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TesTing Di erenT MoDels o supporT: CASE STUDY

Summary & background The Digbeth Trust, a third sector in rastructureorganisation, has been providing its Pro essional andTechnical Aid Service or over 5 years. The aim o theservice is to provide pro essional and technical advice,guidance and support to TSOs which would otherwisenot be able to access it.

The service grew rom the Trust’s extensive experienceo similar services delivered or the Inner City Partnershipprogramme between 1984 and 2000. The Trustmanaged the delivery o easibility studies or majorprojects and buildings by architects and specialist thirdsector consultants to local TSOs. As a result, by 2000,the Trust had a strong reputation with the local citycouncil and local grassroots TSOs which has placed itparticularly well to link the public sector and grassrootsTSOs. Both bene ciaries we spoke to said they turned tothe Digbeth Trust because they had an ongoing in ormalbut pro essional relationship with sta rom the Trust,gained through events or third sector orums. Over this16 year period, the Trust has also built up an extensivelist o contacts o local consultants experienced inproviding advice to local grassroots TSOs.

Over the past 5 years this list has been extended toinclude consultants with a wider range o skills, and

ormalised into a register that the Trust manages.Many consultants have been on the register since itwas established, and some give individual pro essionalsupport to Trust sta . In this way they behave very muchlike an extended part o the Trust team, or example

giving advice about IT support issues, assisting withpresentations to clients, and acting as a sounding board

or senior sta .

Benefciaries

The service targets primarily grass roots TSOs inBirmingham and the West Midlands seeking to developcommunity acilities and services. We interviewedbene ciary organisations and consultants who deliveredservice, to get a picture o the types o TSOs receivingsupport. Those interviewed – or mentioned by consultants- were largely ‘community-based’ and played a signi cantrole in providing various services and resources to thelocal community. However, there was huge variationamongst the groups, both in terms o their purpose –

rom a Sikh temple to an amateur ootball team – andtheir stage o development – rom an established charity

with a large budget and around 30 ull time equivalentsta to an organisation run entirely by volunteers.

Reasons or accessing support According to the Digbeth Trust, most o these groupsaccess support rom PTAS or consultancy supportrelating to: unding; business planning; human resourcessystems and processes; specialist skills on legal and

nancial matters; and project management skills. Weinterviewed two bene ciaries - both went to the Trust orsupport to develop a business plan, and one o the twoalso wanted support to develop a undraising strategy

and a marketing plan.

Pro essional and Technical Advice Service (PTAS)

p v dDigbeth Trustp To provide pro essional and technical aid, guidance and support to voluntary andcommunity organisations who would otherwise not be able to access them

l th t 2-15 days (depending on extent o grant unding or size o contract). The days can bespread over several months

H w t’ b 5 yearsH w ma y Tso ca b

t d?Dependent on unding – they are able to provide access to consultants when they havesecured grant unding or have secured a contract to deliver capacity building support

r c m cat It is only one element o Trust’s work. The resource input is less than 2 FTE sta .B fc a Grass roots third sector organisations (TSOs) in Birmingham and the West Midlands

seeking to develop community acilities and servicesMa a acc

tNeed to develop: unding sources; business plan; human resource systems; specialist skillson legal and nancial matters; training; and project management skills.

n d a m t / h a th ch ck A Trust Development Worker/O cer conducts an in-depth ‘health check’ interview andsite visit with the bene ciary, and uses this to write a brie that is then put out to tenderwith the register o consultants

D v m t t No common development tools are used, though some individual consultants do usedevelopment tools where considered appropriate and individual projects have producedreusable tools, or example work on asset trans er and work on social ranchising.

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What does the service involve? Essentially, the Digbeth Trust manages and brokers

relationships between bene ciary TSOs and consultantsrom their register. The Trust is able to provide ree accessto these consultants or TSOs either through securinggrants or contracts to deliver capacity building on behal o a public sector agency. The Trust works to ensure thattheir applications or unding refect their organisationalmission - to enable the development o an infuential,e ective, independent and sustainable voluntary andcommunity sector across the West Midlands through theinfuencing o policy and the provision o expertise – andmeet the needs o groups. For instance, in two recentapplications to Capacitybuilders ‘Improving Reach’and the Big Lottery BASIS 2 und, the Trust applied or

unding or longer, smaller-scale support packages aswell as the more intensive ones speci ed by the unders.This refects their experience that many groups requireonly small inputs irregularly and over a long period toachieve their capacity building objectives.

