Scotty's Little Soldiers 'SENIORS' Programme Proposal

Scotty’s LITTLE Soldiers Project Proposal: SENIORS Programme Providing support to young people aged 19-25 who have suffered the loss of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Scotty’s LITTLE soldiers

Unit 21 Bergen Way, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2JG hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Contents Executive Summary............................................................ 4 Background........................................................................... 5 The Programme Objective.......................................................................... 6 Deliverables.................................................................... 7 Targets............................................................................. 10 Budget.............................................................................. 11 Appendices............................................................................ 12 3

Executive Summary Scotty’s LITTLE Soldiers, the charity for bereaved British Forces children, has highlighted the need for a new programme of support focused on young people aged 19-25. The charity’s current Assistance Programmes only cover children and young people aged up to 18 years.

This proposal outlines the charity’s plan to implement a new programme, called SENIORS, to put in place a range of development opportunities and a support network for young people aged between 19 and 25 years who have suffered the loss of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.

The programme focuses on providing opportunities for beneficiaries to learn new skills through training courses, workshops and mentoring. SENIORS will provide a hub of information for beneficiaries looking to develop their careers as well as offering a support safety net.

The Programme Co-Ordinator role will be instrumental in establishing a network of external resources and creating a peer to peer support community. Members of the SENIORS Programme will be encouraged to take up the opportunity to become ‘Peer Buddies’ to younger beneficiaries of the charity, allowing them to share their experience to help others.

The proposal explains in details how the Programme will be implemented, what it will deliver in the short-term and the cost involved to set it up.

For additional questions please contact Scotty’s Little Soldiers at hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk.

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Background Scotty’s LITTLE Soldiers is a registered charity providing assistance to children and young people who have suffered the loss of a parent whilst in service or following their service with the British Armed Forces of the Crown.

Currently the charity is supporting over 340 bereaved individuals through it’s 3 existing Assistance Programmes: SMILES, SUPPORT & STRIDES. The SMILES Programme provides opportunities for bereaved individuals to smile again. The activities within the programme focus on building trust and regular engagement with beneficiaries which in turn provides future opportunities to offer more serious emotional support if and when required. SMILES also helps create a sense of belonging for beneficiaries as well as knowing their sacrifices are remembered - a key emotional factor for bereaved Forces families.

Regular engagement and high trust levels result in SLS usually being the first point of contact for families in distress.

The SUPPORT Programme has been developed to help beneficiaries cope with the more emotional effects of bereavement by providing access to professional bereavement counselling as well as signposting financial, educational and other support also available to families.

The STRIDES Programme is the charity’s educational and development focus. Currently the Programme is centred around a range of small financial grants which help families to take part in activities such as school trips, music lessons, after school activities, driving lessons and higher education.

Despite many beneficiaries offering their services as volunteers, upon reaching the age of 19 they are officially unable to benefit from the charity’s support any longer. This age is however critical in a young persons life and the need for help and guidance can be even greater than ever.

This proposal outlines our plan to introduce a fourth Assistance Programme designed to provide a unique support network for 19-25 year olds who have lost a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.

The name of this new Programme is SENIORS.

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The Programme: Objective Provide a support network and development opportunities for young people aged 19-25 who have suffered the loss of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.

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The Programme: Year 1 Deliverables • Programme Co-ordinator recruited to create and develop opportunities for beneficiaries (see JD - A).

• Create initial infrastructure (I.T. set up) and recruitment of beneficiaries (up to 50).

• Develop external relationships in order to create development opportunities for beneficiaries.

• Create a monitored peer to peer online support community.

• Widen the charity’s bereavement SUPPORT Programme to include 19-25 year old young people.

• Host a day long development workshop for beneficiaries.

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The Programme: Deliverables Programme Co-Ordinator.

Recruitment of Beneficiaries.

20 hours a week reporting to the Founder of the charity There are currently 34 former beneficiaries of Scotty’s who heads up the delivery of support to beneficiaries.

Little Soldiers who have turned 19 years of age. By the

This role will be responsible for creating the SENIORS close of 2018 this number will have risen to 40. The charity plan in conjunction with the Founder and Chief Executive is also aware of young people within this age group who and then implementing the agreed plan.

have not previously been supported by the charity but

Once the plan and relevant infrastructure is in place they are siblings of younger Members. This group will be will be responsible for the recruitment of beneficiaries in invited to join the new Programme and initial research has the new Programme. We anticipate this to be in the suggested a reasonable take up. The Programme will be region of 20-30 in the first year with a maximum of 50.

made available to other non-previous beneficiaries of the

The Programme Co-Ordinator will develop relationships charity but our target maximum number of beneficiaries with external organisations creating opportunities for for the programme in year one is 50. beneficiaries to attend workshops, training sessions, conferences and other development events at no cost to I.T. Infrastructure the participant.

The initial infrastructure required will be focused on the

These beneficiaries will also have access to the charity’s addition of a SENIORS database to our existing Salesforce existing SUPPORT Programme which offers bereavement system.

The charity benefits from a Salesforce.org

counselling and sign posting of financial, educational and license, providing free access to Salesforces’ globally health and well being services - a programme which recognised CRM platform. All of the charity’s functions currently ceases at 18 years of age.

are run through the system including a dedicated

The Programme Co-Ordinator will refer these cases to module for managing beneficiary records and activities. the SUPPORT team.

A unique database for the SENIORS Programme will

The Programme Co-Ordinator will also be responsible for be created, held separately from the existing Members organising a day long development event which will include records. skills workshops and motivational speakers.

New beneficiaries will be required to go through the

In conjunction with the SUPPORT team the Programme same approval process as all beneficiaries of the charity Co-Ordinator will also establish and monitor an online - this includes basic background tracking with personal network, allowing peer to peer support.

