Bit of advice on setting up something?

asperger

i think thats my question covered

novelli

Looks good so far.

target support groups, local and national, as they have several funding pots they may be able to apply to, family welfare association, family fund, social services, youth offending teams, connexions. If you could get individual families to approach their social worker for funding this could work too, fostering associations, childminders associations.
you may be able to get gov grants to help bring the price down a bit or provide a certain amount of spaces as gov funded.
also might be worth applying to children in need, red nose days etc for funding.

lots to think about, happy to help if i can, having ran a charity for sev years and set up various projects, national and international.
are u running it as a business or a charity??

lost_soul_4

Hi novelli,

Thanks for the reply. It is primarily a business, although we dont aim to profit from it. Basically this is the dream of my father (ex armed forces), I am just trying to see it come to fruition. Any profits are to be reinvested in facilities. We are also planning to charge government bodies a slightly higher price so that we can provide the services to charities and families at cost.
I did look at setting up as a charity but found it too much of a minefield.

One thing you may be able to help with is contacts. I have been sending information to charities, but most of the emails I send go to generic email addresses. I need direct contacts so I know the person getting the info is someone who can act upon it rather that someone who may just delete the email or bin the information pack. I am thinking of hiring a marketing company to take on that role if you can recomend any?

Thanks again

Darren

novelli

lost_soul wrote: »

Hi novelli,

Thanks for the reply. It is primarily a business, although we dont aim to profit from it. Basically this is the dream of my father (ex armed forces), I am just trying to see it come to fruition. Any profits are to be reinvested in facilities. We are also planning to charge government bodies a slightly higher price so that we can provide the services to charities and families at cost.
I did look at setting up as a charity but found it too much of a minefield.

One thing you may be able to help with is contacts. I have been sending information to charities, but most of the emails I send go to generic email addresses. I need direct contacts so I know the person getting the info is someone who can act upon it rather that someone who may just delete the email or bin the information pack. I am thinking of hiring a marketing company to take on that role if you can recomend any?

Thanks again

Darren

darren
ive never used a marketing company so cant recommend anyone, best way is prob to try and find out what some other charities use IE Which pr/marketing companies they use, as doing it that way can be very costly so u need to be sure its not a co thats gonna take liberties etc, its a bit of a minefield i think.
Is there a way you can offer some charities etc free spaces to test it out and review it, or at least be offering them something when contacting them, from experience emails and letters that come in about this sort of thing tend to end up straight in the bin as most families couldnt afford it/think its just another company trying to make money from the disabled. I would suggest really trying to push the fact that this is something that could possibly be funded by s services, or grant making trusts etc, there are several and social services do pay for families to have a holiday where there is a disabled child, not ofton i know but they do do it, many people think they dont so dont ask, but ive known them to on several occasions, sadly not for us, but there u go!! a good social worker would also approach several grant making trusts if a family under strain need a holiday.
you could also ask charities if you can advertise with them, newsletters.web etc and if they have conferences coming up if you could have a stand/do a presentation. Like i say you would need to be offering something to them for this, such as review spaces etc, but this may be worth you doing. SOME you could just do for a fee, but you really need the actual people who would use the facility to use it and review it, this is by far your best form of advertising.

:A

Js_Other_Half

You could provide some portable sensory equipment? I've ordered stuff from this website before with no problems.

http://www.specialneedstoys.com/UK/viewproducts.asp?catID=10&subcatID=Vecta&navID=136


Spain links: http://www.specialneedstoys.com/spain.asp

http://www.caudexmobel.com/tienda/index.php

ukchriss

Children's Hospices UK may be interested
http://www.childhospice.org.uk/

Scotland
http://www.chas.org.uk/

covlass

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/snowball-appeal-coventry/2008/03/20/the-history-of-the-snowball-appeal-92746-20651580/

The Snowball appeal are a charity based in Coventry


http://www.cafamily.org.uk/pdfs/holidays.pdf worth a read

PolishBigSpender

double post, agh.

PolishBigSpender

lost_soul wrote: »

I agree about the phone number - I am waiting for a second line to be installed. I dont want to use my own landline number yet, but I agree a mobile doesnt look professional. I will be spending alot of time flying to and fro which is why I put the mobile number for now.

I don't know about the UK/Spain, but I have a mobile contract here which has a second (stationary) number which is exclusively on my mobile - ie, there's no redirect, or indeed any physical line, just that dialling the stationary number gets you through to my mobile.

Might it be worth investigating? Certainly much more convenient than a mobile number, although you would have to take the hit on the cost of the call.

As an aside, have you considered some targetted press releases? The fact that you're using the ex-Eldorado set (it was shown here, too!) is of definite interest - and getting some publicity in the national or regional press in the UK should defintely help with convincing people to come on board. You could (if you can get the right contact!) even try and convince the BBC to make a programme about it - it's not that unfeasible, especially as they have a link to the place.

As for marketing to charities - my suggestion would be to avoid 'slick marketing' in the beginning. It would probably be better to look through the press and find names of people connected with charities, then finding out their e-mail addresses and going from there. It's certainly not difficult to find e-mail addresses - usually the internet will tell you, or you can call the charity asking for their e-mail address as you've lost it.

suweb5

Hi lost_soul
I probably sound a complete 'divvy' and other people have obviously had no trouble but I can't see a link for your website in your first post. Could you repeat it please?
My son is autistic and I've just returned from a totally unsuitable holiday at an UK holiday centre. Your venture sounds great. :T