Epic Arts is a London-based arts charity established in 2001. It organises and runs visual art, drama, dance and music projects for people with disabilities in the UK and Cambodia.
Aims of charity/social enterprise
There are around 770,000 disabled children in the UK and their social and intellectual needs are frequently neglected. Young disabled people in particular report the absence of social interaction opportunities to make friends.
Epic Arts offers projects in a range of settings, including mainstream and special educational needs schools, community groups, hospitals, rehabilitation centres and churches.
Why and how did Epic Arts start?
Rachel Duncombe-Anderson, director of Epic Arts says: “I set up the charity in 2001 after three friends and I had a dream to bring together different people through art. In 2003 we set up the project in Cambodia and next year we hope to set one up in China.”
What did the work with Pilotlight involve?
There were 16 meetings that looked at vision; outcomes; financial systems; relationship between international offices; governance; strategic planning; structure of a business plan and measuring impact.
The process started with information gathering. This helped the charity to focus and distil its vision into three key words: ‘integration, arts, disability’.
“The Pilotlighters really pushed us to think through our USP - we were forced to think through what made us special,” Rachel says.
Having established this, the Pilotlighters and charity focused on business planning. Writing the business plan was complicated by the need to take into consideration how Epic Art’s international operations impacted on its UK work. Now the plan is in place, Epic Arts has a clear idea of how many projects it is doing, what its targets are and how resources should be allocated. The Pilotlight team helped Epic Arts consider the risks associated with operating as a single legal entity, as well as generating questions to consider expanding operations in China.
“They were really good at helping us to manage growth and decide on our goals,” Rachel says.
Epic Arts met with Pilotlight’s evaluation team to discuss how it could more effectively measure the impact of its work.
The team also did an overhaul of the charity’s financial management. Monthly cash-flow reports are now sent to the board, which has improved its understanding of the charity’s financial position, although Epic Arts appreciates that it has more to do to develop its financial reporting, including quarterly budget reports. This greater financial management has helped to make its fundraising proposals more robust. Since starting work with Pilotlight, the charity’s income has increased 104%.
How else has Epic Arts benefited?
“We now know where we are going and we have a clear strategy to double the number of boroughs we work in from six to 12 by 2013. It was such a useful exercise. When you have a dream in your twenties you have no idea how to grow it nine years on,” Rachel says. "The Pilotlighters also made me look at succession planning in case one day I need to pass the charity on. What would my exit strategy be? These discussions were all really helpful."
“We were forced to think things through… this was challenging and absolutely fantastic” and her colleague, Dermot Trimble, adds: “You are exposed to successful people and it is a huge learning opportunity. It is a gift. Generally, Pilotlight has encouraged us to up our game,” she says.
What would you say to other charities/social enterprises thinking about working with Pilotlight?
“Every charity would benefit from being Pilotlit," Rachel says. "It is really helpful to have an outside pair of eyes. It is also great that the Pilotlighters choose to work with your charity, so you know they are passionate about helping you.”
