Looking for bid writing or grant writing success? Then look no further than our recent pro-bono partnership example with It’s All About Culture (IAAC). We recently submitted our third proposal for IAAC and we’re hoping for three in a row bid success too.

Our first bid writing grant ask was to the Asda Foundation, which was a resounding success. It secured three months funding to cover winter utility bills for their Multicultural Hub in the Sovereign Centre in Boscombe. This Hub provides a warm space for diverse communities to connect and feel safe.

Our second bid writing request was to the Winter Crisis Grant Programme funded by NHS Dorset. This was also successful, securing six months of funding to provide access for hundreds of people to subsidised food. The project funded emergency culturally appropriate food parcels and activities that enable people to connect with others.

We submitted the latest grant writing proposal to the Screwfix Foundation. This is for funds to renovate the kitchen that serves the whole IAAC community. The refurbishment will enable the charity to teach locals how to cook healthily, further supporting the community’s health and wellbeing.

It’s All About Culture is a volunteer-based, diversity-led charity. It has a Multicultural Hub in one of the most deprived areas of Dorset county – Boscombe – supporting thousands of people.

IAAC originally sought our help to:

We are proud to have helped IAAC secure over £10,000 so far. We have focussed on getting the foundations in place. This includes an information repository and good governance policy. Secondly we followed up with requests for immediate funding needs, such as winter survival funding. Now we can now work on a longer-term strategy and core funding requirements.

If you are a not-for-profit organisation in Dorset looking for support with bid writing, please check out our Bid & Tender Services page and get in touch with us. We’re here to help you achieve success and make a real difference in your community.

In today’s digital age, data protection as a qualified business support has become a hot topic, affecting businesses and organisations of all sizes. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), implemented by the European Union (EU) in 2018, has had a significant impact on how personal data is handled. Since leaving the EU our own UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) has taken its place.

Realising the importance of safeguarding sensitive information and wanting to understand better how to support Dorset businesses and not-for-profits, I embarked on a journey to become a certified Data Protection Officer (DPO).

GDPR is a set of regulations designed to protect the privacy and personal data of EU citizens. It covers various data protection principles, such as obtaining valid consent, ensuring data security, conducting impact assessments, and promoting transparent data processing practices. Non-compliance with GDPR can result in severe penalties, including hefty fines by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The more I am learning about GDPR and Data Protection the more I am understanding their importance for Dorset small businesses and not-for-profit organisations:

I annually have the pleasure of sharing in-depth Dorset knowledge with local post-graduate students. I provide a ‘Financing, Funding and Futures’ workshop to several Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) residents of the AUB Innovation Studio.

The AUB Innovation Studio operates as a lab for creative technologies. It offers a nucleus for start-ups and regional enterprises, and is a hub for industry engagement. With its focus on collaboration, entrepreneurship, research, and prototyping, it equips students with real business skills.

In return, AUB offers support back to Dorset small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, sole traders and social enterprises through:

My workshop session is all about the Dorset financing and funding environment, helping the students understand:

What does it look like here and what sector support is available

This is all about what financial support is available for various stages of development. Within this I explain everything from grants to loans, crowdfunding to angel investment

Who are the local people and organisations of influence in the business world. Including where to go to get key news and insight to help grow their organisation

This is all about how to plug into tender and contract opportunities. Also how to join the networks and newsletters that are really helpful and will help expand their business opportunities

I show what financing, funding and future opportunities and risks are coming over the horizon. Then I teach them how to take advantage of these opportunities.

Dorset is losing home-grown talent after graduation. According to the Southern Policy Centre’s ‘Retaining Graduates’ 2019 report, only 16% of students domiciled in Dorset stay in Dorset. Therefore, we must do everything to help support those graduates who want to stay and grow their business in the Dorset area.

If you want to know which helpful business support organisations exist in Dorset, then head over to ‘Dorset Support Organisations’.

If you want any particular in-depth Dorset knowledge, or to know what Dorset funding and financial support is available, then please get in touch. Or sign up to my newsletter below for regular information.

When you need a flexible hands-on expert, someone to create social media posts one week, then write bid documents for a contract tender the next month, then project manage a trade fair attendance later in the year, together with creating promotional case studies from the customers’ viewpoint … the list goes on. You and your team don’t have the time / expertise to do it all, and you don’t have the funds to hire full-time.

Let us give you an example of where we have provided short-term critical support to a growing small business over the past three years.

Designed mainly for smaller security installation and management companies, TetherX is a platform and IoT gateway that securely ‘tethers’ physical security devices (CCTV cameras, ANPR cameras, access door sensors etc.) at multiple locations and makes them easy to monitor, manage and maintain on a single dashboard and remotely via an app at the touch of a button.

We originally started working with them in response to their new investors requiring quick turnaround times for key growth tasks.

Since then we have provided:

Some tasks lasted a couple of days, others a couple of months. The company pulled on us when they needed a flexible hands-on expert.

After a recent break of just over six months we have been recently contacted again for short-term support, which we will happily give (subject to capacity of course!)