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National Council or Voluntary Organisations

Sustainable Funding Project

Case Study:Learning Links(Southern) Ltd

Key Issues Instilling an enterprising culture Managing growth through contracts Working in partnership and

developing the capacity o otherlocal organisations

Being a beacon or social enterpriseactivity in the local community.


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Sustainable Funding Project Case study:Learning Links (Southern) Ltd

Founded in 1997, Learning Links has grown rom a single grantunded project to an organisation with a projected income o1.6million or 2008/09. Growth has been achieved throughseeking out appropriate contracts and viewing itsel as asocial enterprise, continually on the lookout or new businessopportunities. Recently this has included launching new tradingventures and bidding or Community Assets unding to redevelopa historic site. Central to its approach is a ocus on working inpartnership or the benet o the wider local community andkeeping its mission central.

DateThis case study is based on an interviewwith Janet de Bathe, Chie Executive oLearning Links, held on 17 March 2008.

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Summary


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Learning Links (Southern) Ltd is aregional educational charity based inPortsmouth and currently workingprimarily in Hampshire and the Isle oWight. It encourages lielong learningthrough providing fexible opportunitiesin accessible locations or people whowould not otherwise access learningthrough mainstream providers. Trainingis delivered to adults, young people,amilies, groups and small organisations.Learning Links was ounded in 1997by entrepreneur Janet de Bathe, nowChie Executive o the organisation. Itcurrently has a sta o 61, made up oapproximately 17 contracted core sta,44 project sta, a senior managementteam o ve and 14 active casual tutorsrom an extensive bank o tutors.

Learning Links began as a 16,000 SingleRegeneration Budget grant projectapplied or by the Portsea CommunityDay Nursery to broker a range ocommunity-based learning opportunitieswith local providers.

A separate charity and company -Learning Links (Southern) Ltd wasestablished in 1998. This gave LearningLinks the legal protection they elt theyneeded when applying or and beingawarded larger sums o money, through

sources such as the Big Lottery Fund. Atthis time they were 100 percent grantunded and had an annual turn over oaround 50,000.

In 2001 the Learning and Skills Council(LSC) put out a call or projects. LearningLinks applied and were successul inreceiving a contract worth 650,000over two years. This was a huge leap, deBathe says. We were staggered when wegot it. It was a combination o luck andgood judgement. We were expanding

rom being a local organisation toworking county-wide. This was thebeginning o Learning Links considerablegrowth. In 2003 they were awardedtwo European Social Fund grants worth2million and have since won contractswith their local Primary Care Trustand three local authorities as well ascarrying out subcontracted activities ornational organisations with large centralgovernment contracts.

With a turnover o 900,000 in 2007/08,

de Bathe estimates that Learning Linksturnover in 2008/09 will be in theregion o 1.6million, comprised oapproximately ve percent grant unding,15 percent earned through trading andthe balance coming rom contracts.

Amidst this rapid growth, Learning Linksdecided to take pause and assess theirposition. Strategically we realised that alot o things were going regional, so wespent 2007 positioning ourselves, deBathe says. Income went down in thisyear, but it was important that we spenttime looking at where we were and whatwe wanted to be. As a result o thisreassessment and examination o theirbroader operating environment, LearningLinks applied to the Charity Commissionto become a South East-wide charity.

Learning Links is also aware o thepotential dangers o taking on too much.For example, they have Train to Gainand Learned Account contracts withthe LSC that are open ended in termso delivery. The LSC is very happy ororganisations to deliver as much aspossible. Its possible to deliver 150percent extra on top o the contract,de Bathe says. We had to strategicallylook at our capacity and look at our

growth careully. Quality is veryimportant to us. We are also veryaware o mission drit; o not beingdrawn o by the money.


Background GrowthAssessing thecurrent state of play

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Learning Links strives to be enterprisingin all they do. As de Bathe states:We are a charity and a company andwe see ourselves as a social enterprise.We talk about prot. We think aboutourselves as a business. This attituderequired a change o perceptions orsome sta members. A ew wereconcerned that Learning Links wouldexperience a shit in emphasis. I believethat they can see that we have shitedour approach, but not our emphasis,de Bathe says. Everything we do stillsupports our mission.

The composition o the Board oTrustees has adapted over time to meetthe changing needs o the organisation.The original Board tended to includeparents associated with the day nurseryand job seekers linked to various trainingprogrammes. While this was appropriatewhile the organisation was quite small,many o these original members movedon as their circumstances changed

and Learning Links sought to attractnew Board members with moreproessional skills.

We needed a Board that was morerobust, with more demonstrable businessskills. This was necessary as the size ocontracts being managed grew, saysde Bathe. I love my Board to bits, theyreup or anything really. They are suitablycautious but prepared to take risks. This isabsolutely what we need: people with thevision, who can see the bigger picture.

