Community Enterprise: Importance, Challenges, and Funding Sources

This report analyzes the importance of community enterprise, challenges, and funding sources. It focuses on Age UK, a registered charity organization that runs programs for protecting the interests of older people. The report recommends developing proper strategies, engaging volunteers effectively, and using digital channels for fundraising activities.

Community Enterprise

Contents
PURPOSE OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION TO THE ENTERPRISE...................................................................................1
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF CHOSEN ORGANISATION ......................................................2
HOW THE ORGANISATION GETS THIER FUNDING ............................................................2
KEY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF ESTABLISHMENT ...................................3
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................5

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
Community enterprise can be described as businesses which work for their social
objectives instead of financial and profit gaining ones (Kawharu, 2019). All the profit generated
from these enterprises will be reinvested for doing good for the community rather than
maximizing profits for the establishment. Community enterprises are considered as important as
it aid in revitalize communities, encouraging entrepreneurship, promote sustainability and many
more. They can solve varied issues through their collective involvement in an effective manner.
These enterprises earn income for them as well as try to bring changes in the community.
Purpose of this report is to analyse the importance of community enterprise and varied
significant challenges as well as opportunities they face while running their social programmes
in an effective manner. This project is considered as important as it aid readers in understanding
about funding resources of community enterprises in a precise manner.
INTRODUCTION TO THE ENTERPRISE
Age UK is regarded as registered charity organisation which run its programmes for
protecting the interests of older people in an effective manner. Its headquarters is at London,
United Kingdom. It also has a commercial arm named as Age Co Limited which sell products as
well as services whose profits are reinvested in charity programmes. They provide products such
as home insurance, legal services, bathing solutions and many more. Major services of Age UK
are home help, social activities, day centres and many more for the older people.
Age UK is running their operations on a local, national and international level. They have
made collaborations with Age Scotland, Age International, Age NI for supporting older people
across 40 countries in a strategic manner (Age UK. 2021). Their major focus of Age UK is to
provide care and health related help to older people. Age UK network has indulged in
partnerships with varied independent charities for making their network wider and serve massive
population.
Their programmes encompasses of helping older people to keep their life active and
updated with major advancements in world (Stott and Et. Al., 2022). In their physical activities,
they indulge older people in games such as walking football, fit as a fiddle, one step at a time and
many more for keep them active. During winter season, Age UK indulges in warm houses
programme which targets most vulnerable as well as older people. Age UK has appointed more
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than 75,000 dedicated volunteers all over the world which protects long-term interests of future
generations in a strategic manner.
Officials of Age UK had launched a programme which follows the promising approaches
in regards with loneliness as well as isolation in life of older people. Under this programme,
volunteers are asked to understand, reach, support individuals in accordance with loneliness and
health practices. In old age, loneliness is considered as major public health concern which can
influence their physical as well as mental health (Kirkpatrick, 2017). It is important to aware the
people about the issue for helping them to come out of this. Officials of Age UK has become a
leading expert in loneliness reduction service for which they have also created an application for
helping older people.
One of the significant programme of Age UK is Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation
Therapy (MCST) whereby group members take active part in meaningful as well as stimulating
activities in an effective manner. Varied activities are getting performed by older people with the
aid of volunteers such as discussions, word games, musical activities and many more
(Plungpongpan and Ruangvanich, 2021). This programme help patients of dementia in
improving their cognition, independence as well as well-being in an effective manner. It is
considered as beneficial for people suffering from dementia such as improvements in mental
ability, confidence, sense of belonging and many more.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF CHOSEN ORGANISATION
Vision statement can be described as a document which describes desires of an
establishment that they want to achieve in a loner time period (Leape and Et. Al., 2020). Vision
of Age UK is that no one fear from ageing. They want to make people understand that growing
older can be challenging but it is not an illness. They believe in making older people connected,
respected, can enjoy life and live it with dignity.
Mission statement is an action-based document which declares the purpose of an
establishment as well as how they can serve their consumers in a strategic manner (Cohen-
Mansfield and Et. Al., 2018). Mission of Age UK is to make a positive difference in community
by improving the quality of life as well as provide timely support to people who needs it most.
Their aim is to represent the voice of older people to policy makers and decision-makers
whose policies can affect the older people. Officials of Age UK are entering into effective
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collaborations and building partnerships with other charitable organisations for making
optimised use of resources in order to provide benefits to older people.
Functions of Age UK is essentially delves on their objectives which consists of:
Campaigning and research- Objective of Age UK is to campaigning for making
awaking government about the needs of older people. They demand support from government
for helping the older people in regards with financial terms.
