Social Enterprise Regeneration Programme

This Social Enterprise Regeneration initiative will support your recovery and development post COVID-19 with supports to include workshops and one to one clinics. The workshops will be lead by experts to provide you with direction and the one to one clinics are designed to dig deep into the key issues. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn, network, connect and grow your Social Enterprise!

All Workshops and One to One Clinics are outlined below for your consideration.

– Booking link is at the very bottom of this page –

1 – Marketing for Diversification (Barry Murphy)

The objectives are:

- To assist social enterprises to diversify and/or innovate their business
- To ensure that each enterprise maximises the marketing benefits of change.

The trainer will go through how to diversify:

- Method of service delivery
- Products and services offered
- Means of interacting with service users
- Moving aspects of the business online
- Changing and developing processes of marketing

The outcomes of this 1:1 clinic include:

- Being able to make informed decisions on diversifying their business for the market.
- Decide on how to innovate their services, offerings and delivery to further engage with their target audience.

2 – Income for Diversification (Vicky Crosby)

- The trainer will discuss anything financial that the boards or members of the Social Enterprise may have concerns about.
- The trainer will also be discussing your existing revenue streams and how COVID impacted this.
- They will also be looking at how to generate additional income based on your current activity.
- The trainer will also help you with any applications that you may need for funding.
- The trainer has suggested that you bring the last audited accounts and current management accounts to the clinic as they may work from this.

3 – Covid/Design Thinking- Momentum (Orla Casey)

Covid/design thinking offers creative and innovative solutions to challenging problem. It supports the development and implementation of solution prototypes through a process of inspiration ideation and implementation. The clinic will cover:

- The background of design thinking- empathy, optimism and brain storming.
- Understand the difference between design thinking and decision making.
- How to use and implement design thinking in your social enterprise to overcome difficult challenges.
- Why empathy is crucial when it comes to marketing and communicating with your target audience.

4 – Customer service focused training workshop – Momentum (Orla Casey)

The workshop will cover:

- To define customer service
- Identify good elements of good customer practice
- Differentiate between verbal and nonverbal communication
- Respond to customer complaints according to the policy of the organisation
- How is quality of service measured
- The importance of good communication with customers
- Outline current equal status legislation
- Identify provisions that may be needed to satisfy different customer needs
- Discuss how to avoid using practice that discriminate against an individual
- Learn the benefits of having an organisation that caters to a diversity of customer needs

5 – Strategic Planning & Development (Orla Leydon) Workshop & 1:1 Clinic will cover very similar topics

- Developing a strategic plan: Strategic plan is an organizational activity that is used to set priorities and new goals. This is to ensure that the employees and stakeholder are working towards a common goal to adjust the direction of the Social Enterprise.

The clinic will cover:

- Go through mile stones and how to implement the strategy plan
- Go through what steps to put into the plan
- Consolation process- How to work together when part of the plan goes wrong.
- SWOT Analysis/Goals & Objectives
- Draft & Final Versions
- Launch of the plan

6 – Buyer Behaviour- Momentum (Orla Casey)

The workshop will upskill the attendees in the following areas:

- Introduction to the latest trends in consumer buyer behaviour
- Decision making theories and influences on individual buyers
- The effects advertising have on a business
- Word of the mouth and social media communication
- Pricing tactics and price promotion

7 – Community/Asset Mapping (Dr. Kathy Walsh)

Every community has local groups and individuals who have skills and talents. Every community also has facilities such as community halls/centres, libraries, valued businesses, as well as open spaces and sports grounds. All of these things can be mapped to create a picture of the community which shows its current resources and its potential.

The workshop will include:

- What is community mapping
- The importance of establishing a working group
- The role, value and potential of data collection and analysis
- Community consultation strategies and methodologies

8 – Product Diversification/Idea Generation (The Entrepreneurs Academy)

Outcomes Include:

- Creating a new system to look at new products and services you can bring to your organisation.
- Review your desired outcome and understand why you want to grow your business.
- Understand the meaning and process behind coming up with innovative ideas.
- Testing your ideas and learning how to cope with failure.

9 – Research & Evaluation/Social Impact Techniques (The Entrepreneurs Academy)

Outcomes Include:

How to measure the impact and outcomes of a business using research and evaluation methods.
Define what outputs will be measured and how to translate that into impact
Utilise the Theory of Change Model to identify short, medium and long term outcomes.

10 – Branding Workshop (Barry Murphy)

Train Social Enterprises on how to correctly and successfully brand their business, products and services.

Outcomes include:

- To learn the background behind branding and why it is important
- Realise that a name and logo aren’t the only things that make up a brand.
- Learn how to research, to see what people think of their business

11 – Sustainable Fundraising (Orla Leydon)

The workshop will include:

- Identifying key steps to a sustainable funding model for your organisation
- Examine how to get ahead on application preparation
- Explore a range of new approaches to fundraising
- Consider your funding plan for the future

12 – The “How To” of Moving Business Online (Barry Murphy)

By the end of the workshop participants should be able to:

- Decide what their online objectives should be
- Engage with a web designer to begin the process of moving income generation online via an e – commerce website
- Make key decisions regarding the optimisation of important webpages and communicate these to web designers
- Competently run a Facebook and Instagram post and be able to link both of them
- Shoot and edit short promotional and communication videos for their organisation

This programme is organised by the Roscommon LEADER Partnership as part of a Western Consortia of Galway Rural Development, Forum Connemara, Galway City Partnership, Comhar na nOileán and South West Mayo Development Company.

This project was approved by government with support from the Dormant Accounts Fund.

It is funded under the Covid-19 Social Enterprise Regeneration Programme.