Social Enterprise: Regeneration-Rise

When Mo Smith, Chair of Trustees for Regenerate-Rise stood up at the Wandsworth Voluntary Sector: Surviving Recession event this week, she said:

“The best thing about our organisation is the number of clients we have who are over 90.”

RISE stands for Reaching the Isolated Elderly, and they aim to encourage and help older people to live the rest of their lives enjoying themselves with the company of other people by providing a programme of activities and outings, experiencing new adventures, visiting new places and achieving unfulfilled dreams.

Mo’s statement shows a clear example of an organisation simply meeting a need with attention, passion and determination. It is a unique quality of those who aren’t sure where the next tranche of money will come from, but who know that what they have to do is more important than waiting for the money in order to start.

Regenerate Rise have struggled through the recession: they have had to sell one of their minibuses and have seen their council funding cut. But as Mo sees it and as she said, they are committed to seeing communities and individuals transformed by the service they provide.

In talking to Mo since the event and learning more about these services there is undoubtedly a role for them to be funded in delivering them, as well as sharing their best practice understanding, events and outreach activities in a more entrepreneurial way, (particularly in the face of a growing ageing population).

And with more large enterprise funds such as The Social Investment Business, Thames Community Foundation and Big Lottery funding having the capacity and aspiration to invest in the community, there is a clearly a connection to be made.

The key point is the need to connect organisations like Regenerate Rise with the available funding, but also to help them understand what is required to access it and use it effectively. It is a connection that could allow good organisations, organisations like regenerate-rise, to make it through the recession and grow.