The Children’s Centre is an independent charity based in the Isle of Man, dedicated to providing services and support to vulnerable children, young people and families who miss out on statutory provision, universal services or acute provision. The children it works with have all been impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – and whilst they may have received an intervention within school, or through health or social care their interventions haven’t quite worked. The ‘missing middle’ between health, education and social care is where The Children’s Centre is best placed. It works alongside these children and young people to design tailor-made interventions best suited to the individual. It then creates pathways to help develop resilience and strategies to help each young person thrive.
Most of its work is on a one-to-one basis. It works with around 120 children each and every week – most come to the charity for a period of nine months. It isn’t a time-led service, it only closes a case once outcomes have been achieved. The charity costs around £1m a year to operate and is entirely dependent on donations, grants and income generation. Whilst it is independent, it works closely alongside statutory services, other charities and the families it supports.
Joff Whitten, Chief Executive Officer at The Children’s Centre, shares their experience of Brain Trust, a programme we run in partnership with Barclays.
Why did you apply for Brain Trust?
Whilst we are based on an incredible island rich in culture, nature and opportunity we are aware there are incredible charities across the UK and further afield. All charities across the sector are struggling with income generation, strategic placement of services and the shifting landscape of people’s needs. We applied to Pilotlight to address some of these issues – we hoped to encounter professionals from other sectors, and other charities to help us ensure we deliver a world-class service, and to help us think through problems or issues we are currently facing. Whilst we are very proud of our charity – and have a truly wonderful resource at the centre – we can still learn, develop and grow ourselves.
How did the programme go?
We took part in a facilitated Brain Trust session: our challenge for the Barclays Pilotlighters was related to making sure we are getting the most out of our relationship with corporate partners, especially in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. The session was excellent and the Pilotlighters were enthusiastic, supportive and interested in what we do as a charity. Many made really interesting suggestions and provided ways of looking at issues that we perhaps hadn’t yet considered.
What have been the results/implementation after the programme?
Our challenge as a charity is that we know what our problems are but haven’t quite found solutions to them. Brain Trust gave us a chance to step away from a specific problem and look with a broader vision and consider viewpoints from those who aren’t quite as attached the details as we are!
One major suggestion from the Pilotlighters, was the encouragement to be bolder with our financial relationship with corporate partners. On that note, we have been asking our ESG/CSR volunteers to be more forthcoming with donations. We would like to shift the hierarchical perception that sometimes exists regarding the public, private and social sector. In fact, the latter is essential to the creation of stable and positive communities, and we’d strive to see its worth fully recognised by everyone.
If you’re a charity CEO thinking of applying to participate in Brain Trust, my top tips would be:
- Be clear on your request of the session – perhaps don’t ask “how can we change the world” (!) be as specific as you can
- And enjoy the process, we found it very rewarding!