Natural Ability
Annie Sanders and her business partner established Natural Ability, a social enterprise now run by a Board of nine Directors. Natural Ability seeks to provide a safe and supportive living and working environment for those with learning disabilities. Since its inception on 1st January 2009, this new organisation has had the core objective of finding premises, in the form of a farm, on which those with learning disabilities can live with independence and integrate into the local community.
"...as a young organisation we had lots of expertise on our board but had no track record of delivering anything.”
Annie and her business partner had found a farm they wished to purchase and brought together a board with a wide range of expertise. However, none of the board members had any direct experience of capital development and, as Annie explains: “One of the things we realised was that as a young organisation we had lots of expertise on our board but had no track record of delivering anything.”
"We had a gap in our expertise and needed the confidence to get started and make our ideas real!”
To overcome these obstacles Annie decided to participate in the Places for Everyone programme. She wanted to develop the knowledge, skills and contacts to move her project forward: “The main thing was to get access to expertise. I was attracted to the programme because it was tailored around capital development in its broadest form.”
Annie has benefitted from the programme in a number of ways: “I have learnt loads and loads. The key thing was that before the programme I didn’t recognise what I didn’t know. We had a gap in our expertise and needed the confidence to get started and make our ideas real!”
“We realised at the workshop that the project really needs someone else, a project manager, to take it on.”
Annie now feels that she can recognise what knowledge she is lacking and has an understanding of who to ask for support: “We realised at the workshop that the project really needs someone else, a project manager, to take it on.”
Annie was also pleasantly surprised by the £2,000 Feasibility Fund grant which she applied for and received through the Places for Everyone programme. This money allowed Natural Ability to conduct a feasibility study for the farm building they had identified. Sadly, this original building was recently sold; however, Annie has set her sights on a new farm and with consultation from the local community she hopes to purchase the farm in 2011.
"I have learnt loads and loads."
Perhaps the greatest project success is the funding Natural Ability has secured for the capital development project. Annie and her business partner discovered an individual who has set up a charitable company which invests in property development projects for social enterprises. This individual will supply Natural Ability with a soft loan totalling over £1 million. The money will allow Annie and her business partner to buy and refurbish the farm and have £100,000 as running capital.
The project is now well underway and Annie’s vision of the new farm and the benefits it could offer seem within reach: “We want to be part of the local community. We aim to include our service users in the community and hope to provide training in land based studies for anyone in the area who is interested. We hope that some of these classes will be led by our service users.”
“We realised at the workshop that people really could do these projects and once we found out the steps we needed to take, we felt we could just get on and start.”
Annie also anticipates developing self catering lodgings which will provide short break holiday accommodation for the families of those who need care: “By providing this accommodation we hope to contribute to the tourist industry in the local area,” notes Annie. The social enterprise will also benefit the wider local economy by providing twelve new care jobs and a farm manager position.
Annie notes the greatest benefit of the Places for Everyone programme: “We realised at the workshop that people really could do these projects and once we found out the steps we needed to take, we felt we could just get on and start.”
