Leadership

Rank Memorial Award Winners 2020

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It is with great pleasure that we announce the winners of the Rank Memorial Award 2020. This year, the Memorial Award criteria had a particular focus on resilience, in addition to the general criteria of “exploring a specific area of personal interest, relating to our work that will serve to inspire, educate or promote the interests, values or ethos of the Foundation.”

Despite the lows of lockdown and the current Covid19 crisis, the Memorial Award received more applications than ever before which in turn made it particularly difficult to select a winner. Therefore, we are delighted to announce that the selection committee has awarded three Memorial Awards at £6,500 each to Joe Russo, Hannah Ciotkowski and Geraldine Cooper.

Joe Russo

Joe, founder of Major Grant recipient organisation Enthusiasm Trust, will be heading to Los Angeles and Glasgow to explore two organisations whose work, philosophies and aims particularly resonate with Joe’s own experiences of supporting disadvantaged young people at risk of exploitation and gang association. In LA, Joe will be spending time with Homeboy Industries, an organisation that aims to provide hope, training and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women, allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of the community. In Glasgow, Joe will be spending time with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, who specialise in tackling the problem of knife crime and is a national centre of expertise on violence.

Hannah Ciotkowski

Hannah, current Time to Shine Leader at Kissing it Better, will be heading to Northern and Central Australia where a growing number of older people suffer from chronic loneliness. Hannah’s current role at KIB looks at offering young people meaningful volunteering experience inside hospitals and care homes. Since the Covid19 pandemic, KIB has had to adapt their services, and set up a ‘volunteering from home’ programme, with Hannah running this for Duke of Edinburgh participants to support elderly people virtually. Hannah’s main aim in Australia would be to learn from isolated, elderly communities in the Northern Territory and other more remote areas of Australia, many of whom have had to cope with serious isolation issues all their lives. She will also be including a visit to Professor Brian Dolan who works in Australia on the ‘End PJ Paralysis’ campaign – an initiative that encourages older patients to wear their own clothes in hospital, as well as visiting ‘The Last 1000 Days’ project that charts the importance of giving older people the best chance of making the most of their last 3 years of life. In addition to this, Hannah will work with young Australians who are already volunteering from home, looking at the way they are successfully supporting the most vulnerable in their society.

Geraldine Cooper

Geraldine, 2019 Time to Shine Leader at Newington Day Centre, will be traveling to San Francisco, Belgium and Liverpool to find out how other countries experience and cope with dementia within their population. Geraldine will visit the Alzheimer’s Association in San Francisco for a fortnight to volunteer with them in the lead up to ‘The Longest Day’ fundraising event, where thousands of participants from across the world come together to fight the darkness of Alzheimer’s through an activity of their choice. She will then move on to The Flanders Centre of Expertise on Dementia in Belgium for 5 days, to see in person how their model works, speak to residents, staff and other members of the community to see how they feel this new holistic model of care for people living with dementia works for them. Then finally, Geraldine will then travel to The Centre for Collaborative Innovation in Dementia Living Lab at Liverpool John Moore University. She will spend 4 days visiting the lab and discover how they work with people with dementia to co-create tools, apps and resources which will improve their day to day experience of living with dementia. 

We would like to congratulate Joe, Hannah and Geraldine on their successful applications and we will be hearing from them during and after their travels.

Rank Conference 2019: Valuing Place

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On October 9th-10th, The Rank Foundation hosted the annual conference at the fantastic Queens Hotel in Leeds.

Every year the Foundation brings together beneficiary organisations, Time to Shine Leaders, Rank Aspire members, RankNet members and external funders and guests to a 2-day themed conference where delegates get the chance to participate in tailored seminars, the annual Accelerator Event, networking opportunities and celebratory showcases. This is the biggest event of the year for the Foundation, and we are always excited to share the amazing work of Leaders in our network.

This year, the theme of the conference was Valuing Place: Creating Collaborative Change. Earlier this year, the Foundation released a Valuing Place report focusing on the successes (and lessons learned) of Place-Based funding in Hull, Dundee and Plymouth. Building on this, it felt apt to spend two days with the network looking at how Place affects our communities, and how best to make every opportunity count. We had 250 delegates join us in Leeds, including seminar leaders, performers, key note speakers, judges and panellists.

We would like to thank all delegates for their participation at what we feel is our most successful conference to date, with an extra special thank you to members of the network who helped the team deliver the conference content by running seminars, acting as judges and panellists, and sharing their stories with attendees.

You can take a look at photographs of the event on our conference page here.

CAP: Molly and Sophia

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We are part way through the period of Community Action Placements, hosted by organisations known to, and funded by The Rank Foundation.

