An exclusive tango lesson with Strictly’s Brian Fortuna and VIP tickets to the live recording of The X Factor on November 29th are just two of the remarkable once in a lifetime lots up for bid.

We’ve got unique ‘money can’t buy’ experiences with proceeds going to transform lives across the UK. It’s the perfect chance to snap up the kind of one-off Christmas presents you won’t find anywhere on the High Street.

Star studded lots include jeweller Theo Fennell designing a unique item for one lucky winner. Bidders can fight for tickets to the final dress rehearsal of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Love Never Dies’, the sequel to ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.

Kenny Dalglish is offering the chance of lunch with him at Liverpool Football Club on match day, seats in the Directors’ box, and a photo opportunity with Manager, Rafael Benitez.

And Harry Potter fans can discover the wizardry behind the movie by bidding for two weeks work experience behind the scenes at animation studio The Moving Picture Company – creators of the Potter films.

And because Pilotlight uses skills to shape charities, we’ve got some inspiring ‘work experience’ lots where bidders have the chance to learn some new skills. The Spectator, Britain’s oldest and best-selling weekly magazine is offering a week at their head office. GQ is offering a week’s experience on their feature desk and Harvey Nichols, is offering a 2 week job behind the scenes.  Happy bidding!

Pilotlight aims to raise £1million from the auction which will be used to triple the number of small charities helped and business leaders recruited to work with them over the next 3 years.

Over 1.2 million people across the UK have already been touched by Pilotlight. It works like a dating agency matching, but then also carefully managing, small entrepreneurial charities and social enterprises with bankers, entrepreneurs, fund managers, lawyers and hedge funders.

In challenging financial times, the charities want to survive and grow and to do this they need the best business advice available to them. BP, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Morgan Stanley, BT and Coutts are just some of the big names providing ‘Pilotlighters’ to work with the charities.

Pilotlight currently supports over 50 innovative small charities and social enterprises across the UK.
 
Charities that Pilotlight has worked with experience an average growth of 54% within 2 years. The average growth for voluntary sector organisations is 6% per year. This service is free to the charities it benefits. In the current climate, and with so many charities needing to help more people, they need the best business advice available to them, in order to become more sustainable and grow.

Charity ends at home as funds feel the pinch

Published Date: 18 October 2009
 
By Rosemary Gallagher

THE worst is still to come from charities which are already being hit hard by the recession as experts have warned that public sector funding will be cut in coming months.
Last week, hundreds of Scottish charities were fearing for their future after Lloyds Banking Group announced it was to cut its charitable foundation's funding, worth at least £6 million a year, because of the financial crisis.

Chris Horne, direct ADVERTISEMENT  or of Pilotlight Scotland, an organisation which matches charities with businesses and individuals who are able to give their time and expertise, said more not-for-profit organisations would have to scale back or go under next year.

He said: "The real pressure is still to come. The next one to two years will see a major squeeze on charities as a significant proportion of their money comes from local authorities and the Scottish Government."

The Lloyds TSB Foundation news had not come as a major shock, he said, as its funding had reduced in recent months. But it was a big blow as it had been one of the major contributors in Scotland.

Horne said the HBOS Foundation stopped giving out money to applicants at the end of the last financial year and the Moffat Charitable Trust was no longer funding new projects.

Anne Boyd, chair of the Scottish Community Foundation, which matches philanthropic individuals and companies with charities, said: "In the first half of this year, we've seen applications to our grant-making programmes increase by a third, mainly due to larger organisations, those with paid staff, applying for funding.

"These groups are likely to face the hardest challenge in the current climate, and I suspect a lot of voluntary sector jobs will end in 2010."

Jandy Stevenson, partner and leader of the charity team with Edinburgh accountants Henderson Loggie, advises charities to avoid burying their heads in the sand and focus on activities core to their organisations. "Some might come out stronger in the end," she said.

In Scotland, Adam Ingram MSP, Minister for Children and Early Years, has visited three projects that have been 'Pilotlit'.  Having seen the impact that is being made, Adam said:

“Early Years Framework recognises the value of more effective collaborations in the delivery of early years services between the private, public and third sector. That’s why I’m pleased to have had the chance to see the exceptional work delivered by The Yard in Edinburgh and The Jeely Piece in Castlemilk, who have both been supported by Pilotlight Scotland and their volunteers or ‘Pilotlighters’. Through the work of Pilotlight, small organisations who support and recognise the importance of play have been able to establish sustainability and long-term funding arrangements – in turn benefitting children, their families and their local communities.”

Scotland was our first Pilotlight outside London, Wales is the second. With added resolve we are starting to fundraise so that we can touch many more lives. We want to raise a million over the next three years to triple the number of charities we reach.

