Local Business Plan
This is an anonymised business plan, which was provided by one group to their potential funders.
(Group Name) Freegle Business Plan 2010
(insert logo)
Background
XXXX Freegle was founded X years ago and currently has xxxx members. It is part of an affiliation of xxx UK based Freegle groups, with a combined UK membership of over 1,000,000 members. XXXX Freegle is a voluntary group which works to ensure that reusable items are kept out of landfill. Primarily this is achieved through a web-based community discussion group.
As a voluntary group, XXXX Freegle has no employees and is operated entirely by volunteers (“moderators”) who ensure the web-based community runs smoothly, provide help and assistance, etc. Over the past XX years, XXXX Freegle has no financial activity and its income and outgoings were both zero.
More recently, the volunteer moderators have become increasingly involved in promotion of the organisation in the local community, through attendance at community events, presentations at local conferences, the provision of advertising materials at church halls, charity shops etc. In order to further strengthen the impact of the group in the local community, it has been decided to fund-raise and use the secured funding to provide higher quality advertising and marketing materials.
XXXXX Freegle Volunteers
Currently, the group has X primary volunteers:
Volunteer 1 {Address} Co-Moderator
Volunteer 2 {Address} Co-Moderator
Volunteer 2 {Address} Co-Moderator
There are no employees and no wages or expenses are paid.
Funding
A number of avenues have been identified to secure funding for the group;
- XXXX Voluntary Organisations’ Council Grant Grants of up to £2000 available to assist with the development of local organisations for “for purposes of social welfare and especially for local initiatives which benefit people in XXXXXX.”
- XXXX City Council Offer waste action grants of between £50 and £200 for to support waste projects that will encourage the wider community to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste.
- Fundraising within Group Membership With over xxxxx members an appeal for donations from within the existing group members may well prove profitable. Freegle having a bank account will allow donations to be made directly to the account via internet/telephone payment services – removing the fund raising issues associated with a dispersed, web-based organisation.
The volunteers continue to investigate other avenues and the umbrella Freegle organisation provides assistance on fundraising through its support group structure. A donation of £XX from a group member will be used to set-up the Edinburgh Freegle bank account. The target for the first year (2010/2011) of operating financially is to raise £xxx through fund raising.
Outgoings
The intention is to use raised funds to support the purchase of marketing and promotional materials. Previously, these have been produced using donated facilities, rather than using professional services. The following candidate purchases have been indentified;
- Business Cards 500 cards estimated at £55
Estimates based on quotations from local printing firms
- Free standing Display Stands Products identified from £78 - £159.
- Advertising Banners Prices from £55 – 135
The specific purchases will be dependent upon the success of fund raising activities. No funding will be used to provide wages, expenses, web-hosting or any other day-to-day operations for XXXX Freegle.
Choice of Financial Services Provider
The Co-operative bank has been identified as a suitable provider of financial services (i.e. a basic money transmission account). They offer the capability to allow dual authorisation of payments, which is an appropriate control for the funding associated with a voluntary group such as XXXX Freegle. Also, their focus on ethical business dealings aligns well with the underlying ethos of XXXX Freegle.
Appendix A – Freegle Aims and Objectives
About Freegle
You might not need your old sofa or wheelbarrow any more – but there might be someone just round the corner who does. Or if there's something you'd like, someone nearby might have one that they might just throw away if they don't know what else to do with it.
Freegle groups make this happen online. Sign up, post an OFFER of something you want to get rid of, or a WANTED for something you need.
We are a national grassroots organisation of people throughout the United Kingdom who are giving and receiving free unwanted items in their immediate communities. Local charities, non-profit groups and communities are encouraged to join.
All groups within this organisation operate with a basic principle – all offers and requests must be freegle (free and legal). Some groups may have additional guidelines such as no offers or requests for animals, or that items must be suitable for all ages.
Our aim is to keep anything reusable out of our landfill sites. Meeting new people helps to develop local community networks and friendships in the process.
How it works
Freegle is an email list hosted on Yahoo! Groups that allows you to give stuff away when you need to get rid of it but don’t want to throw it in the bin. Or save something from landfill by asking for it; perhaps someone has just what you need that they were about to throw away. For example:
1. You have a washing machine you don’t need and may need to take to the tip.
2. You join your local Freegle group.
3. You post an OFFER on the list, seen by everyone who looks on the site or receives messages in their inbox (members get to choose whether to receive all messages or just view online) OFFER: washing machine (just off High St) Old and noisy but working washing machine available.
4. Interested members will reply to you privately.
5. You choose who you would like to give it to.
6. Between you, you arrange for them to come and pick up the washing machine.
7. It gets collected.
8. You’ve given away your machine with little effort, and you also got to meet someone new from your neighbourhood in the process.
9. Someone local to you who needed your unwanted machine can now use it, fix it or use parts for spares.
10. It didn’t go into landfill. Great for both you and our planet. Everyone wins!
Likewise, if you need an item you can request one on the list in the same way and if someone has what you’d like they will contact you off-list to offer it.
(Text taken from http://www.ilovefreegle.org/)
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