Our School Leadership Award Holders are required to do two Community Action Placements (CAP), learning how charities work, volunteering their time to get stuck in and hands-on with their programmes. Every year, The Rank Foundation organise between 30 and 40 placements with charities and organisations who are members of RankNet. Some placements are residential and some are commutable, and for two weeks the Leadership Award Holders gain experience in the Third Sector.

We will be sharing the reports written by our School Leadership Award holders and their CAP hosts throughout the summer period.

Brook is the UK’s leading provider of sexual health and wellbeing for young people under 25.

They are the only charity working across the UK and Channel Islands that specialises in working with young people to promote their sexual health in the wider context of health and wellbeing.

Brook in Liverpool has been hosting Community Action Placements for many years and is one of the most sought-after placements. Whilst on placement, School Leadership Award Holders are fully immersed into the education and support of young people in the Liverpool area around sexual health and wellbeing.

Sophia

“I wanted to mainly get out of my comfort zone, learn to work in a team with adults instead of students and experience a sense of leadership in a totally different environment. My placement at Brook has allowed me to expand my skill set. I’ve been able to participate in so many incredible things but some of my favourites have been a wellbeing and self-esteem session with vulnerable women seeking asylum in the UK; a group which supports LGBTQ individuals who are questioning their gender identities; attending Pride Liverpool and helping a group of teenage mothers understand healthy and unhealthy relationships.

The staff at Brook are genuinely incredible. I couldn’t have asked for a better placement or better hosts to stay with! I have loved seeing all of the amazing work that Brook do to help their community. I hope to come back to Brook in a future CAP, and see (and help!) the charity develop further.

“It has been wonderful having Sophia stay at Brook. She has achieved so much and participated in lots of sessions during her time.
Sophia is bright and upbeat and has a contagious positive energy that is lovely to be around. She is passionate about her beliefs and will take what she has learnt during her stay here, with her. Sophia has shown lots of interest in the work that Brook does and also provided input from a young person’s perspective.”

– Viccie Hamlet, Brook

Molly

“At Brook, I took part in lots of different activities, including: sexual health workshops, STI testing events, youth groups, Liverpool Pride, and re-designing educational activities. The work was very varied, with a good mixture of office work and practical tasks. It was absolutely amazing, and everyone who we worked with at Brook made the experience one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. I enjoyed all of the outreach work that we did, especially visiting the ‘Work it Out’ group, and Elizabeth Anderson House. Talking to people who are experiencing different challenges in their lives has made me more open minded and has shown me how necessary organisations like Brook are.”

“It was a real pleasure to visit Molly whilst she was on placement at Brook. She had already shown incredible resilience and flexibility after an administrative delay, and she was ready to get completely stuck in with the team. She seemed excited and has a great energy which I think held her in good stead for the remainder of her placement.

The team at Brook gave us some amazing feedback on Molly, that she was an excellent communicator and had a wonderful confidence that meant she settled in really well.”

– Natalie Kay, The Rank Foundation


Press Release: The Rank Foundation receives £3.3m grant to expand Time to Shine

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The Time to Shine programme is empowering future leaders in the social sector

The Rank Foundation, a charitable trust that promotes leadership development and enterprise within the social sector, is celebrating today after being awarded £3.3 million from The National Lottery Community Fund to support the expansion of its successful ‘Time to Shine’ programme.

Time to Shine provides paid opportunities within the charity sector for people experiencing underemployment, while simultaneously addressing gaps in skills and capacity both within individual charities and the wider social sector.

The National Lottery funding will enable the programme to roll out across the UK, increasing the number of individuals and organisations eligible for the programme and allowing it to be better tailored to specific operational and business development challenges faced by small and medium-sized charities.

Caroline Broadhurst, Deputy CEO at The Rank Foundation, said:“Our partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund is a great boost for the Time to Shine Leadership Programme. The Rank Foundation and the Fund share a passion for bringing new talent and skills into the social sector, whilst future-proofing the role of small and medium-sized charities. This grant will help to scale Time to Shine across the UK with a wider reach than ever before.”

The Rank Foundation was first supported by National Lottery funding for its Time to Shine programme back in 2016, which was initially delivered across Northern Ireland. To date, dozens of leaders have been supported to both reach their potential and to be effective in their work placements. One leader, placed in a Belfast charity, raised £800,000 in her Time to Shine year, turning around the fortunes of the organisation – and has since started a master’s degree, while continuing to work for the charity.

Joe Ferns, UK Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We are delighted that National Lottery funding is continuing to support The Rank Foundation’s Time to Shine programme, which helps those experiencing underemployment to find meaningful, secure work – alongside filling important skills and capacity gaps both within charities and the wider voluntary sector.”