The ostrich approach seems a real option as people ask whether they can change things at all. But Pilotlighting charities really does make a difference: we know with your help local charities reach 60% more people. Imagine that effect tripled across the country. That is why Pilotlight trustees and staff want to raise £1m and why I am looking to our Pilotlighters and friends to join us.

We want the journey to be fun and true to the spirit of Pilotlight. Our first event is a skills auction. Just before Christmas we are auctioning off the sort of skills money can’t buy: lucky bidders will learn or benefit from the skills of gurus whether they be a design supremo, a golfing expert or master of the culinary arts. Money raised will go to giving charities the Pilotlight experience which is seen by the charities as beyond what money can buy:

“Even if someone offered me £80,000 I would still go for my team of Pilotlighters!”
Celine Sinclair, The Yard, Edinburgh

Fiona Halton
Chief Executive

Please join us to hear about the impact we’ve had on small charities in the UK over the past year and our plans to grow nationally.  You’ll have a chance to hear more about the following charities and Pilotlight projects, with Pilotlighters and charity representatives sharing their experience in working together:  Disability Action in Islington, Centre of the Cell, Latin American Women’s Rights Service, Mainliners, and Reading Quest.

Herbert Smith LLP is generously hosting this event at their offices.

Event Details

Thursday, 1st October 2009, 6:30 pm
Herbert Smith LLP
Exchange House
Primrose Street
London EC2A 2HS
Click here to visit Herbert Smith's website.
Click here for a map of the event location.

Please RSVP on 020 7283 7010 or kpruski@pilotlight.org.uk.

Join us for two evening sessions to hear from experts in Governance, and receive personal accounts from a Trustee Chair and Charity Director on what it takes to be an effective member of a board of trustees.  Attendees will learn about the benefits and pitfalls of being a trustee, as well as the liabilities associated.  By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of what’s involved and expected of you in taking on a trustee role in the UK, along with suggestions in how to go about finding a charity to support. 

Event Details

15th October 2009, 6 pm
“How to be a Great Trustee”

Speakers:
Tesse Akpeki, Governance expert
Rachel Archer, Director, JusB

12th November 2009, 6 pm 
 “The Role & Liabilities of UK Trustees”

Speakers:
Trustee Chair (TBD)
Stephen Gale, Partner, Herbert Smith

HSBC is generously hosting these events at their offices in Canary Wharf.

HSBC
Canary Wharf
8 Canada Square
London E14 5HQ
Click here to visit HSBC's website.

Pilotlight London requests a donation of £40 from Pilotlighters and £80 for those who are not currently Pilotlighters to attend each session; please note, it is possible to claim Gift Aid back on donations made by UK taxpayers.

Please RSVP to Kat Pruski on 020 7283 7010 or kpruski@pilotlight.org.uk by 9th October. 

Pilotlight Cymru’s first partner organisation is called Arts Factory, which works in the Rhondda valley, one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in Europe. Arts Factory delivers a range of services to local people including pre-school, health and fitness, arts and crafts and youth clubs. The organisation generates income from a number of small social enterprises including a graphic design service, online bookstore and the rental of managed space, some of which provide training and paid work for people with disabilities. Arts Factory values its independence from government and Pilotlight will be helping it with their aim of generating all of their core costs from the enterprises.

Arts Factory operates in a social enterprise sector which is relatively young, vibrant and growing. According to a report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, two million of the UK’s working age population (5.8%) is engaged in some early stage entrepreneurial activity, 235,000 are trying to start a social venture.

The government has recognised the potential of the sector and the bulk of new funding initiatives for the third sector are being targeted at social enterprise. The Scottish Government launched the £30m Social Investment Fund last December to give investment packages of between £100k and £1m to social enterprises with successful track records who are ready to grow. The funding will be a mixture of loans with low interest rates and grants. Funding for the first year will be focused on social care, environmental health and employment, disability and health services.

In May bidding opened on the £1billion UK-wide Future Jobs Fund to create 150,000 new jobs. The social enterprise sector has been asked to create 10% of those. Councils have been instructed to lead funding bids, and will be expected to work closely with social enterprises to achieve this goal.

With such high expectations, the sector needs to be prepared for growth. Craig Dearden-Phillips, founder of disability services users advocacy business Speaking Up has become an ambassador for the sector. He identifies barriers to growth for small successful social enterprises in all fields citing undercapitalisation, entrepreneurs having to spend too much time and energy looking for funding, and a culture of suspicion in the voluntary sector about people and organisations who aim for scale.

