Setting up new enterprise

Setting up a new enterprise, service or revenue stream

This is geared towards new activities and ventures. It encompasses initial feasibility studies and structural reviews where appropriate as well as all the products available in Investment planning.

Why conduct a feasibility study?

The third sector is fragmented and there are many charities, NGOs, housing associations and social benefits organisations. Many are now at a point of maturity where they recognise their need to innovate in order to achieve sustainability and grow.

If this is true of your company or organisation, a feasibility study will give direction and structure for your development. It is important to also note that Social Funding bodies will often ask applicants to provide evidence of a feasibility study.

What will a feasibility study indicate?

• Which social enterprise model suits your organisation
• How to pursue the right model and the outcomes to expect
• Strategies for thorough research into the benefits and costs of new business opportunities

• The ability to present a clear, well presented and objective argument to boards and trustees so they can get behind your new enterprise initiative.

• A clear action plan for implementation.

Who benefits?

• Senior management
• Trustees
• Potential Investors and Funders
• Service users
• Beneficiaries

Eastside's Feasibility Study Service:

• A clear usable scope of your organisation's goals.
• Tools, templates and expert advice through the project.
• Key market research
• Interviewing appropriate stakeholders, including key staff
• Clear recommendations and next steps
• A Presentation of the report to senior management or the board.

Structural Review

Eastside's structural reviews give advice about the best legal and organisation structure for charities, NGOs and other socially-oriented organisations, such as housing associations, that are seeking to develop, or potentially spin-off a social enterprise. Our service options include advice on the best structure to set up and support to implement it successfully.

Why conduct a structural review?

Deciding how to structure your organisation is important because it has implications for raising finance, for tax, for branding and for operations.
Choosing the right structure for a social enterprise is an especially complex decision - there are nine different potential structures.

Who would benefit?

Eastside's structuring services are geared towards organisations that have decided that they will set-up a social enterprise and are exploring the best structure to achieve their objectives.

Services

For a structural review, our service includes:

• Advising you on your organisation's structural options, outlining the benefits and costs of each option
• Recommending the best option when appropriate.
• Presenting the rationale to a board or to another set of stakeholders for ‘sign off'
• Assisting with implementation of the structure.

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