INVEST Programme for Charities

Our goal is to support the development of charities and community groups to give them the skills required to help them develop and sustain their organisations. The programme is bespoke and will be designed to the individual request. A mentor may be requested and/or a pro-bono service, but overall the participants will get to set and achieve their goals and realise their full potential through the guidance from a mentor, or the use of a pro-bono service.

To continue providing much needed support to our charitable groups we have developed a flexible programme made up of INVEST Mentoring and INVEST Pro-Bono.  The key objectives of the INVEST Programme are to:

• Provide non-financial support to voluntary sector leaders enabling them to better navigate their organisations through specific challenges they face.
• Mentoring – (Further information below)
• HR – health checks, policy & procedure reviews, employment and recruitment advice
• Legal – commercial property lease reviews & negotiation, data protection & privacy policy updates, intellectual property protection, changing legal structures, updating Articles of Association
• Professional building services – design, surveys, property & market rates advice, capital project management advice, structural engineering, valuations, planning advice
• Communications & creative design – branding, copywriting, website design, digital strategy, SEO & Google analytics training, design software such as Canva
• IT – software training e.g. Microsoft Teams & advice on CRM systems, cyber security, AI
• Business planning – strategy, coaching and mentoring, facilitation, financial management systems
• Non-detailed financial, tax or VAT advice
• This is not an exhaustive list
• Contribute to the sustainability of voluntary sector services to Gloucestershire communities in the medium to longer term.

Please register your interest in the INVEST Programme, even if you don’t require support at this time, but you think that you will do in the future.

If you need help as soon as possible please download the application form at the bottom of the page. The programme will be launching on Monday 1st September, so we will respond to your application then.

If you have any questions please contact Talitha Nelson, INVEST@gloucestershirecf.org.uk.

You can also check out our RESOURCES page for advice and information.

Mentoring for Charities

Our mentorship programme provides mentors from the business community to charity leaders and managers in the county.

Our goal is to support the development of charities and community groups to give them the skills required to help develop and sustain their organisations. The programme is designed to help mentees set and achieve their personal goals and realise their full potential through guidance from mentors.

Mentoring sessions are one to one with a mentor who has been matched to you based on your mentoring objectives. The role of the mentor is to enable you to fulfil your performance expectations to the benefit of your organisation and in doing so, your beneficiaries.

The mentor will offer advice from their experience of challenges and successes. Actual dates and locations for the mentoring sessions are agreed between the mentor and mentee.

The Process

Specifically for personally development or working through challenges, you will be carefully matched with a mentor, you and your mentor will have an initial meeting where you will lay out the areas you require support in and agree the number of session to meet up. Typically this tends to be 6 sessions of 60-90 minutes. At the end of your sessions, there will be a wrap-up session which will give you a chance to summarise your project and evaluate impact.

Alternatively you may just need a few sessions with a critical friend, as you have a strategic business project that needs looking over, shaping up and ultimately apply for funding and other resources through the INVEST Pro-Bono Programme and Community INVESTOR Fund.

Hear how life changing this programme can be…

Gemma Madle in the below video, leads a charity supporting children called WAM Youth. Listening to her experience brings home just how much we all need a helping hand at times. When you carry the burden as a senior manager/leader,  just having someone to listen to you, outside of your organisation and your home, who is there just for you, is really transforming for both you and your organisation.

We also hosted an INVEST “Lets Talk” event, so you can hear all about it and ask us any questions.

Pro-Bono for Charities

GCF’s INVEST Pro-Bono service connects businesses with local voluntary and community groups to share their skills, professional advice and services, helping to strengthen the vital services charitable groups deliver for our local communities.

The types of skills and areas of expertise are wide-ranging and could be one of the following (although the list is not exhaustive):

• HR – health checks, policy & procedure reviews, employment and recruitment advice
• Legal – commercial property lease reviews & negotiation, data protection & privacy policy updates, intellectual property protection, changing legal structures, updating Articles of Association
• Professional building services – design, surveys, property & market rates advice, capital project management advice, structural engineering, valuations, planning advice
• Communications & creative design – branding, copywriting, website design, digital strategy, SEO & Google analytics training, design software such as Canva
• IT – software training e.g. Microsoft Teams & advice on CRM systems, cyber security, AI
• Business planning – strategy, coaching and mentoring, facilitation, financial management systems
• Non-detailed financial, tax or VAT advice

INVEST Pro-Bono supports both new and established charities and community organisations which may not be able to afford some professional services and that are:

• Based and operating in Gloucestershire
• Working to strengthen communities experiencing inequalities and disadvantage; and or improve the lives of local people who face difficulties and have limited access to appropriate or affordable services and support.
• We will prioritise those with an income under £1 million, particularly those with an income under £0.5 million.

Organisations are matched with support if they are understood to be able to make sufficient time available to work with and communicate in a timely manner with our Pro-Bono volunteers.