Starting a charity for single mums

[kikewblue]

Hi gals,

I've recently been thinking to start a non for profit organisation in my spare time (although very limited) helping single mothers in South East London start their own businesses.

Does anybody have any experience in this field? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

In what aspect? I have experience of applying for funding and run an employability project for lone parents for a lone parent charity .

Thanks very much for getting back to me. I just wanted advice on how to go about opening one.

Advantages and disadvantages, anything really would help. Is there much funding available...? If so, are they quite hard to get? Could it be sustainable? Any suggestions on how to raise money otherwise for the charity...?

Thanks in advance :-)

First thing you need to think about is about the service you are offering. Do you want to be a charity or a community interest company? Have a look online at the differences. Funding is currently extremely hard to come by. You will need to be registered as a charity or community interest company, you will also need a clear business plan. Think about exactly what projects you want to deliver. How you will do it, what it will cost and how you will either fund the project once the funding has run out and if you don't get further funding how you will wind up the project. Any money you get given as grants will need to be used for the purpose that you have asked for it for. You won't be able to use it for anything else. This means that if you have any other projects or things to pay e.g. Staff, equipment, office, marketing etc etc you will need to have another stream of money coming in which can be used for whatever you like and this will usually come from things like people being sponsored, cash collections, fund raising events.
If you need more support then contact your local community and voluntary service who will be able to help you more.

I advice that you register on www.gingerbread.org.uk , have a talk with actual single parents and see what they need, what they search for, are they up for the task and what they can do. You might get some good pointers that will tell you what to invest in and how to proceed with your work. It's a very good idea from your part :) good luck!

If your spare time is limited, why don't you look at doing pro bono work with a charity or enterprise who are already up and running? Setting up a charity is hard work - see princesses post. If you have a desire to help, expertise and limited time, then joining on to something already established would I think give you the most bang for your buck.

In other words, do you want to go out fundraising to buy a photocopier, or do you want to use your time to help people set up their own business?