You’re reading this at a time of high excitement for me. For a couple of months a group of us have been planning a birthday surprise for one of our friends and tomorrow it reaches its denouement. We’ve all clubbed together and he’s going to be the match day mascot at Barnet FC v Dagenham and Redbridge tomorrow. He’ll be dressed in the full kit, he’ll walk out onto the pitch (wearing bright orange boots that we’ve bought him) with the players before kick off and at half time he’ll be taking penalties against Mr Bumble, the Barnet club mascot, in front of the home fans. We’ve even got the Barnet Times interested in running a story about it.
He’s 50 years old. It’s going to be amazing.
Whatever you’re up to, I hope you have as good a weekend as I’m planning too!
Fixture list
Back in the olden days the release of the next season’s fixture list was a day of great excitement. Now it’s been rendered almost meaningless because every game gets moved for TV coverage. Fortunately this shouldn’t be an issue for most of the events highlighted in the 2020 Giving Dates Wall Planner, which covers all the awareness dates you need to know about in the coming year. Tomorrow is Winnie the Pooh day, for example.
Shifting the goal posts
Do you want to help shape the future of social purpose funding? Social innovation charity Shift, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, are running a survey to explore the need for social investment, equity and other alternatives to grant funding.
The survey takes 15 minutes and the results will be fully anonymised. To say thanks for your time, you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win £100 for a charity of your choice.
You can complete the survey here
Half time oranges
Do professional footballers eat oranges at half time? I can find no evidence to suggest that they do. There is evidence of basketball player LeBron James consuming some during a game but nothing for football. If you’re a professional footballer reading this let me know.
If you’re a social entrepreneur who could provide half time oranges (or indeed if you’re a social entrepreneur running a sustainable food business) you may want to take a look at Impact Hub’s Feeding the City Accelerate programme. It’s kicks off in February and over six months will support the next stage of growth, helping sustainable food businesses to overcome the key challenges they’re likely to face when they come to scale.
Deadline to apply is 9th February
One of our own
Our very own Henna Patel had a busy 2019 collating lessons from experts and social entrepreneurs with first hand experience with social impact measurement. Every time I asked her what she was doing, she’d reply ‘collating’. Now she’s put together a blog post for Good Finance summarising her findings.
Sideways pass
While we’re on impact, individuals and organisations are invited to apply to a tender opportunity at Delight, a social enterprise founded by SSE Fellow Kathryn Mills. They are looking for someone undertake the evaluation of Delight’s intensive multi-year model of art-based learning. There’s a fee of £16,000 available to the successful party.
It looks a really good piece of work to get stuck into, you can find out more about it here.
“You’re not talking”
Anyone who has played Sunday league football will be familiar with the player who spends most of the match clapping and shouting things like “you’re not talking to each other” at the other players on the pitch. I’ve always wondered if at the top level the players can actually hear each other over the crowd noise (obviously this isn’t an issue at Arsenal).
Still, communication is important so it’s good to see that creative marketing agency Good Beans are hosting a one day workshop for purpose-driven organisations who need some help communicating with on and offline audiences. It takes place in London on 30th January and readers of Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You can get a 15% discount with the code EXPRESSYOURPURPOSE.
Managerial merry-go-round
According to the League Managers Association the average managerial tenure within the men’s football league is under two years. That’s an awful lot of C.V. updating. Perhaps if Messrs Klopp, Mourinho or Guardiola decided to move into a more stable occupation they could check out one of the following:
- Cracked It are looking for a Relationships Lead (£22k – £27k, London) to co-ordinate repair clinics, manage corporate relationships and provide great customer service. Cracked It were founded by SSE Fellow Josh Babarinde and combine business and tech to support young ex-offenders away from crime and towards employment. Apply by 27th January.
- SSE Fellow Rebecca White is looking for an Operational Manager (£31200, Norwich) for her social enterprise Your Own Place. It’s a a chance for you and the team to grow, and the role has been designed to allow a leader to lead a high-performing team and manage the operational running of services. Your Own Place are committed to finding new solutions to old problems with the prevention of homelessness as their impact. Apply by 24th January.
- Back in London, Hatch Enterprise are looking for two programme co-ordinators (c£25k) to support their Female Founders and Social Enterprise programmes. If you are interested in supporting entrepreneurs to set up businesses and fulfil their individual potential then make sure to apply asap.
Ten years at the top
Staying at the top is difficult in football. Ten years ago Chelsea were champions, and look where they are now. The world of social enterprise support is somewhat different, however, as evidenced by the fact that SSE Dartington are celebrating their tenth birthday next month. To mark the occasion they’ll be hosting an SSE Fellowship event on 13th February. If you’re an SSE Fellow in the South West it’s a a great opportunity not only to catch up with people from your programme, but also from all of the programmes run in region and beyond.
Training academy
Finally, Social Enterprise Mark have some upcoming focus group events at the University of Westminster that will help influence the design of new postgraduate course in social enterprise. They are looking for input from the wider social enterprise sector to ensure the course meets the needs of the market. You can join them in London on 28th January or in Plymouth on 12th February.