In the past ew years this has included thedevelopment o two trading venturesthat have grown out o Learning Linksown experiences.

Learning Links identied that theywere spending a lot o money advertisingsta posts due to the large number ocontracts being managed, withadvertisements in the local press costingup to 600 or 700. We thought thati this was aecting us, it must besomething many local organisationshave to contend with, de Bathe says.Although online advertising could bea more aordable option, most jobwebsites are London-ocussed. We sawa real demand or an interactive andsearchable recruitment site orHampshire and the Isle o Wight.

Spangle Jelly a name chosen due toit being non-third-sector sounding advertises jobs which have a clear socialor community ocus, including jobs romlocal authorities or outside the voluntaryand community sector i they t thiscriteria. The site is AAA accessible (thehighest accessibility or websites) whichmeets Learning Links aim o actively

encouraging and supporting employersto make their jobs accessible to all.

The rst phase o the project wasunded by the LSC. This enabled theengagement o both job seekers andemployers through ree access to the site.The site has proven incredibly popular,now averaging around 100,000 hits permonth. It is envisaged that the SpangleJelly Jobs service will be rolled out on acounty by county basis across the SouthEast and beyond.

Learning Links vision or Spangle JellyJobs is or it to become a social enterprise

in its own right, eventually chargingcompetitively or advertisements,resources and services. At this stagethe site operates on a voluntary pay orworth basis so as not to aversely impactusage levels as it becomes established. Inthis way, the perceived social benets arejust as important as potential prots.As such the site is being back undedthrough the other arm o the SpangleJelly brand: Spangle Jelly Printing.

Focusing on socialenterprise

We are a charity and a companyand we see ourselves as a socialenterprise. We talk about prot.We think about ourselves asa business.

Spangle Jellyrecruitment website


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The idea or developing a printing servicealso arose rom Learning Links ownexperiences. We were spending a loto money on printing, de Bathe recalls.We knew that other local organisationswere also having to order print jobs inlarge quantities, say 2,000 copies whenall they really needed was 500. As suchthe decision was made to develop aprinting acility specialising in small runsor local organisations and cost eectiveproducts such as reusable banner standsor conerences. The equipment wasleased and the Board o Trustees made acommitment to support it until it beganmaking money; again motivated by thesocial impact o the service. Fortunately,Learning Links knowledge o the needso local community groups paid o. Theyhave ound tremendous demand or theservice and have generated a surplus ableto support other activities.

Developing Spangle Jelly as a separatebrand means not only that this part o

the organisation could be foated o (orexample, rising turnover levels mean thatVAT registration will soon become anissue or consideration) but also providesa visible model with the potential to berolled out on a wider level. Approacheshave been already been received romother parts o the country to use themodel Learning Links has developed.

Janet de Bathe puts down much oLearning Links success to their positionwithin their local community and thelinks they have established. She is a rmbeliever in networking and encouragesher senior management team to do thesame. Its like ripples in a pond, says deBathe, We network a lot - all the time!Its about being out there and being seen.We talk about everything to everybody.Its not just about how we can benetbut about making links between othersin the community, or the benet o thecommunity at large.

The majority o work that Learning Linksundertakes is done in partnership withother organisations. Sometimes this isormal, with unding allocated to smallercommunity groups to deliver agreedobjectives, while in other situationspartnerships are sought with groupswith expertise in working with particulartarget groups. As de Bathe says, ianother organisation can deliver we try

not to tread on their toes. I they areexperienced in mentoring or workingwith young people, or example, thenthey are best suited to deliver this parto the project.

Learning Links has also started toincreasingly work in partnership withlarger organisations. The Department oWork and Pensions (DWP), or example,have allocated a number o contractsto large organisations who do not havethe coverage at the local level and havesought out mid-sized organisations such as Learning Links to ll this gap.This is not without its risks, however.Dealing with a central governmentbody, even as a sub-contracted agent,may result in agreeing to more stringentconditions than previously taken on.Its very high risk i the conditions o thecontract state that people must be inemployment or at least months aterthe contract ends. This would be hardto track. Also, the payment process usedby the local oce o the DWP makes italmost impossible or any but the largestorganisations to accept, says de Bathe.The situation is currently being discussedwith the DWP, with de Bathe admittingthat Learning Links is much more

politically involved in things than theyever thought they would need to be.


Spangle Jelly Printing Building Partnerships


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As well as developing local partnerships,Learning Links aims to act as a beaconor local social enterprise activity.

This has included helping smaller localorganisations to build their inrastructureto enable them to trade, both throughinormal advice sessions and throughormal training.

Learning Links has also worked inpartnership with Portsmouth Universityto develop a course on social enterprise.Importantly the course includes boththeoretical instruction and practicalelements. The programme is structuredto result in the completion o a businessplan that organisations can then takeorward. Another important elementis the use o business mentors drawnrom the local communitys private andvoluntary and community sectors.

