Our successful mentor training programme is running again, aiming to train existing women in business to support other women who are beginning their business journey with their own startup, after they complete their Roots and Shoots programme.
If you have received support from The Growing Club CIC in the past, or maybe you just like what we do, we need your help so we can help other women to succeed through our Auction of Promises.
You may know that the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) ended in December, meaning people on benefits no longer receive financial or practical support from the Department of Work and Pensions to start a small business. That means many women who would have liked to use their skills and experience to become self-employed, now face a further hurdle, and if we don’t address this, starting a business will now only be an option for those with capital.
On May 20th, we are holding an Auction of Promises to build a seed fund to support women in hardship with their basic business start-up costs.
So where do you come in?
There are 4 things you can do to help us…
1. Offer a promise that people can bid for. That can be anything from offering your professional services, homemade baked goods or even a night away. Some promises we’ve already received include:
2. Come along to the Auction evening for a fun night out and bid for things you want (it’s a great way to buy unusual birthday gifts). Book your tickets here.
3. Offer a raffle prize.
4. Tell your friends, family and network and get them involved.
Our aim is to raise £10,000 that women can pitch for at our Autumn Angels’ Den event
We have already received an amazing donation of £1000 from the Zinthiya Ganeshpanchan Trust to start us off!
What? An Auction of Promises
When? 20th May 2022, 19.00hrs – 23.00hrs
Where? The Gregson Centre, 33-35 Moor Gate, Lancaster, LA1 3PY.
You can book your tickets on Eventbrite here and download a flyer here.
If you are interested in offering your own promise, please download and fill out this Auction form and
return it to:
The Growing Club,
605, Alston House,
White Cross, LA1 4XQ.
or email it to: admin@thegrowingclub.co.uk
Alternatively, you can call the office at 01524 383848 and your donated promise can be logged over
the phone. Everyone who donates a promise will receive a free ticket to the event.
We’d love your support in whichever way you can help us!
Team GC
On the 20th May 2022, The Growing Club CIC are organising a fundraising event – an Auction of Promises – where donated promises are auctioned off, with money raised to create a Seed Fund to support women’s business start-up costs.
As part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day 2022, we spoke with four women who took part in the first-ever cohort of The Growing Club CIC’s business training course in 2015. The programme is now called Bloom and Grow, helping women who are running their own businesses to do it sustainably and with strong peer support.
A blog on courage, preparation and giving it a go by Jane Binnion
When I bottled my first brew of nettle cordial years ago, it was an experiment. I’ve been making nettle soup for many years because it’s highly nutritious and I just love free food, but this was a first for me and I had no idea how it would turn out.
Sometimes we have to do that though, right? We just have to have a go and see how it turns out even if we know we might get stung in the process. However, we can do things to minimise the pain too.
Of course, nettles hurt. I fell into a ditch of nettles several years ago while cycling in rural China. It’s pretty nasty and hurts for a long time afterwards too. I still get stung when I’m picking nettles for soup, but I seem to have decided that it’s worth it.
But it got me thinking about the expression grasping nettles and what that means for those of us running a business or charity. It’s an expression that’s very meaningful to all of us. We know exactly what it would feel like to grasp nettles. So why on earth would we deliberately do it?
Well, there are a few reasons. If we don’t, they keep on growing anyway, but also look at what happens when we do pluck up the courage to grasp them. We may get stung but the results are great. When I eat this delicious soup or drink the cordial I can remember the stings, but I still feel really delighted with the results.
We can prepare ourselves for nettle grasping. It isn’t necessary to just rush in. Taking time to get organised can make it all a lot less painful. Nettle grasping is not an opportunistic task. If I was walking past a great crop wearing shorts, sandals and a T-shirt, I know that diving in would end horribly. When grasping real nettles I wear gloves, long sleeves and take scissors.
As for the cordial, it was actually really nice. It’s very refreshing and far better than any bottled cordial you can buy. Well worth a few stings.
If you’d like to chat about how we can help you to overcome any fears or issues in your business, please do drop us a message here.
*This post was originally published on janebinnion.com and has been reproduced here with permission.
Rebecca is a Personal and Business Coach and runs her own practice, along with being a one-to-one coach and business mentor for The Growing Club CIC.
Jane Binnion talks about a Pay-It-Forward grant scheme operating for Women in Business in Lancashire, to help startups & existing businesses.
Rebecca Young hopes to set up a web design business, with the aim of supporting the work of individuals, small businesses, and non-profit organisations, particularly those in the arts and culture sector.
Nicola Combe talks about the weekly face-to-face drop-in support that she hosts for The Growing Club CIC on Thursdays, and how it can benefit you, your business and learning.
Lancashire Women’s Peer Networks: bringing together a diverse group of women business owners & leaders to discuss challenges & solutions.
The Growing Club is thrilled to have been chosen as one of ten changemakers in the UK and Ireland, to collaborate on a Changemakers programme, with a committed £1.5 million over three years to support social enterprises that have created bold and innovative ideas to improve resilience and protect against financial life shocks, such as illness, divorce or change in income.
Learn and understand how to make the most of working alongside your hormones to maximise your energy and business.