“Now, thanks to National Lottery players, the programme will reach more people and organisations right across the UK, increasing its impact and enabling more communities to thrive.”

Lydia goes to Detroit: Memorial Award 2018

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Who?

Lydia is one of two Memorial Award Winners, formally announced at the Enterprising Leadership Conference in 2018. Lydia originally came into contact with the Foundation back in 2016 as a Time to Shine Intern with Student Hubs, and then subsequently as a Time to Shine manager. The internship was based in Oxford, but Lydia originates from Northern Ireland.

What?

Lydia had identified similarities between Belfast and Detroit. Both Belfast and Detroit have suffered from their decline as industrial powerhouses, resulting in city-wide rioting, tensions between ethnic or religious groups, extreme economic challenges and an increase in derelict spaces.

Why?

Lydia was interested in exploring these similarities further by visiting Detroit’s social enterprises and community led initiatives with the view to bring her learning back to Belfast and implement it in her community.

“The whole time I was in Detroit was a huge listening exercise and I wanted to take in as much as possible from as many different people and places as possible. I was reminded about how important it is to keep listening when working on something, even if you are hearing the same message time and time again”

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

Update: Accelerator Winners 2018

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On the 19th June The Rank Foundation launched applications for the Accelerator Event 2019. Every year we invite the Network to apply to pitch an Enterprising idea at our Annual Conference. This year, the Conference (and the Accelerator Event) will have a particular focus on ‘Valuing Place’. For more information on eligibility and how to apply, please see our latest post on the Accelerator Event 2019.

We wanted to update the Network on the success of the 2018 winners: Nudge Community Builders and Compass Advocacy Network.

Nudge Community Builders

What did Nudge pitch?

Local people need extra support, encouragement and financial backing to take a space at Nudge’s monthly markets. By providing this support, Nudge can enable local people and young entrepreneurs to be at the heart of the markets. This funding would enable Nudge to offer spaces for free or on a commission basis if they have a good day.  Alongside this, Nudge will provide bespoke mentoring support before, during and afterwards. 

Update Spring 2019

“The Manor Street Market started this year on 31st March and is becoming a much loved date in the diary in our local area. Each market has had live music, at least 12 stalls and we have really improved the food options for people by working with local businesses.

We’ve had two markets so far this year with 5 more planned up to September and hope to invest further in the infrastructure to make it suitable through the winter. The market is improving in quality and feel. We used materials from the Scrapstore and volunteer help to make yellow decorations that have had a really good impact and have also had some promotional photos done by FotoNow.

We have had 5 young people participate to run stalls and sell from suitcases, and have 7 more booked in for upcoming markets. This has included selling sweets, popcorn making, hand drawn cards, pottery and running challenges or competitions. We have seen some of our regular community who come to our free Soup sessions now feeling brave enough to take a stall. This has been really challenging for some of them as they have complex needs and mental health issues. They have needed support to feel confident and mentoring to keep trying and to develop their offer. We have spent time promoting the opportunity to local young people at careers fairs and through the local foyer and groups. It is taking time for people to feel confident. So we are noticing that they need to come along to a market first to see how it works and tend to pop in at least twice to talk things through.

From this learning we are developing some more support and resources for young people to use around budgeting, selling techniques and pricing.”

Community Advocacy Network

What did CAN pitch?

CAN’s Social Enterprises enable them to generate their own funds and are all environment/service-based. CAN want to take waste plastic and do something meaningful with it, via a ‘Precious Plastics model’. They wish to purchase the equipment to create a new processing facility with the aim of re-purposing the 17 tonnes of waste plastics they have at their disposal. The Precious Plastic model will create beautiful products, made by adults with learning disabilities for local shops and online.

Update Spring 2019

“Since becoming an Accelerator prize winner we have been extremely busy with the Research and Development stage of our “Precious Plastics proof of concept” initiative, in partnership with Dr Dorian Dixon Msc, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at the Ulster University. We have now completed sample stress testing of various different types of plastics and now have a significant body of research as to the particular properties and potential product applications of our recycled plastics. We have also carried extensive research into types of equipment and machinery required to enable us to produce products with production methods that enable our members here at CAN to be fully involved, so that they can learn new skills and be fully integrated into the production process from start to finish. This very important phase of our initiative is now complete and we are now forging ahead with phase 2.

As part of phase 2 we have now taken delivery of a more industrial plastic shredder following experimentation with a small bench top machine and have also ordered our 1st Plastic injection moulding machine which should mean we will start full scale production of our 1st product made from recycled plastic before the end of May.

We already have customers lined up for our 1st product, which is a tourist related item that lends itself to other applications which is part of phase 3 and we hope to showcase this later this year at one of the Rank Foundation’s events.”