Somerset social entrepreneur awarded £10,000 Big Lottery grant

“I can attribute this award directly to my attendance on the SSED course…”

The School for Social Entrepreneurs Dartington (SSED) is delighted to announce that one of their Fellows, Kris Scotting, has been awarded a Big Lottery Awards for All grant of £10,000, for his social enterprise, Seed of Hope CIC. National Lottery Awards for All offers funding from £300 to £10,000 to support what matters to people and communities.

Seed of Hope is a Social Enterprise which changes the lives of people with mental health problems through Recovery based social and therapeutic gardening. They work alongside Bridgwater and Taunton College, using its stunning Walled Gardens of Cannington as a base. Using the gardening expertise and facilities of the college, and the mental health recovery experience, of co-founders, Kris Scotting and Jayne Alcock they use gardening to support people in their personal Recovery journey. Participants if they wish to do so are supported to achieve a level one qualification in Practical Horticultural Skills awarded by City and Guilds.

Kris Scotting was a student on the School for Social Entrepreneurs Dartington (SSED) Somerset Social Entrepreneurs Programme 2018. Kris comments: “We are thrilled to have been awarded this money which will be used to expand what we do to change the lives of more people in more places.”

Kris continues:

“I can attribute this award directly to my attendance on the SSED course. The business review process and the support and mentoring of the SSED learning managers, Chloe Tingle and Sam Haydock, really helped. Finding grant funding for a social enterprise can be difficult. The course helped me to identify our social impacts which enabled us to find a funder whose desired impacts matched our own. For Awards for All these are: Shaping the places and spaces that matter to communities, Bringing more people together and building strong relationships in and across communities and Enabling more people to fulfil their potential by working to address issues at the earliest possible stage. Seed of Hope looks forward to helping to deliver these.”

SSED learning manager, Chloe Tingle commented: “I am delighted for Kris and Seed of Hope. Like many social entrepreneurs, he had a great idea for a community based business, but needed some support and expert advice to take his business to the next stage. I’m thrilled that as a result of his learning experiences on our programme, he has been successful in his application for this grant.”

Kris concludes: “Seed of Hope has grown from the seed of an idea Jayne and I had whilst volunteering for our local In Bloom society. This grant will enable us to branch out and blossom. A big thank you from Seed of Hope to the players of the national lottery and to the School for Social Entrepreneurs Dartington.”

Applications are open for two new SSED courses for social entrepreneurs in Devon and Somerset. The Start Up Intensive Somerset programme and the Devon and Somerset Development Programme.

The Heart of the South West Enhance Social Enterprise Programme is receiving up to £1,053,610 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union, ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.