The PTAS process begins with the Trust publicisingthe opportunity or TSOs to access support. In manyinstances, this is ollowed by a competitive processwhere organisations are selected according to whetherthey are likely to bene t signi cantly rom the support.Where the under has a speci c target group, this group

is prioritised; this means that some groups that don’t tthe unders’ criteria can lose out. Nevertheless, the Trustis also care ul not to ‘shoehorn’ groups into inappropriatesupport. As a result, groups are o ten asked to wait toreceive support until appropriate unding is secured bythe Trust. However, the Trust is able to mitigate thesee ects on groups, rstly by selecting unding that t withtheir vision and mission and secondly by trying to ensureit is delivering a mixture o programmes with di erenttarget groups at any one time.

Once a group is selected to receive support the rst stepis to link the group with a Digbeth Trust Development

Worker who helps them to write a brie . The brie is thenput out to the Trust’s register o consultants, who submita tender or the work. Once these have been received,the bene ciary organisation decides – using guidanceprovided by the Trust - which consultant best matchestheir requirement. Over the ollowing weeks or monthsthe consultant then delivers against the brie provided,and this includes a range o activities but primarily

easibility studies, business plans, organisational reviews

and unding strategies (The Digbeth Trust Review 2004 –2008, October 2008, MEL Research).

The whole process relies heavily on the Digbeth Trust’st c ta t, which is a c d t. Tobe on the register, consultants have to apply to theTrust’s Board o Trustees and provide two re erees. Allconsultants must also pay an annual subscription (tocover administrative costs) and, on annual re-application,must re-submit at least one re erence rom a local TSOthey have worked or in the past year. All o this helpsensure that consultants are o a certain standard andthat their experience is constantly being updated.

Outcomes

We interviewed two bene ciary organizations, both o whom had bene ted rom the service in organisationaland nancial terms. The rst was ‘better able to describeourselves and our mission’ as a result o the support,while the second said ‘it’s given us a sense o clarity’.One had won a small contract to deliver a worklessnessproject or Birmingham City Council and the other hadestablished a website or its con erence venue thathad already brought in revenue. The latter had alsosecured £500 rom a charitable trust ollowing advice

rom their consultant. The consultant had advised thatthe bene ciary begin systematically sending out generic

letters to unding bodies asking or grants and hadhelped them to develop the generic letter.

The Digbeth Trust has also produced three case studiesthat provide examples o the impact it has had onspeci c bene ciaries.• Ca st dy 1: Cyc Cha . The Trust nanced a

easibility study, delivered by their consultants, orthis social enterprise that demonstrated a city centredemand or cycle sales and a parking acility. This wascrucial to building the evidence base or the need orthe social enterprise.

•

Ca st dy 2: Ba ad h Y th m. TheTrust nanced consultancy support to develop andsubmit an application or unding or the ‘UnitingCommunities Badminton Championship’, which wassuccess ul.

• Ca st dy 3: ryd g . A church day centrewas able to raise over £54,000 with the help o aconsultant rom charitable trusts or revenue andcapital costs including a minibus.

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This case study was prepared by Shared Intelligence or the Testing Di erent Models o Support report, which wasunded by Capacitybuilders. To read more case studies like this please visit: www.improvingsupport.org.uk

Critical success actors• The service is able to provide bene ciaries with

c fc x t wh t a h t a

q a ty. It is able to provide this primarily because o a combination o the trust’s local reputation and theway they manage the register o consultants.

• The T t’ tat d v a m av c ca yhas been crucial or several reasons.

Their good reputation with the local public sector hashelped them win public sector grants and contracts.It has also gained them the trust and respect o localgrassroots TSOs, ensuring strong take-up o PTASamongst local TSOs. In addition, over the past 20years, they have developed an extensive register

o consultants with a range o expertise but all withexperience o working with local grassroots TSOs.

• The way in which the Trust ma a a d c ta t y

dat th c ta cy t ensures the rightmixture o expertise and su cient experience o working with local TSOs.

• Finally, the Trust v th d v y th whv c rom guiding them in selecting a consultant

through to collecting satis action eedback at theend. During the delivery o the consultancy supportthey maintain regular contact with recipients toensure they receive a quality service. All o this helpsprovide consistency o quality and ensure tensionsare resolved i they arise.