The Yard is a truly magical place to play in. It is the only facility of its kind in the east of Scotland and has been providing stimulating play opportunities for children and young people with additional support needs for 20 years. It has an exciting and accessible outdoor Adventure Play Centre, plus indoor resources offering a wonderful range of possibilities for children to explore and develop their sense of play.
Attended every week by 500 to 600 disabled children from 12 special schools, The Yard caters for children and teenagers aged from three to 16. It also runs a programme for young women with learning difficulties (aged 12 – 19), youth clubs for teenagers and young people with autism, as well as training courses for other organisations. When Pilotlight launched in Scotland in September 2007, The Yard was one of the first charities to sign up. A team of Pilotlighters were brought together, including investment and marketing specialists, to help Chief Executive Celine Sinclair develop The Yard’s brand and maximise its income generation activities. In particular, they looked at ways to develop the funding base through a donor development plan. They worked with The Yard for 14 months and the results were fantastic. The Yard is now operating with a surplus of £351,000 and has a four-year business plan in place.
For Pilotlighter Amanda Forsyth, an investment manager, the work with The Yard was incredibly rewarding:
Celine Sinclair [Chief Executive at The Yard] is the most remarkable individual I have ever met, with incredible energy and enthusiasm as well as considerable commercial savvy. We had to try not to give her too many ideas at once or else she was likely to go away and implement them all! However, I think we helped a lot by being able to leverage her huge energy into areas that can make money and so put the charity on a secure footing for the future.
We asked Celine if she would prefer to have had £80,000 cash rather than her four Pilotlighters. Her response was:
Even if it was £80,000 I would still go for my team of Pilotlighters! Pilotlighters provide a superb sounding board and I can’t recommend the scheme too highly. They give you a lot of confidence and help to create a balance between operational demands and the need for strategic development.