Information and advise- Officials of Age UK believes that growing older does not come
up with manual card which provides information to older people regarding health, well-being,
learning housing options and many more.
Health and care- Volunteers of Age UK provides varied kinds of services to the older
people such as home help, foot care, IT training, exercise classes and many more. They offer
community-based support services for older people suffering from dementia as well as provide
care for improving their quality of life.
Well-being programmes- Officials of Age UK provides well-being programmes for
helping older people to stay safe, healthy as well as independent. Their well-being programmes
encompasses of maintenance cognitive stimulation therapy for people suffering from mild to
moderate dementia.
HOW THE ORGANISATION GETS THIER FUNDING
Age UK is a registered member of Fundraising regulator authority and abide by the code
of conduct which help them in improving their practices in a charity sector. Officials of Age UK
does not indulge in a process for cold-calling. It is a process whereby company or its volunteers
call someone on a random basis without any prior contact regarding asking for donations. They
also are not involved in selling any personal data about their employees or doners to third parties.
Officials of Age UK organises varied sporting activities such as cycling, trekking, running and
many more for collecting funds from public. They ask for membership fees who wants to take
part in their charity sporting activities.
Officials of Age UK also gets enter into partnership with Innocent Drinks whereby they
ask to crafters for knitting hats for smoothie bottles. Through this programme, Age UK gather
their funds for supporting older people in a strategic manner. They give a name to this
programme called as Big Knit which help them to raise funds for older people. Age UK gets
their funds from public sources who make regular donations and gifts. These considered as
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biggest source of income for them. Age UK's society lottery as well as raffle programmes are
providing support to them regarding their practices of information, research and local
programmes. In 2021, Age UK received £25.2 million from their corporate partnerships,
foundations as well as charitable trusts (Age UK. 2021). Various organisations donated millions
worth of gifts in the form of free airtime, advertising space as well as PPE kits and equipments to
volunteers.
Their aim is to provide a positive experience to the donors and treat them with respect,
fairness as well as honesty. Age UK is a registered member of Chartered Institute of Fundraising
as well as collaborate them for striving higher standards across the charity sector. They use wide
variety of fundraising channels for engaging diverse audience to raise funds. They review their
fundraising campaigns as well as third-party suppliers on a regular basis.
Their fundraising activities and asking for donations techniques led to create a positive
impact on their reputation in society. They do not involve in cold-calling techniques as well as
not compel any one to make donations helps in formulating a positive image in front of public.
KEY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF ESTABLISHMENT
Community enterprises face varied challenged as well as opportunities in regards with
their intrinsic as well as extrinsic environment. For assessing key challenges and opportunities
that are faced by Age UK, SWOT and PESTLE analysis are taken into consideration.
SWOT analysis is a strategic tool which is used by organisations for assessing their strengths and
weaknesses for grabbing opportunities as well as curbing threats in an effective manner (Rahman
and Rahmah, 2018). SWOT analysis of Age UK is as follows:
Strengths
 Higher Number of volunteers – Age
UK has massive number of volunteers
which is considered as a strength for
them. Engaged in collaborations- For
running their functions smoothly, Age
UK has indulged in differential
collaborations and partnerships.
Weaknesses
 Lacking in technical skills- Officials of
Age UK are lacking in their technical
skills which is considered as their
weakness.
 Lacking in digital services- Officials of
Age UK has a weakness that is lack in
IT services for making older people
familiarise with virtual media.
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Opportunities
 Can engage massive population-
Officials of Age UK can reach to
massive population for donations. Use of digitalised environment-
Officials of Age UK can take digital
technology as an opportunity as it can
aid them in making their campaigning
practices effective.
Threats
 Increased older population- High
increase in population poses as a threat
for Age UK as they have to enhance
their services for them.
 Lack of proper strategy – Officials of
Age UK have to face a threat due to
lacking in strategic plans.
PESTLE analysis can be understood as a strategic framework which is used by
organisational managers for evaluating external forces which can impact organisation's
performance in an significant manner (Frue, 2020). All the forces of PESTLE analysis in
relevance with Age UK are mentioned below:
Political factors- In UK, political landscape is stable which led organisations to function
their operations smoothly in an effective manner. It create an opportunity for Age UK as they
can function smoothly by not making any significant changes in their policies.
Economic factors- Global lockdown has narrow down the growth of economy in a
significant manner on a world wide basis. It also affects UK's economy rates in a significant
manner which has hampered varied business practices. Age UK also saw a set back during global
pandemic as they were not able to reach massive older people on timely basis.
