Rosemount Lifelong Learning (RLL) grew out of a parents’ group started by Save the Children in 1978. When Save the Children pulled out 20 years later, a new charitable company was formed.RLL aims to combat poverty, reduce deprivation, promote learning and aid recovery from homelessness, trauma and addictions by providing vocational courses for women, adult education and childcare. Last year the charity supported 954 clients.
RLL approached Pilotlight in need of help to create a robust business plan, substantially increase unrestricted income and develop better links with the local business community.
Alex Meikle took over as Chief Executive during the Pilotlight process and was immediately impressed with the quality of his team, all senior executives from Scottish firms: law company Brodies, technology company Bellcom, the Student Loans Company and manufacturing company Smith and McLaurin.
‘We had several intensive sessions lasting a couple of hours each where they would come back to us with ideas and then we went away and worked them up,’ Alex recalls. ‘They were very dynamic. It’s good to get help from the outside because you can be too close to things.’
The Pilotlighters’ objectivity helped RLL in several ways, for example, reminding them to use language carefully: ‘In social care the language can be arcane and business people we approach might not understand It, so we needed to make it more user-friendly. They also reminded us that we had a great story to tell,’ says Alex.
As a result of the engagement, RLL now has a business plan, packed with marketing and fundraising ideas which Alex is actively pursuing: ‘It made us realise that this is the right thing to do and that we can’t keep depending on diminishing public sector funding.’
With the added leverage of its new business plan, RLL received funding from Glasgow City Council and the European Social Fund for its work getting young parents back into work.
When you start the Pilotlight process, says Alex, you should know what you want to achieve: ‘Pilotlighters aren’t a bunch of people who know your organisation, you need to know the gaps and what you want them to do for you. You need to be able to take criticism and treat it as friendly fire because they have the expertise and are there to help you.’