Growing Your Project You need to know – Where you are now Where you are going How you are going to get there Hopefully something for everyone. Experience from Boaz (and Mustard Tree) Started from scratch with no experience (and no idea)

There are 5 or 6 stages to a project. Can you identify where your project is? Just birthed Fledgling / baby – early stages but growing (sometimes fast) Consolidation – juvenile. Some strength and size , evidence of fruit but nowhere near attaining the goal Well established, quite strong / robust, difficult to ignore Fully grown, bearing fruit every year, very hard to uproot, a landmark

Maybe even a Stage 0! Just planting a seed, an idea, and seeing what becomes of it.

Stage 1 - Conception What? (Clear Vision) Where? (geographical area) How? (Mission statement) Who? (Volunteers or staff? Your personal catchment area? Invest in your board) When? (Can it wait? What needs to happen first? People fund what they can see!) Absolutely essential to know what your aim is: the clearer your idea of what you are and where you are going, the easier it is to communicate. You cannot be all things to all men! Asylum Seekers? Refugees? Migrants? Women? Young Unaccompanied Minors? Singles or Families? Examples of projects that try to do too much.

Stage 2 – Early Growth Often needs-led (policies and procedures?) A few doing everything (sometimes out of comfort zone / not in their skill set) Trial and error - Lots of trials and lots of errors! Volunteers sometimes have issues! Take stock (good time for evaluation of roles and goals) Communication and networking is key (newsletter, website, talks) Projects that are needs led often start without policies and procedures – but you need them before you grow too big, otherwise something will go wrong. Find people to do the things that you are not good at. One man bands will hinder real growth and eventually kill the project. (Boaz major overhaul – Rachel and Ros) Mistakes are ok, as long as they are not made when easily avoided. It’s great to have lots of volunteers, but better to have a few great volunteers, because the bad ones need a lot of management. Who is doing what? Can the roles be divided up better? Do you need oneor two key posts? You won’t get the message out just by sitting in an office.

Stage 3 – Consolidation Time to build a team (who can add value? Who may wish to step down? Who should change role?) Don’t wait until it’s too late, always re-evaluate! Be prepared to prune (if you want a tree that lasts and bears fruit) Away-days are worth it (outside consultants can often see the wood from the trees: is your board hands-on?) Strategy for growth & analysis of needs What skills are missing? Office manager? Finance? Fundraiser? (they bring in far more than they cost, so it’s a no-brainer!) Evaluate who is on your board – what do you need to strengthen it? Some people are great at helping get things off the ground. The bigger you get, the more specialist the skills will be. Chop out anything that is wasting time or valuable resources – re-focus on your core values and aims. Having someone from outside is invaluable – they don’t have to be expensive consultants, just someone who can ask the right questions and gives an honest assessment – best if they can get You to come up with the answers! By now you need a definite strategy, maybe a business plan. This is a KEY STAGE ( Boaz major evaluation – Housing Manager brought in)

Build your Team Starters are often not the best managers You need people with different aptitudes Skills can be taught – aptitudes can’t! That includes people skills: they are the glue in the team building You also need different personalities What skills are missing? Office manager? Finance? Fundraiser? (they bring in far more than they cost, so it’s a no-brainer!) Evaluate who is on your board – what do you need to strengthen it? Some people are great at helping get things off the ground. The bigger you get, the more specialist the skills will be. Chop out anything that is wasting time or valuable resources – re-focus on your core values and aims. Having someone from outside is invaluable – they don’t have to be expensive consultants, just someone who can ask the right questions and gives an honest assessment – best if they can get You to come up with the answers! By now you need a definite strategy, maybe a business plan. This is a KEY STAGE ( Boaz major evaluation – Housing Manager brought in)

Stage 4 – Adolescence Established, quite strong, semi-mature (but not entirely self-sustaining!) Known and worthy of respect. (More difficult to ignore) Bearing fruit Good time for a major review in order to press on to maturity This stage requires expertise and a balanced team. Early teams inevitably have ideas people – starters or creators – leading the way. As they grow, there is a need for process people to balance the team, and support people with people skills to provide the cohesion. It is also a good time to review the way you fund your project.

Organisational Tree Exercise Draw picture of tree on flipchart Ask people to write on values & vision (roots), structures & systems (trunk), activities and results (branches, leaves, fruit) Use at beginning of session to get everyone thinking, and come back to it at the end.

Stage 5 – Maturity Strong root system Producing fruit every season – whatever the weather Not likely to collapse unless there’s a hurricane Impossible to ignore – a landmark By the time you get to this stage you are probably valued by other organisaitons, who recognise the work that you do – you have INFLUENCE Don’t rest on your laurels – keep evaluating, keep looking back at your vision and mission statements, keep working on your strategic plan

Ten Top Tips Know your vision and work out your mission strategy. Don’t wait until you have all the funding to get started Plan well Communicate the vision Network Build a team Appreciate your team and supporters Release others to step up: don’t do it all yourself Schemes can be financed as well as fundraised for. If you aren’t willing to take a risk, don’t start!