Dearden-Phillips recommends that ambitious enterprises poised for growth first identify whatever makes the idea work well on a small-scale and protect that at all costs, second invest in equipment and infrastructure (i.e. first class people and systems) and, last but not least, acquire the right skills. 'This isn’t always easy in the third sector,' he writes. ‘If growth is to happen, you need people who can model, then implement, rapid change.’

PL:  Have you always been interested in the charity sector? 
TF:  "No not at all – I dislike the word ‘charitable’ because of its link to a traditional approach to disabled people where we were seen as passive receivers of ‘charity’. I see the sector I work in as more about social and political change – being a charity is a means to an end, that’s all."

PL:  What is the first charity you can remember supporting? 
TF:  "I don’t think I’ve supported a charity that I haven’t worked for! I suppose the ‘charity’ I continue to support but don’t work for now is Disability Awareness in Action – an international disability and human rights network."

PL:  What motivated you to get involved with Pilotlight?
TF:  "ALLFIE was at a stage in its development as an organisation where our capacity had grown enormously in a very short period of time – we had gone from two to eight staff in less than 12 months. This can have many disadvantages as well as advantages and we thought that Pilotlight could give us the external support, experience and headspace we needed to think and plan beyond the ‘now’."

PL:  Do you think working for/with a charity has altered your perspective in your own life?
TF:  "Hugely – prior to working in this sector I worked in the City. Since leaving my view of the world and what individuals can achieve has changed completely for the better – understanding the need for social and political change and feeling you have a role to play in that change is incredible and terrifying all at the same time."

PL:  Which cause do you feel most passionately about?
TF:  "Not surprisingly the cause I currently work on – inclusive education as a right for all disabled learners. It’s hugely contentious for many people but that’s the challenge."

PL:  If you could have any dream job, what would it be? 
TF:  "Secretary of State for Education in the UK… and if I couldn’t have that I would run an international travel company where I could spend all of my time traveling the globe and beyond!"

The ad opens with a quote from the Chief Executive of Pilotlight Scotland partner charity The Yard, “Even if someone offered me £80,000 I would still go for my team of Pilotlighters”. It goes on to report that two years after working with Pilotlight, the charities and social enterprises we support increase the number of people reached by 57% and their turnover by 54% (6 times voluntary sector average).

If you know of small to medium charities or social enterprises who may benefit from the Pilotlight process, please ask them to contact Pete Smith on 020 7283 7010, or direct them to our website at www.pilotlight.org.uk.

Pilotlight London is currently particularly interested in hearing from organisations working in the fields of children’s health and education, or those headquartered in East London boroughs, particularly Newham, Greenwich, City of London, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.

Pilotlight in the Press: In August, Pilotlight featured in an Evening Standard piece about Governance, while Pilotlight Scotland's partner organisation Sikh Sanjog was the focus of an article in The Scotsman this July.  See the details below to learn more about the recent funding success for this social enterprise.  Pilotlight Cymru featured in an article in Business in Focus this month, sharing information about the Pilotlight effect in our newest market.

Sikh Sanjog receives grant from Third Sector Enterprise Fund:  The Scottish Government through the Third Sector Enterprise Fund (TSEF) has awarded Sikh Sanjog, a Leith-based, Pilotlight partner organisation, with £69,700 in grant funding.  Sikh Sanjog helps Sikh women; their cafe is scheduled to open next month, which will provide local women with volunteer and paid jobs, as well as skills training. 

Scotland Government announces £4m Play Programme:  "Go Play" offers new funding support from the Scottish Government.  This programme will be run for over two years, supporting facilities and services where there is a lack of opportunity to develop through play.  Adam Ingram announced details of Go Play during a visit to Glasgow’s Jeely Piece Club, one of Pilotlight Scotland’s first partner organisations.

Mainliners announces November conference:  Pilotlight partner charity, Mainliners, which provides a range of support services for people living with, or at risk of, blood-borne diseases (HepC, HIV/AIDS, etc), recently completed the Pilotlight process, working on communications and marketing efforts. Mainliners plans to host its first international three-day conference in Manchester this November, where it will launch a new national strategy for establishing resource centres across the UK.

Juliet Mountain joins Pilotlight as Membership Director:  We are delighted to welcome Juliet Mountain to Pilotlight as Membership Director.  This is a new position within Pilotlight. Juliet is responsible for developing our corporate offer, and welcomes any feedback and ideas you would like to share.  With a variety of experience in both the corporate and voluntary sectors, Juliet started out in the world of corporate communications at Brunswick and latterly was the Director of homeless charity StreetSmart.  After a career 'break' to raise her two young children, Juliet is now devoting her energies to this new role.

