Firstport

Evolve

Firstport organises events that match coporate/business expertise to social enterprises.  Evolve planning days aim to bring together social enterprises to work with a dedicated group from a commercial business to assist in the planning and development of the social enterprise.

The social enterprise will benefit from the commercial skills and business disciplines from the commercial company whilst in return an improved understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist for social enterprises will be achieved.

"The session was almost a 'boot up the bum'.  Pointing out the obvious to me  - things I'd thought about but never done anything about and getting other people's opinions because you can become so involved that you miss what it is that you're trying to achieve.

Since the session, I started trading via ebay and hope to get the online side of the business up and running asap.  I have also increased the price of clothes marginally hoping that this will increase the sales figures.  I have also started looking for more volunteers to ease some of the pressure on myself. I didn't really have any expectations about the day but I did get a lot out of it and have been in touch with some of the volunteers since then." Tracy Murdoch, Kidzeco

We have teamed up social enterprises with groups of volunteers from Lloyds TSB, HBOS and many others. Our largest event to date saw 23 social enterprises benefit from free support through 130 PwC volunteers. 

While these events are business-led we are looking for enterprises that can benefit from this level of support. Get in touch if you want to know more or if you are a company that would like to hear about a different and innovative team building, development and Corporate Social Responsibility opportunity.