Social Enterprise Connects People With Charities

One of the most difficult aspects of running a charity is making sure services are getting to the right people. Often times, the people that need the charity may not even know of its existence.

Connect Assist, based in Wales, has spent the last five years putting people in touch with the services they need. A potential client contacts the company, describes his needs and are put in touch with a charity that can provide the appropriate services.

For example, people with financial problems can be connected with a charity to help pay their bills or provide training to find a job. Their services also branch out into social media and support.

It all begins with a charity that needs assistance getting clients for their services. These charities partner with Connect Assist to provide call center and online assistance, 24-hours a day. They help not only to connect the groups together, but also foster an ongoing relationship.

This approach seems to be working as Connect Assist has increased their workforce by 15 employees this past year, to a staff of 38. They hope to increase this to 50 by the end of this year.

Connect Assist allows charities to spend their time, actually providing the services, instead of answering phones and making contacts. Many charities are finding it difficult to survive in this time of global economic trouble and outsourcing their outreach efforts saves them the overhead of creating their own call center. Instead of buying equipment and hiring employees, the chapter uses this social enterprise business.

The growth wasn't immediate. It took about three years before the social enterprise business really began to take off. It also appears that the growth isn't going to slow anytime soon. Connect Assist is in discussion with several other charities and social enterprise groups for expansion in the future.

Image credit:Dean Terry