How RunAClub secured social investmentÂ

The first time Sally Higham started a community club the problems were immediately obvious. 'It was a massive amount of work to set up and run a very busy youth club - I felt a digital solution would make it easier.' The admin tasks were distracting from what she wanted to do - run a youth club to help support young people in the local community. RunAClub was created with a simple goal - to give community clubs the support they need to create positive change in their communities. Users have access to a range of online support tools covering safeguarding, quality assurance, practical, legal, financial and technical help along with features to help volunteers communicate with each other and members, share a calendar, build a simple club website and store all club documents in one safe place. The data collection and outcome reporting tool helps club leaders with funding or strategy needs. Customers range from individual clubs to local councils and networks of clubs like Voluntary Youth Manchester who outlined RunAClub’s support offering in a recent review, 'RunAClub offers a one-stop shop for our members to access some of the fundamental tools they need to support the delivery of quality services in Manchester.' Sally struggled to find initial start-up funding, but once it was secured RunAClub began to scale its social impact.

Support in finding investmentÂ

Sally successfully pitched to the Big Venture Challenge team in 2014 and spent the next 12 months working with UnLtd and UnLtd’s partners to get RunAClub ready for investment. Getting involved with UnLtd and the Big Venture Challenge helped Sally to understand the social investment market and provided the connections to funders that enabled RunAClub to grow its business and its impact. UnLtd and social investment partners ClearlySo supported Sally to approach investors. These investors were vital in RunAClub’s growth story with club and member numbers now having tripled. Alongside this, Sally and the RunAClub team have continued to significantly develop the product thanks to new connections made during the Big Venture Challenge programme. 'We couldn’t have done this as quickly or as successfully without our. We have trebled our clubs and members.'

Advice for finding social investmentÂ

Sally has one word to sum up her initial thoughts of the social investment process – slow. “It can also be repetitive and you come across a few characters you probably wouldn't choose to work with”. Her advice for other social entrepreneurs is to be patient when looking for investment. Finding investment can take time and there are a number of processes you should expect to go through from drawing up contracts to completing extensive due diligence. 'Don't expect investment to be immediate- it can take a year even if you push hard and find investors quickly. The due diligence you have to repeat time and again is very time consuming. Always have a back-up plan and remember to thank everyone who helps you!' Speaking to and negotiating with investors can be a daunting process for many social entrepreneurs. Whether it’s understanding the language of social investment or approaching investors for the first time, Sally thinks that when dealing with investors social entrepreneurs should not shy away from engaging on their own terms. 'I don't believe we have to shape up to match 'style' of negotiation. I think we should meet halfway to find a supportive and shared way forward. If the investor is willing to do this you are likely to be able to work with them in the long term. If they aren't, bite the bullet and turn them down'

What’s next for RunAClub?

With investment secured, RunAClub look set for further development and growth and are looking to secure more investment to scale up even further. We asked Sally what RunAClub’s future plans were, 'Exciting development of our club members’ platform which will run alongside the club leaders platform - allowing the payment of subs, finding out what's on and where, communicating with each other via their own social network and more! Plus, our next bigger stage of social investment, team growth and geographical spread outside of the UK.” Find out more about the 2016 Big Venture Challenge winners. BVC 2016 Winners