Cultural Social Enterprise
Bucks Sport - a healthy approach to social enterprise
Bucks Sport ......
- Evolving into a social enterprise from an unincorporated organisation.
- Setting up new enterprising strands of work before deciding on legal structure.
- First venture – The Coach Agency – is meeting a need for broker, support and career pathways.
Bucks Sport is a “County Sports Partnership” – one of 49 such organisations which bring different agencies together to widen access, increase participation, create clear pathways and improve levels of performance in sport and physical activity.
It was set up in 2000 as a small not-for-profit stakeholder organisation which is unincorporated and ‘hosted’ within one of its partner Local Authority partners, Aylesbury Vale District Council.
The Partnership is working with SEEDA as part of the ‘Cultural Shift’ project to move from unincorporated association to independent social enterprise. Whilst the whole organisation is moving in this direction it is also setting up associated and complementary social enterprises. One of the first such initiatives is its Coach Agency.
The Coach Agency is employing around seven coaches, providing training and a structured career path and is then selling their services to a range of organisations who need to work with coaches on a casual basis – schools, local authorities, clubs etc. It means the agency handles all the paperwork, can provide quality assurance and training and recruitment. The Agency will manage demand and match the different coaches to the work that’s needed. They are already exploring ideas like holiday schemes to generate additional income.
Another potential enterprise may focus on the loan of equipment. In the past this has been ad hoc and when the equipment wore out the equipment loan scheme would come to an end. But introducing an enterprise element will hopefully bring in management and a sustainable approach that means the community benefits from a business-like approach.
All of this represents a change in attitude and ways of working from the original partnership established some eight years ago. Lee Mason, Partnership Director, explains: “The main driver is the need to be less reliant on single sources of funding, particularly Government when you are so affected by changes in their agenda or focus. In fact we want to be less dependent on grant aid per se. We probably can’t totally replace it, but we can supplement it.”
The shift in emphasis is from local authorities as grant funders to local authorities as clients. One of the major clients for the Coach Agency, for example, is schools.
One of the first things many would-be social enterprises consider is their legal structure. The question has already come up for Bucks Sport, but Lee explains they wanted to work out how they would operate first and then find the right structure to match. “The most important thing has been to change the way we think and operate. The structure is on our minds and will follow.”
Importantly, though, the overall mission of Bucks Sport remains the same. It promotes informal, recreational and organised sport. It develops PE and School Sport, Sports Clubs, talent development, opportunities for people with disabilities and other target groups, and plays a key role in the development of the workforce. It also tries to ensure sport contributes to wider social outcomes such as improved health, creating safe and stronger communities, economic vitality, education and skills and workforce development, and to meeting the needs of all children and young people. All of these things can still be achieved with a change from the original community association model to social enterprise. And all the indications so far are that they can be achieved more effectively and sustainably.
copyright © 2008 Cultural Social Enterprise