‘Bring it and share it’ might sound like a picnic invitation for friends to share food and beverages, but this phrase nevertheless accurately describes our approach to developing partnerships here at Legacy WM. Establishing and running an organisation for 15 years has its successes and setbacks. There have been some lean years, in particular the first half decade when I was the only employee and we relied on Board members, family, friends and volunteers to support project delivery. Since then we have grown year on year, and our income for the last three years has been in excess of half a million pounds and we have 12 members of staff working full and part-time along with some consultants. The impact of our work has deepened both at the grassroots and at a broader strategic level. Our ethos of 'passionately serving our communities' has not wavered, and we are seeing the fruits of our work bear out as many of the people we have worked with have become exemplary role models. We possess a deep commitment to supporting volunteers and as a result half of our staff team started as volunteers.
The sector is currently facing unprecedented challenges and some organisations have sadly folded - the pressure is on for those still around to up their game or get left behind. We face the challenges of bringing in half a million pounds a year to sustain our staff team and deliver our activities. We are not alone in this, as every charity leader I have spoken to have shared similar stories. We have taken an approach to work in partnership with local organisations and developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with several organisations to share our resources, and ensure that the people that we work with are supported effectively. Organisations that have an MOU with us can hire our minibus at a reduced rate and have access to our facilities at Soho House Visitor Centre and it doesn't stop there, as we have hot-desking facilities free of charge for local organisations and we donate our space to small organisations who don't have the funds to pay for the room hire. We have an ‘incubation’ policy where we support organisations, helping them develop until they are ready to stand on their own two feet. The most successful organisation that we have supported is healthcare collaborative Flourish; we were the established organisation that held and managed their finances for a fee. Presently there are two small organisations that we are incubating and supporting them to access funds from the Arts Council England.
Our 'Bring it and share it' approach to working in partnership has grown in scope and scale over the years. We began by managing a Violence Reduction Unit grant, followed by National Lottery Community Fund, Sport Birmingham and National Lottery Heritage Fund partnerships. The last two years have been extremely fruitful, as we have led and secured funding from Commonwealth Legacy Inclusive Communities Fund, Shared Prosperity Fund and Cultural Action Area with a total value of around £350,000. We wrote the bids for the three different partnerships with nine different organisations and we took a management fee for our efforts. However, partnerships can be complex and we are learning from them, necessitating deeper conversations about what is expected from all the partners and then developing this into a robust partnership agreement. It does not stop there, as partnerships have to be continually managed to ensure that all parties fulfil their obligations, and we are becoming more adept in this area.
We realise that many smaller organisations may lack the specialist personnel and resources to write complex bids. So, the service we offer is invaluable as there is no point in us continually growing whilst smaller organisations face serious challenges. However, this does not mean that we will work with every organisation out there, our values must align and potential partners needs to have a good track record, assessed as part of our due diligence. Partnership working allows you to move away from your comfort zone and appreciate how different organisations operate, with one of the biggest outcomes being that it brings you face to face with new people from all walks of life in a physical place.
Legacy WM leading the Handsworth Cultural Action Area with partners has been a recent highlight, and we have supplemented this programme by securing additional funds to buy a PA system, outdoor lighting and cinema projection equipment. In May 2024, we were given the keys to Soho House Visitor Centre which is fantastic, as we can host and hire out the centre for events. Whilst the freedom is great, we are learning new skills in site management and event delivery. This has placed an added burden on staff to be available over weekends and evenings including, factoring in caring for equipment and leveraging technical expertise. This time is accounted for with TOIL, however, this can take team members away from their day job, but it’s fair to say having variety in one's duties is nice and having a relatively small team means everyone gets involved where possible. In this sector no job is too big or small regardless of your job title, on some days we all end up being cleaners! This gives us a dose of humility and keeps us grounded.
We are presently working with a mental health support organisation and tendering for services with Birmingham City Council to deliver mental health awareness training for voluntary and faith sector practitioners. We keep our fingers crossed. We have been waiting on Arts Council England to open applications for the next set of National Portfolio Organisations, however, they keep moving the goalposts and at the last check it was 2028. Regardless, we are working in partnership with several local organisations and supporting / incubating them to deliver their services. When the NPO programme opens up, we will develop our bid to support local arts organisations and have a pot for them to deliver their work without the burden of filling in lengthy application forms.
So our commitment to ‘Bring it and share it' remains our approach to supporting smaller organisations to ensure that between us we can support as many people as possible in the community. There are new terminologies that may describe this as anchor-based work, co-design and whatever else the new fad is. I have been working in the community for nearly four decades and I have seen how our communities have been exploited by large institutions where usually the entire senior management team and board are white and the outreach worker is a local Black or brown person. We want to see an end to this type of practice and we are committed to building our capacity to ensure that when the big funds come, we are in pole position to bring it and share it!