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circumstance details usually confirmed by the Ministry of

The Programme: Deliverables Defence. In addition to the Salesforce database a private writing, press training etc.) and motivational speakers.

Members only Facebook community will be created and The charity will use its established network of monitored by the Programme Co-Ordinator and SUPPORT corporate partnerships and successful individuals to team. This is a forum which has proved hugely successful create an insightful day of activities for attendees. for other beneficiary groups in the past. In year two it is There will be no allocated budget for the event, it is planned to move the online community in-house to be run anticipated that the venue and guest speakers’ time would through the Salesforce platform ensuring greater control, be donated to the charity free of charge. Sponsorship making the forum available to non-Facebook users and would be required to cover the travel costs of attendees, directly linking the charities database and other support food and beverages and any additional administration. activities to the forum.

Peer Buddy Scheme.

External Relationships.

The Peer Buddy scheme will provide the opportunity for

Many of the opportunities made available to beneficiaries SENIORS Members to become ‘Peer Buddies’ to younger will be provided by external organisations. It will be the beneficiaries of the charity. Buddies will receive some responsibility of the Programme Co-Ordinator to develop basic training and will attend events held for 0-18 year old these relationships and create a regular programme of events Members of the charity. They will be encouraged to help and opportunities for beneficiaries to take advantage of. support other Members of the charity as well as sitting These could be training or skills workshops where free on an advisory committee to help provide feedback and places are offered to the charity’s Members. It could be opinions on future delivery activity. signposting events run by other charitable organisations which beneficiaries can take advantage of, or it may be The SUPPORT Programme Extension. opportunities provided by corporate partners of the The above activities will all be unique to the 19-25 year charity such as special career days or work experience.

old age group. In addition to these specific activities beneficiaries will also benefit from extended access to

One Day Development Workshops

the charity’s SUPPORT Programme.

This will mean

In year one we will work towards providing a day long that the availability of bereavement counselling and other development workshop which will include skills and signposting and referral opportunities will be accessible to training sessions (such as interview techniques, CV these individuals.

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The Programme: Targets • 20-30 beneficiaries enrolled (max 50 in Year 1).

• A fully operational database, with automated processes including direct inputting of membership details.

• An online forum with at least 70% of Membership take up.

• To have provided at least 10 free of charge external workshops or training sessions to beneficiaries.

• To host a free one day workshop for a minimum of 10 beneficiaries (ideally around 20) with high profile speakers/contributors.

• Recruitment of at least 5 beneficiaries to become ‘Peer Buddies’ at the annual Christmas event for 0-18 year old beneficiaries of the charity.

Each activity and event will be followed up with a feedback survey and beneficiaries will be asked to complete an annual impact survey to help us tailor future activities and to measure the impact of the Programme.

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The Programme: Budget A great deal of the SENIORS Programme is about organising and signposting events and support which is available for beneficiaries. As such the majority of the project budget will be required to cover the cost of the Programme CoOrdinator role.

The other major cost in year one is a one-off cost to set up the I.T. Infrastructure using Salesforce.

Personnel Costs (including recruitment & equipment)

£13,000

CRM Database Setup £4,000 Year One Administration and Expenses £3,000

TOTAL YEAR ONE COST £20,000 Major funders of the project will be recognised on SENIORS specific stationary and promotional items such as t-shirts, banners and the SENIORS page of the charity’s website.

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Appendices: Future Aspirations • Make the Programme available to all ‘graduates’ of Scotty’s (beneficiaries turning 19 years of age) with a target of 50%+ take up.

• Increasing the Membership to over 100 in 3 years.

• Hosting quarterly workshops across the country for beneficiaries.

• Creating a rolling programme of events and opportunities for Members provided either by the charity or by external partner organisations.

• Developing a nation wide base of partner organisations and individuals to provide additional support to the group.

• Developing work experience, internship, mentoring and gap year opportunities.

• Increasing the involvement of Peer Buddies with junior events and support.

• Further development of the SENIORS Salesforce module to include an online portal and support forum, in-line with that currently available to 0-18 year old beneficiaries.

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Appendices: Job Description SCOTTY’S LITTLE SOLDIERS Programme Co-Ordinator: SENIORS – Job Description Reporting to: The Founder Based: Office – King’s Lynn, Norfolk Salary: £20,000 pro rata Type: Part Time, 20 hours per week (£10,667) Introduction.

Scotty’s Little Soldiers, the charity for bereaved British Forces children, has secured funded to develop a Programme to support 19-25 year olds who have suffered the loss of a parent in the Armed Forces. This role is to co-ordinator the development of the new SENIORS Programme.

Summary.

The Programme Co-ordinator: SENIORS is responsible for setting up and running the charity’s new activities for 19-25 year olds.

The key duties for this role are; • • • • • • • •

Recruitment of new beneficiaries.

Creating a rolling programme of activities and opportunities for beneficiaries.

Developing external relationships to provide free training, workshops & work experience for beneficiaries.

Developing a career Mentor programme to support beneficiaries into their working lives.

Organising the charity’s own SENIORS events including skills workshops, motivational speakers and training sessions.

Facilitating online forums for beneficiaries to provide peer to peer support to each other.

Developing a programme for SENIORS members to become buddies for younger beneficiaries at other charity events.

Referring beneficiaries to the charity’s SUPPORT team where potential bereavement or other mental health concerns are raised.

Requirements of the role: • • • • • • •

Excellent organisation and communication skills are essential.

Ability to engage and enthuse others.

Able to work as part of a wider team but also self-motivated & able to prioritise.

Good computer skills (internet, email, word, excel).

Some event or project management experience.

Ability to work to a tight budget.

Creative thinking – able to take a project brief and create a solution.

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