Social factors- In UK, ageing population is raising high due to improvements in life
expectancy rates as well as declining fertility. People in their old age needs support and guidance
to avoid their loneliness in an exponential manner (Irawanto, 2017). Age UK provides assistance
to older people and also protect their interests which is an opportunity for them.
Technological factors- UK is considered as one of the leading nation which supports
business houses to make advancements in their technology and adopt new one in an effective
manner. Officials of Age UK has not indulged enough in adopting digitalised technology for
serving the older people in an effective manner.
Legal factors- In UK, government has made legislations which should be complied by
organisations for smooth functioning of their business avenues as well as protecting the interests
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of varied stakeholders. Officials of Age UK make compliance with all the framed regulations
and also fulfil their code of conduct which helps them in enhancing their reputation in an
effective manner.
Environmental factors- In UK, government formulate varied laws in regards with
conserving environment which needs to be followed by organisations. Officials of Age UK
follows environmental laws and also promote sustainability while performing their operations
which led them to make effective reputation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It has been recommended to officials to Age UK to develop proper strategies which will
also help them in making their fundraising activities effective. They can make use of digital
media and channels for reaching to large number of people who can willingly contribute in their
programmes.
It has been advisable to officials of Age UK to engage their volunteers effectively in their
programmes so that they can communicate their message for massive number of people. They
have to review their fundraising channels on a timely basis for avoiding any malpractice.
It is imperative for officials of UK to train their volunteers in a strategic manner so that
they can deal with older people in an effective manner. These practice would help them in
engaging with mass population which needs their help and assistance. They should use digital
channels as well as platforms for making their campaigns and sporting activities more appealing
in an effective manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Cohen-Mansfield, J. and Et. Al., 2018. Efficacy of the I-SOCIAL intervention for loneliness in
old age: Lessons from a randomized controlled trial. Journal of psychiatric research. 99.
pp.69-75.
Frue, K., 2020. PEST analysis ultimate guide: Definition, template, examples. PESTLE Analysis.
Irawanto, D. W., 2017, May. Human Resource Management Practices: Cultural Dimension and
PESTLE Analysis. In Conference Proceedings International Conference on Social
Science and Management ICSSAM (pp. 574-590).
Kawharu, M., 2019. Reinterpreting the value chain in an indigenous community enterprise
context. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global
Economy.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., 2017. Understanding the role of vision, mission, and values in the HPT
model. Performance Improvement. 56(3). pp.6-14.
Leape, S. and Et. Al., 2020. More than a mission statement: How the 5Ps embed purpose to
deliver value. The McKinsey Quarterly.
Plungpongpan, J. and Ruangvanich, S., 2021, December. Role of Mobile Applications For
Development Community Enterprise In The Pandemic Period. In 2021 The 9th
International Conference on Information Technology: IoT and Smart City (pp. 220-225).
Rahman, J. F. and Rahmah, D. M., 2018. Identification of business processes and strategies
using SWOT analysis. Industria: Jurnal Teknologi Dan Manajemen Agroindustri.7(3).
pp.161-169.
Stott, N. and Et. Al., 2022. Partnerships and place: the role of community enterprise in cross-
sector work for sustainability. In Handbook on the Business of Sustainability (pp. 118-
136). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Online:
Age UK. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.ageuk.org.uk/about-us/people/>
Age UK. 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ageuk.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/how-we-raise-our-funds/>
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APPENDICES
Net resources of Age UK
Illustration 1: Resources generated by Age UK
Source: Age UK. 2021
SWOT Analysis
Strengths of Age UK are their huge number of volunteers as well as their collaborations
which help them to operate their functions effectively.
Weaknesses of Age UK are lacking in technical skills as well as adopting digital services
which can hamper their operations.
Opportunities of Age UK are digitalised era and can cater the needs of massive number
of population in an effective manner.
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Threats of Age UK are increasing old population as well as lack of proper strategy which
can hamper their functions in significant manner.
PESTLE Analysis
Political factors- Due to stable political landscape, officials of Age UK can perform their
operations effectively without making any changes in their policies for a long time.
Economic factors- Global pandemic is considered as challenging situation for Age UK as
they have to cater the needs of massive old population which they were unable to do due to
lockdowns.
Social factors- Due to increase in number of old population, it is an opportunity for them
as their charity programmes are indulged only for ageing people.
Technological factors- Officials of Age UK can use digital channels for making their
reach to a massive number of people for offering help to them.
Legal factors- Age UK follows formulated legislations as well as their code of conduct
which is an opportunity for them to avoid any expensive litigations.
Environmental factors- Age UK engages in sustainable practices while performing their
business operations which help them to enhance their image in a strategic manner.
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