Birmingham charity shortlisted by RBS as leading social enterprise
A BIRMINGHAM community charity run entirely by volunteers has been recognised as a leading social enterprise by being shortlisted in a national awards scheme.
Bidgley Power Foundation has been nominated for the second time in the Trailblazing Newcomer category of the 2014 RBS SE100 awards.
The RBS SE100 Index is an online listing of social ventures, ranked and scored according to their growth and social impact. The live market intelligence platform is designed to provide a substantial data resource for investors, commissioners and policymakers as they look to understand the landscape of the social economy and identify top performers across the UK.
The Trailblazing Newcomer Award is given to a new social enterprise that has made great strides to stand out from the crowd and become a leader amongst their peers. The winners of this award are truly cutting-edge, combining solid growth with a commitment to proving the positive impact of their business, through the measurement and reporting of social impact.
Bidgley Power, based in the Aston, Lozells and Handsworth areas, has a 35 year history of working with young and disabled people through mediums such as sport and educational mentoring, working to empower communities by developing innovative, low cost, volunteer led solutions. In 2011 it incorporated and now raises funds through provision of services and contracts rather than relying on donations.
It engages with more than 300 people a week from some of the most deprived districts of Birmingham, through sports programs or youth club and community events and has an active base of over 35 volunteers, working with partners such as West Midlands Police, Youth offending teams, Aston Villa FC and Midland Heart Housing Association.
The organisation now employs over 22 sports coaches and educational mentors, and is heavily involved in Birmingham council’s Active Park’s program, in which the city opened up its green spaces citizens of Birmingham to be able to participate in a wide range of physical activities sure to improve health and wellbeing,
The newcomer index is just as much about social impact as it is about growth.
Bidgely Power has a social impact score of 10/10, a score that puts the organisation in the top 3.3% of organisations in this year’s RBS SE100 index.
Pritesh Pattni, chairperson of Bidgley Power, said: “We run the organisation on the basis that people are the solution. We empower them to help themselves, supporting and developing civic volunteering in the community, which in turn helps to make the programme sustainable.”
Duncan Sloan, RBS Head of Community Banking, said: “RBS has been supporting businesses set up to solve social problems for many years. The social enterprise sector is a valuable part of the UK economy and it is our aim to support its development.”
