Evolve Project Year 2 report published

Written by Ruth Hislop-Gill, ELBA Community Development Project Manager

ELBA is excited to share the Evolve Annual Report, which presents the incredible impact this programme has had over the last year. The full report can be read here.

2022 marked Year 2 of Evolve, a collaboration partnership between Linklaters, UBS, Societe Generale and the Societe Generale UK Foundation. As such, ELBA would like to extend a special thank you to volunteers from these organisations, who continue to give their time and knowledge to a variety of different projects and initiatives all which aim to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of East London’s third sector. As a result, ELBA has been able to engage with a whole range of organisations, all of which provide essential services to communities across Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets. 

For an overview of the Evolve project, as well as a snapshot of some key achievements from the past year, please read on:

Programme overview
Evolve’s aim is to build the capacity of community organisations across Hackney, particularly in response to the effects of COVID-19. Ultimately it wants to ensure the sustainability of Hackney’s third sector and Hackney residents. While the key focus is on Hackney organisations, Evolve also supports community organisations in Tower Hamlets and Haringey. 

Evolve activities:
In 2022, Evolve consisted of seven different activity types: 

1. Leaders in Partnership: Pairing community leaders with senior volunteers for a 10-month, coaching-style partnership. 
2. Learning from Leaders sessions: Bringing together corporate and community leaders to explore key leadership themes and share challenges, learnings and solutions.
3. Compass: Compass is designed to match volunteers with community organisations to navigate a capacity building challenge through three months of high impact, intensive volunteer support.
4. Remote Review: Volunteers providing feedback to community organisations to help improve their funding applications.
5. Digital Inclusion: A series of training sessions and capacity building workshops focussed on enhancing community organisations’ digital capabilities.
6. Strategic Solutions: Small team of volunteers supporting organisations to overcome specific strategic issues  Priority Planning: Teams of volunteers work through an organisation health-check assessment with community organisations, identifying priority areas and creating an action plan to tackle gaps. 

Community needs are not static. With this in mind, Evolve has been designed to respond to the ever-evolving needs of local community organisations. A good example is the shifts in the funding landscape post COVID and with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Evolve’s Remote Funding Reviews are now aligned with local council grants and awards schemes, to support small organisations in preparing and writing funding applications. Evolve will continue listening and responding to community needs over the coming year, and will use this local knowledge to inform and shape our volunteer opportunities. 

If you have any questions, would like to partake in an Evolve activity, or discuss a particular area of need, please get in touch with Ruth Hislop-Gill, ELBA Community Development Project Manager: ruth.hislop-gill@elba-1.org.uk.

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