The mentors contribute their timeree o charge, and as mentor de Bathestates, Weve all suered rom the

same experiences, so we are trying tominimize the anxiety they go through.It helps in building a culture o socialenterprise in the area. This has led tothe development o an inormal clustero local organisations interested insocial enterprise and in taking a businessapproach to their development.

Taking a proactive attitude has givenLearning Links a reputation as beinggo-getting; an organisation you can go towhen you want to get something done.This has meant that opportunities havepresented themselves, most recently theoer to manage the transormationo the historic and locally signicantTreadgolds Museum into a vibrant heritagecentre and community learning hub.

The site has so much potential, says deBathe. We could oer apprenticeshipsin metalwork, third sector organisations

could rent space, there could be a socialenterprise exhibition space, coee shop,education room, adult learning and aboard room. The site will oer a mixedeconomy; dierent organisations will bebenet rom being next to each other.

The project has the support o bothHampshire and Portsmouth councilsand to date Learning Links is one o 37organisations to secure, in principle, agrant o nearly 1m rom the CommunityAssets und towards the development.

Being a beacon forSocial Enterprise


Weve all suered rom thesame experiences, so we aretrying to minimize the anxietythey go through. It helps inbuilding a culture o social

enterprise in the area.

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De Bathe believes that regardless o thepolitical environment, and whether ornot the next ew years sees a changeo government, opportunities willexist or Learning Links to continuegrowing and developing. Potentialdevelopments include strengtheningtheir subcontracting model as a wayo eeding greater resources down tosmaller local organisations. There is alsoa desire to provide more inrastructuredevelopment support through trainingaround unding, nance, qualitysystems and demonstrating outputsand outcomes. Part o this could includeselling train the trainer materials,enabling even small organisations tohave a package o workshops that theycould deliver and quality assure.They are looking at ways o developingtrading ideas under the Spangle Jellybrand, including rolling out acrossthe region, as well as increasingcommissions rom running workshopsand oering consultancy.

On a more personal level, Learning Linksaces a new stage as its ounder andCEO Janet de Bathe will resign rom theorganisation later this year. Ater morethan a decade at Learning Links, or manypeople de Bathe is the public ace o theorganisation. She hopes to carry on withthe museum redevelopment project,depending o course on agreement romthe new CEO, as well as developing socialenterprise in the local area and beyond.It will be a challenge or Learning Links tomanage this change but de Bathe is surethat the organisation will continue romstrength to strength.

Looking forward



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Top Tips fromLearning Links


Be aware o the challenges you mayace when starting a new enterpriseidea. The new skill set required is achallenge are your skills transerable?Think about where the start-up undingis going to come rom could you getunding to pilot a project?

It requires a huge leap o aith in peopleto go o and do things like this. Bebrave, with a bit o a stretch you coulddo something and do it well. Rely onyoursel and your own instincts.

Make sure you have really robustsystems. Its worth spending time toput these in place so you can handleanything that is thrown at you.

Quality marks help us to demonstrateour worth we had to jump throughhoops to get them and it helps to showwhat we are capable o.

There is some thinking out there thatsays that the third sector is woolly,that people dont get paid, etc. The

mission o our social enterprise clusteris to change these perceptions. Onepart o this is to be business-like in ourapproach. Dont be grateul. What wedo as a sector is bloody good by andlarge. We are doing them a avour, itsnot them doing us a avour.

I you already have a contact in place,use that experience when going orother work, demonstrate your worththrough the jobs you have done. Wehave a 100 percent success rate incontract delivery and we use thatgure.

Large contracts tend to make thecontractor wary about your cash fowand capacity to deliver. You need tobe able to pre-empt their questions.For example, or one o our contracts

the PCT had concerns. We showedthem our cash-fow orecast and letthem know we had an overdrat inplace. We are condent we canweather any issues.

A lot o success comes down tocondence and that fows through inthe language we use. Dont use might,should, could but we candeliver.

There is a local sentiment that isomething is dicult, go talk to

Learning Links about it. We have areputation or being able to take onthese challenges. This reputationbecomes a sel-ullling prophecyand benets fow rom this.

Links:Learning Links Southern Ltd:www.learninglinks.co.uk

Spangle Jelly Recruitment website:www.spanglejelly.org.uk

Spangle Jelly Print:www.spangleprint.co.uk

SFP:www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sp

The Sustainable Funding Project is an NCVOinitiative working in partnership with theBig Lottery Fund and Charity Bank

The project encourages and enables voluntaryand community organisations to explore andexploit a ull range o unding and nancingoptions to develop a sustainable unding mix.

The Sustainable Funding Projectwww.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp

T: 0800 2 798 798E: [email protected]

it began with a single grant

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