Events Manager Deborah Samuel offers details of Pilotlight Skills Auction:  Pilotlight welcomes Deborah Samuel as our new Events Manager. Deborah notes, "I previously worked as an events fundraiser for a humanitarian aid charity and after a brief break of taking care of my young son who has just turned one this month, I have joined Pilotlight to help launch a fundraising campaign and events calendar."  The first fundraising event will be for all Pilotlight friends - you can join in without even leaving the comfort of your desk. In November, we will be launching an online skills share auction. Auction lots will include ‘Money Can’t Buy’ experiences such as: a day in a film studio to delight in the imagination of your film fantasy, a chance to develop your musical abilities with a leading master, and backstage passes to a top West End show to meet your favourite stars. You will be hearing a lot from Deborah Samuel over the coming weeks and months. If you have any event or fundraising ideas, please contact her on email, dsamuel@pilotlight.org.uk. 

The launch of the centre, in Whitechapel, on 3rd September was an entertaining and informative evening, with Pilotlight staff members Joe Swann and Helen Lang attending.  From May 2007 to September 2008, Pilotlight London and a skilled group of Pilotlighters worked with Centre of the Cell, helping to deliver a business plan and also a strategy to establish a trading arm for the charity.

The Centre is free to visit and can host 40,000 visitors each year. Once inside, visitors gather around a central ‘nucleus’ for a powerful audiovisual display, projected around the walls of the pod, which introduces them to cells – the building blocks of life. The nucleus then opens to reveal interactive games and visitors can also try their hand at virtual experiments. This combination of digital technology and real-world science creates an education experience not available anywhere else in the world.

Centre of the Cell's aim is “to inspire young people to take an interest in science, to improve their knowledge of science and perhaps to lead them to becoming scientists themselves one day.” The organisation has said it would not have raised the necessary funds without the enormous contribution of Pilotlighters and the Pilotlight process, and we are delighted to have made a contribution.

To visit Centre of the Cell's website, click here.

Project Manager, Pilotlight London, £24,000pa
Pilotlight is a dynamic, fast-growing charity based in Central London which uses the skills of the business sector to help small charities and social enterprises to grow.
The Project Manager guides business professionals and charities through a strategic planning process. Excellent facilitation and communication skills are needed to ensure that our client charities get the most from their relationship with our members. We are looking for a confident, effective communicator with excellent organisational skills, and preferably client-facing experience.

To learn more, click here to view our Vacancies page.

Both charities and members embark on a journey when they sign up to Pilotlight. For the charities the journey itself can lead to profound change.  Founder and Programme Manager Penny Tyack of Reading Quest, felt like she’d “been through another stage of her education." Penny said that Reading Quest, a charity helping disadvantaged children acquire precious literacy skills, is much closer to reaching its potential — which was “a dream” before working with Pilotlight.

For members, according to our recent member survey, the journey changes not only the way they give but what they bring to their day jobs. It even changes their outlook on life.

Not surprisingly, all members felt that Pilotlight had improved their understanding of the voluntary sector. But 54% of Pilotlighters have brought a different focus or direction to their donating since becoming a Pilotlight member, and increased the overall amount they give to charity (including their Pilotlight membership donations) by approximately 22%. They have also increased the time they spend volunteering with charities outside their Pilotlight commitment by approximately 50%. It does not stop there: 83% of Pilotlighters have encouraged their colleagues to volunteer, either as Pilotlighters or in other ways, since they began working with Pilotlight.

The good news continued into their day jobs where 77% of Pilotighters found their experience with Pilotlight helped them become more effective in their professional work. That effectiveness gained tended to continue over the first three years. More, 34% of members believe the Pilotlight programme has helped them make progress in their careers and 59% of Pilotlighters have made helpful contacts through Pilotlight.

Best of all though is this: 84% of Pilotlighters found their experience with Pilotlight has helped them become happier or more fulfilled in their professional work. Just as with professional effectiveness, fulfilment gains tend to continue over the first three years. In Amanda Forsyth’s words, a Pilotlighter from Adam and Company, Pilotighting left her “uplifted, energised and positive”.

Fiona Halton
Chief Executive

Fiona highlighted some of the 2009 Member Survey results in July's letter.  For everyone who took the time, a big thank you for participating in our annual survey.  Pilotlight will use the results to help direct future efforts and to work towards continuously improving the member experience.

To read a summary of the results, please download our survey report by clicking here.

Please click here for an electronic version; if you would like to receive a hard copy in the post, please contact Courtney Stern, Member Communications Manager, at 020 7396 7414 or cstern@pilotlight.org.uk.  Special thanks to Katie Warner at StudioThreeCreative for her hard work and to an anonymous trustee for helping to support the printing costs.