Services

How?

• We can assist you to position your organisation to be better positioned to deliver public contracts, develop new income streams and reduce dependency on grant funding
• We can help you to adopt more commercial practices and develop social enterprise activities from either the ground up or out of existing services and community projects

Our approach

At Eastside, we invest a great deal of time getting to know your organisation and your aims before we suggest embarking on any project. With this approach, we have designed a number services to enable your organisation to become more robust and sustainable for the challenges ahead.

Mergers & collaboration
In the new environment of budget cuts, personal budgets and contract outputs that put a huge strain on cash flow, it is more important than ever to be looking at different forms of collaboration. Mergers can provide a more secure operating environment for organisations. We will help you understand what type of collaboration is best for you, identify potential partners and implement practical steps to make it happen. Eastside aims to match charities and social enterprises where there is a mutual advantage and offer a full service merger service. To find out whom you should be networking with go to www.partner-up.org and sign up.

Developing consortia
The current commissioning environment offer risks and opportunities for the Civil Society sector. We can help you to position your organisation as a supplier to government, either as a sub-contractor/prime or through developing consortia. Read how Eastside and partners developed 3SC, a national consortia set up to support Civil Society organisations deliver public services.

Measuring your social impact
Often referred to as Social Return on Investment (SROI) being able to measure your social impact is becoming essential as both an internal and external performance metric, enabling funders and commissioners to understand the tangible social value they are likely to get from investing in your services. Our associates are experienced and skilled at communicating these values and creating a clear, transparent platform for measuring them. We aim to leave you with the tools and understanding to be able to undertake this task internally year on year.

Public sector contracting
With more pressure on councils to cut services and find ‘more with less' many are looking at outsourcing alternatives such as spinning out new social enterprises to run services. We offer bespoke programmes to look at both the cultural transformation for staff and the financial analysis required to create the right viable business models.

Investment planning
Investment for sustainable growth is a key factor in the success of any organisation. We can help your organisation to get ready for investment through professional planning and to secure the right type of finance.

Investment raising
Raising finance is going to be an increasingly difficult exercise for Civil Society organisations. Understanding what funders are looking for in applications is critical and something we pride ourselves on: we have secured £43 million for clients through grants, loans, venture capital, sponsorship and contracts.

Setting up a new enterprise
Turning ideas into successful enterprises is challenging. We can help organisations to incorporate and set-up a new enterprise, to select the right legal structure, to implement a growth strategy and to build a successful team.

Organisational change
Developing teams that can deliver social and commercial outcomes is a challenge for many organisations. We can help your organisation to become more enterprising and to imbed new behaviours on the shop floor. We offer different workshops and cultural-change programmes to assist you.

Financial modelling
Financial modelling is a crucial part of any social enterprise. From the initial stages of starting up to future investment raising understanding how to operate cash flow budgets will determine the success of your organisation. Indeed, the most common reason organisations fail is poor cash flow management: you can be profitable but still go bankrupt.

Business planning
A good business plan breaks down the idea and process behind the business into manageable steps. It should be written for your target audience, including financing bodies, as well as for yourself and employees, as an actionable guiding document. It should be as concise as necessary, avoiding jargon, clearly stating the economic and social (and/or) environmental case for its genesis.