Butterwick Hospice Care
“There comes a point in a capital development project for the third sector where there are only so many grant making trusts you come across. Yet, it is often the smaller trusts that can help. I needed to find new routes for generating income.” Sue McCabe, Capital Appeal Manager for Butterwick Hospice Care, speaks of a common problem faced by voluntary organisations and social enterprises. This obstacle was inhibiting Butterwick Hospice Care from achieving its aim of constructing a brand new building in which to provide specialist therapy and counselling rooms for patients and their families. As Sue notes: “We had a business plan but didn’t know where to begin or where to find resources.”
“The programme has revitalised the project and given my plans more structure."
Sue began searching for support: “When I went onto the PNE Group’s website and started looking I found the Places for Everyone programme. I immediately felt that it was where I needed to be to get support.” Sue attended the programme’s workshop and received one-to-one support from an in-house consultant, Tracey Moore. With this help, Sue has been able to quickly move her plans forward: “The programme has revitalised the project and given my plans more structure. Tracey confirmed that I was on the right track and this has given me the confidence to be more creative. I have devised my own critical success factors and have something to follow.”
"I funded a Quantity Surveyor report which proved that we could have the work done for £100,000 less."
As part of the programme Sue received £800 towards architect’s fees and this proved invaluable to the project. As Sue explains: “My original costing for the project was done by a local contractor. However, through talking to my architect and other participants on the Places for Everyone programme, I discovered that my original costing was far too high. I funded a Quantity Surveyor report which proved that we could have the work done for £100,000 less. We are now able to give this new costing to building contractors so they can’t take advantage of us.”
“The ongoing consultancy has been fantastic and I have gone back again and again.”
With Sue’s newly found expertise, Butterick Hospice Care has been able to raise over £500,000 for the capital development project through a variety of methods including approaching local businesses and applying to regional Grant Making Trusts. The success of the fundraising programme has led to the development of a website, set up to take private and business donations.
As the project progresses, Sue is still receiving support from Places for Everyone: “The ongoing consultancy has been fantastic and I have gone back again and again.” Once the final £250,000 has been fundraised, physical work will begin on the new building.
“My peers at the workshop made me feel that I was working on a really great and groundbreaking project and this helped keep me motivated."
However, the benefits of the project are already apparent. The new building will become the premises for the Seven Wellbeing Centre, a new social enterprise set up by Butterwick Hospice Care in response to community and client needs. The new centre will offer complementary therapy to those who do not suffer from life limiting illnesses, an outreach service for local GP surgeries, occupational training for local businesses, the delivery of an accredited diploma in Complementary Therapy and a raft of other services all designed to reach out and help those in the local area. For Butterwick Hospice Care, the new centre will bring greater sustainability: “The new social enterprise will allow us to generate the income needed to sustain the hospice and provide us with greater long term security. Other hospices could replicate this model across the county.”
"I know what I’m doing is the right thing.”
Sue hopes that her experience of capital development will encourage others in the same way she was encouraged whilst on the Places for Everyone programme: “My peers at the workshop made me feel that I was working on a really great and groundbreaking project and this helped keep me motivated. I know what I’m doing is the right thing.”
