckley@cleanbreak.org.uk

Handling Covid19 – Social Enterprise Academy

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This week we are shining the spotlight on Social Enterprise Academy, a Scotland-based charity who provides transformational learning and development programmes for people and organisations working for social change.

Launched in Scotland in 2004, Social Enterprise Academy have helped over 18,000 learners to develop themselves and their organisations to create sustainable businesses and have greater social impact. Their programmes support organisations at all stages of development and focus on; leadership, entrepreneurship, social impact measurement, and personal development.

Since 2016, Social Enterprise Academy have been replicating internationally and now have 60 staff members in 14 countries around the world supporting social enterprise development in their communities.

We asked the team what an average day looked like: “There really is no typical week. Our programmes are incredibly diverse. They respond to client needs, so they happen where, when and how will suit the learners best. In Scotland alone, we could have a programme to support a development trust on a tiny island, or a social enterprise with hundreds of employees to restructure. We might be working with young people who are not in work, supervisors or projects leads, CEOs or trustees.  But whatever the programme, it’s the same high quality facilitators, always social enterprise practitioners, who share their own experiences and enable all learners to do likewise, creating space to have experiences, reflect, think and plan. That much does not change.”

The introduction of lockdown back in March meant that Social Enterprise Academy had to re-align their work. The pandemic means Social Enterprise Academy are now navigating what they have coined as a “VUCA” world – one which is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The team has been focusing on upskilling their international network of teams and facilitators to deliver the learning programmes online. Not only are they learning new technologies and tools, they are having to relearn some of the basics of facilitation – how to connect with learners, how to manage group conversations, how to read body language, how to create safety in the room.

We asked the team how their service users had responded to the changes in service delivery.

“We’ve had really positive feedback to our learning moving online. Some of our regular clients have specifically said the experience was as good and inspirational as ‘in the room’ learning. We’ve taken great care to use the right platform, the right activities, right materials, format and so on.”

One of the biggest challenges facing Social Enterprise Academy is that the anticipated longer term social distancing measures that are likely to be in place for some time to come, mean that face to face delivery is no longer possible. Also, understandably, many of their partners within the Third Sector are now unable to pay for their learning and development as a result of the pandemic, so the team have had to find a way to deliver fully funded programmes.

If you would like to hear more about Social Enterprise Academy, you can visit their website or drop them a message at scotland@socialenterprise.academy. Equally you can follow them on Twitter (@SocEntAcademy) and Facebook.

Handling Covid19 – Real Ideas Organisation

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This week, we are shining the spotlight on Real Ideas Organisation (RIO), a charity based in south west England. RIO focus their work on solving problems and creating opportunities for people, communities and organisations.

RIO has a team of 60 who suupport thousands of individuals every year through a range of events and experiences, coaching, mentoring, business support and consultancy. They are clearly a very diverse organisation, and during ‘usual’ operations they can be doing anything from reimagining new futures for old buildings to supporting young people to take positive steps towards work, education or training…and everything and anything in between! We asked them to give us an idea of an average week, to which we were answered “there’s no such thing as a typical week for the team at Real Ideas!”.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic they had been running a series of support sessions to mentor and coach young people to develop the skills they need to move forward with their lives, whilst also working with Plymouth City Council to involve more people in making decisions about green spaces and parks. At the same time they were operating three buildings, running them as co-work spaces with shared business, creative and making facilities and running events from these spaces. They are used to diverse working and following the needs and requirements of their community.

We asked the team about how the pandemic has affected their working conditions and routines, to which they said:

“Fortunately, many our staff are used to remote working, so whilst a bit of a culture shock not to see each other in person, it has been a relatively easy transition from office to home working. It was our customer facing delivery that we were most concerned about. Much of what we do involves being in a room with participants – supporting people, working in schools, running buildings with live events programmes – relies on face to face contact, so lockdown brought immediate and fundamental changes to how we work with the people we support.”

Much like most of the charities in our network, RIO moved their service delivery online. Within days of lockdown being announced RIO had scoped out, tested and set up a digital platform which enabled them to deliver online meetings and events. Since then, they have delivered more than 50 online sessions and supported over 1,000 people including 400 vulnerable young people. This can only be counted as a success; more than 650 people attended one of their online webinars and 400 young people are continuing on their employability programme. The team said “in fact, engagement with young people on our programmes has increased during lockdown”.

We asked RIO what the biggest challenge had been so far in terms of service delivery and they explained that digital disadvantage has resulted in some users being unable to access assistance, support and learning opportunities: “We started to get concerned that some of the most vulnerable were being hardest hit due to lack of connectivity or kit – without access to the internet they couldn’t access assistance from health professionals, support from foodbanks or learning activities set by schools”.  In response to this, the worked with funders and partners to distribute smart phones, tablets and wifi dongles to those who struggled with internet access. They also opened up their buildings so that those who needed to use PCs or complete essential paperwork such as Universal Credit applications had somewhere to go.

If you would like to find out more about RIO, you can visit their website at: www.realideas.org

Email them at info@realideas.org or give them a call at 0330 223 4158

Handling Covid19 – Street Factory

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This week we are spotlighting the fantastic work of Street Factory, a Plymouth-based Hip Hop Social Collective.

Street Factory has been known to the Foundation since 2018 as one of the 8 original Place-Based funded organisations in Plymouth. Since then, they have performed at our annual conference and grown as an organisation.

We spoke to Jo Gorniak, co-founder and Director at Street Factory, who runs the CIC with her husband Toby.

Founded in 2007, Street Factory’s tagline is “Transforming lives, so they exceed their potential and fall in love with their purpose!”. Over the past 13 years, Jo and Toby have been offering street dance and hip-hop classes to children and young adults, often subsedising or sponsoring those who are unable to pay full fees. They also host over 18 dance groups and have created a mentoring environment and a caring community ‘hub’. This means they are much more than a dance studio – the Street Factory team get to know their service users and offer emotional supportm promoting peace, fun, love and unity.

In a ‘usual’ week, Jo and Toby would be delivering their sessions from their Plymouth theatre to over 300 service users, as well as working with their hip-hop outreach team in schools, training programmes and other nationwide projects.

However, when the Covid19 pandemic broke out and lockdown set in, Street Factory were unable to deliver their usual classes and workshops, meaning the team have had to think innovatively about how to adapt to the restrictions. Jo, Toby and the team have been quick to act, immediately turning to digital means in order to stay connected and to support their 300+ local community service users. They have been offering daily (sometimes hourly) community support, and have been running hip-hop lessons digitally from their living room. Due to the isolation and loneliness of lockdown, they are needed now more than ever.

Street Factory creates change that empowers their service users of all ages, races and experience the chance to unlock their own potential, despite facing a range of social and economic challenges.

If you would like more information about Street Factory CIC, you can:
Visit their Facebook page
Visit their Youtube Channel
Drop them an email at streetfactorystudios@hotmail.com