Impact Report

Escapeline is a charity committed to the prevention of the criminal and sexual exploitation of young people by gangs across South West England. 

Escapeline’s vision is for a region free from child exploitation from criminal gangs. 

Escapeline help young people to stay safe by educating them about how child exploitation and grooming works in their local area and teaching them protective strategies. 

“MMC have been supporting Escapeline with our grants and bid writing over the last six months. They have been amazing, providing such an outstanding service with a high level of professionalism and responsive approach. We look forward to continuing to work with MMC and would definitely recommend their services.” 

Lisa, CEO, Escapeline.

Founded in 2010, Chard Watch CIC has emerged as a pioneering peer-to-peer, membership-led organisation dedicated to combating adult social isolation and loneliness. Leveraging the lived experiences of its members, the organisation has adeptly created peer support services and training opportunities. These initiatives have significantly contributed to enhancing confidence, fostering new friendships, and empowering individuals. To continue its impactful work, Chard Watch required a comprehensive business plan to guide its actions and strategies for the next 1 to 3 years. 

  “Working with the MMC team was instrumental for Chard WATCH and its board of directors. At a critical juncture, Chard WATCH is exploring strategies to mitigate risk and diversify funding sources in anticipation of potential budget reductions. MMC's team compiled a comprehensive business plan highlighting WATCH's strengths and , crucially, pinpointing weaknesses. This roadmap will empower Chard WATCH to focus on key business elements to secure the project’s future”. Julie CEO, The Watch Project.

New Leaf focus on growth and change in a caring, fully supported environment. New Leaf Life Design is a B Corporation, based in Somerset, providing counselling and training services for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Established by Becky Wright in 1992, New Leaf enables people to flourish by overcoming issues that can affect their working life, their relationships, wellbeing, and the ability to contribute positively to their community. 

“We were delighted to commission Marsha Miles Consulting to evaluate our recent project SME Wellbeing Project for Somerset. This was a complicated piece of work over a period of a year. They had to work with various variables from telephone interviews to paper evaluations pre and post course. At the end of the work they had to work with us to create a detailed project report to our funded which met their funding requirements. Her team were very professional throughout and the final report was well received. I would not hesitate to use their company again for this difficult work. “ Becky Wright Director 

Age UK Devon is a trusted and local charity which supports, enables and inspires older people to tackle the challenges of ageing, and make the very most of later life. 

Challenge: Trustees and staff at Age UK Devon want to invest in developing trust and foundation bid writing through an outsourced service.  

Our role: MMC was approached by Sophie Littlewood, Age UK Devon’s CEO, to deliver this outsourced service.   

Process: During the first month of working together, one of MMC’s team identified a time-limited grant opportunity from National Lottery Community Fund. We worked closely with Sophie and Lynn (Finance Manager) to write and submit an application – and are delighted the bid was successful. 

The MMC team then developed a Funding Pack for Age UK Devon which included a master Case for Support for two projects and core. We find a good way to identify your core work is to think about what you would be doing now if you started your charity from scratch. 

Helpful Hounds Assistance Dogs is a registered charity helping people with disabilities and their families live an improved quality of life with the support of an Assistance Dog. 

MMC was approached by Helpful Hounds Assistance dogs to explore raising funds for core costs to help the Charity continue to provide the services it provides. 

We delivered:

· A funding pack which included an Evidence of Need Report (identifying external and internal evidence for why the Charity is needed), developing a Case for Support and identifying potential funders to build a funding pipeline. 

· Bid writing: Agreed applications / letters / proposals each month, reporting and stewardship. 

Achievements include: 

· Developing a relationship and secured funding with the National Lottery Awards for All. 

· Developing a relationship with local funders.

  “By working together with MMC, it has opened up opportunities we would never have found and we have also learned ways of expressing the projects in mind to suit the criteria of each induvial funder. 

We have also recognised within the time we have been working with MMC that the competition for funding has increased dramatically, at the same time that the ability to fund can be reduced due to investment rates /endowments earned by funders. This makes it even more important to ensure that the application is both relevant and sharp.” Peter Rufus, CEO and Trustee (Volunteer)

The Nest Project CIC was formed around 6   years ago, starting as an embryonic church project. 'It’s main aim of re-distributing second   hand baby and children's items to families with children aged 0-5 in need   across BANES, has not changed but has grown.'. Initially a coffee morning would be held   and used as a collection point for families, so they could register their   needs and collect the goods, whilst connecting with the volunteers in the   project team. During the pandemic the   project had to move all collections and requests online, forming a click and   collect service which worked well. Referrals come from two key sources, one is the statutory services e.g. health visitors and local authority staff. The other referrals are from individuals in need.

“MMC  were brilliant at helping us to work out what information and data we wanted   to gather and report on, and as a new and growing project, this really helped   us start the journey of having a very useful impact and development report”.   

Vix - CEO