Cotswold Council for Voluntary Service
Cotswold Council for Voluntary Service is a charity which has seen a massive transformation. Cotswold Council for Voluntary Service has been providing non-emergency transport services for local people making hospital visits since ambulance service cutbacks seven years ago.
When Pilotlight first started working with CCVS in 2005 the immediate issue to be tackled was renegotiating its local agreement with Gloucester Ambulance Service, which paid for its transport costs. Pilotlight helped CCVS renegotiate a new agreement which would completely cover all their costs including the services of a part-time administrator.
Crucially Pilotlight helped CCVS develop a business plan with other voluntary sector organisations for countywide, co-ordinated provision of community transport. As the business grew Pilotlight encouraged the charity to obtain training and development for their staff which has been very successful and a real boost to morale.
In the two years it worked with Pilotlight CCVS has agreed additional community transport agreements with a mental health service and the primary care trust and is currently negotiating with others. In 2007 its turnover was up by over ninety percent and its number of volunteer drivers has increased sixfold. They have also taken on new full-time members of staff to meet the needs of this growing business.
The Pilotlight team were impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit which was shown by the CCVS team and has enjoyed working with them. In return CCVS found that their work with Pilotlight gave them a new confidence in dealing with the public sector and negotiating new business. Jane Winstanley from CCVS says of Pilotlight:
“We would not have got to the position we have without Pilotlight. They have taken us on a huge journey which has dragged us out of the twinset and pearl mentality and put us on a more business-like footing. We use a word we never even looked at before and that’s profit!”
Since working with Pilotlight, CCVS has applied a much more commercial approach to its operations, which has included driving down costs and a focus on more sustainable funding sources, shifting the balance to service contracts. This improvement in the “behind the scenes, back office function” has then allowed CCVS to develop its services, including the community voluntary transport partnership, which is now operational, and importantly allowed it to transport more passengers.
Reflecting back on Pilotlight, Jane says: “It is painful going through the process, but you will become a much more advanced charity that is likely to survive… It allows you to make mistakes in private.” Jane says CCVS is now a “much leaner, fitter organisation than before…we now talk about the organisation as a business, with charitable responsibilities to the community.”’
In the last year, competition for contracts has been fierce but CCVS has taken steps to generate unrestricted income and tackle its reliance on grant funding by opening two charity shops. This has enabled it to make a profit.
