HomeStart Lincolnshire: sustainable services, social enterprise and social impact
Because of our work, HomeStart Lincolnshire carried out a successful merger of eight organisations. It was able to measure, manage and grow its positive impacts on children, families, volunteers and employability. And it built a successful social enterprise.
HomeStart Lincolnshire is a local charity offering support, friendship and practical help to families with young children. They believe that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents and carers play the key role in giving their children the best possible start in life.
This charity recruits and trains volunteers with parenting experience to work with families in their own homes; building supportive relationships and responding directly to the family's individual needs.
In 2015, eight separate Home-Start schemes merged to form HomeStart Lincolnshire. The merger was designed to focus resources on front line services. It also meant that the new organisation could increase the scale of its services throughout Lincolnshire and meet the needs of procurement teams in health and wellbeing.
In 2016, the organisation worked with Hall Aitken to win finding from the Big Lottery’s Local Sustainability Fund.
Stage One: Understanding HomeStart Lincolnshire
A diagnostic workshop with Home-Start’s staff and trustees identified short and longer-term opportunities and ambitions. Our Theory of Change approach highlighted the benefits of Homestart’s services for families and children but also showed that its volunteers gained significant employability benefits from their work with the charity. This was particularly significant for women returning to work.
Stage Two: Measuring Impact
Hall Aitken developed a bespoke measurement tool that allowed Home-Start to demonstrate its positive impact on families, children and employability. By measuring impact, the charity was also able to improve and develop its services.
Stage Three: Increasing Impact
We supported a campaign to help Home-Start engage with key public-sector organisations in Lincolnshire. This built stronger links and, importantly, identified further growth opportunities.
Stage Four: Growth
Home-Start set up a social enterprise to market and manage new wellbeing and employability opportunities; helping more people in more ways than ever before. It has achieved further success in working as part of a local consortium to secure the new ESF / Big Opportunities training contract for Lincolnshire.
"Working with Hall Aitken was a game-changer for us. They helped us to measure our impact, identify opportunities and grow our services. Because we worked with Hall Aitken, we now help more people in more ways than ever before."