Evaluating the Success Factors for Establishing a Thriving - Scottish ...

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The Story of Success Birth 1.1 The story of the Buchan Dial-A-Community-Bus (DACB) started seventeen years ago in 1993, with a group of local community members who wanted a shopping service to help elderly and vulnerable people in the rural setting of Buchan to access the high quality and more affordable shops in Aberdeen and Peterhead. They engaged with Aberdeenshire Council’s Social Work and borrowed a bus from them. They found off duty police officers to drive it and started a weekly shopping trip. 1.2 The initiative was a success with the local people. The uptake of the service was more than expected and the comments received by the staff and Board were very positive. But when the Council bus broke down, they realised that if they wanted the service to continue, they should raise money for their own vehicle. This was the start of the idea to operate on a different scale. 1.3 In 2000 the group applied for and received a grant from the Rural Community Transport Initiative (RCTI) to purchase two minibuses and employ a part time co-ordinator and full time driver. The organisation was incorporated and awarded charitable status in 2001. 1.4 This was the moment that DACB expressed the ambition to become a more substantial player on the public transport market for the first time and can be seen as the birth of DACB as a social enterprise. The Innocent years 1.5 The early years of DACB have been characterised by the manager as “the innocent years”, where the only aim of the organisation was to operate the two minibuses and provide transport for vulnerable clients. The manager describes this as “learning, dreaming and having fun”. The financial security was provided by the RCTI grant and there was not a lot of consideration given to future development and growth. 1.6 The start of these innocent years was marked by the employment of a Development Worker, who is now the General Manager, and has been the driving force behind DACB’s development as a social enterprise. She has all the characteristics of a social entrepreneur: an excellent networker with passion and vision, a strong leader that inspires success and a keen eye for what customers need. 1.7 DACB had to learn the technical aspects of running public transport and had to come to grips with the fact that they were employing staff. DACB Board and staff were very inward looking and the only responsibility they felt was to the clients, and did not include the organisation itself, the staff or the funders. 1.8 From its early years, DACB has become an essential service for elderly and disabled people in the rural Buchan area and plays an important role in keeping young people in the area. This highlights the importance of offering services 59
that meet local needs and stresses the requirement to remain responsive to these needs. 1.9 From the outset, DACB has also been locally owned and governed, without interference from outside bodies. This is seen as a strength of the organisation by both internal and external stakeholders, as it allows DACB to be flexible in its approach and respond to local need. 1.10 Its strong community base also enables the fundraising capacity of DACB, which raises additional money for DACB’s services, improves its public image locally and improves community cohesion. Childhood 1.11 In 2003 DACB started to look at new opportunities and got involved in its first contract for Aberdeenshire Council. This required a fundamental shift in approach and attitude for the whole organisation. 1.12 DACB had heard of a new round of tendering opportunities with Aberdeenshire Council and made the decision that they “wanted a piece of the action” and started negotiations with the Council to deliver Demand Responsive Transport. 1.13 When eventually successful in winning the tender, DACB in the first instance did not realise it was then subject to a contract that was fundamentally different from grant funding. The contract stated defined activities that had to be delivered as described in the contract as opposed to grant funding where DACB had the freedom to deliver services as they seemed appropriate. 1.14 The organisation realised it had an additional responsibility to Aberdeenshire Council as its client and that it had a responsibility to fulfil the terms and conditions of the contract. With the new contract came the need to professionalise and to ensure that contractual obligations were met. 1.15 In 2001 DACB was awarded the Investors In People award, and has successfully renewed it in 2004. The renewal process helped the organisation to plan better and get the necessary structures in place. 1.16 From the outset DACB has had a strong community base. All of its community transport services are based on local community need. After a negative experience in 2004, where DACB delivered a service that the local authority wanted to provide, but the community did not need, they made the decision to never deliver services that are only based on public officers’ perceived need for communities, regardless of the financial benefits for DACB. 1.17 As time progressed, life for DACB started to become more serious and the organisation started to look more outwards and forwards. DACB had a desire to learn and willingness to take calculated risks, without the fear of failure. 1.18 As time went on DACB developed an increasing range of partnerships that became a key component of its success, especially Aberdeenshire Council and Grampian Police. These relationships are at two levels: strategic and personal. 60
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Voluntary Issues Evaluating the Suc
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This report is available on the Sco
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INTRODUCTION Context 1.1 The Scotti
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CASE STUDY 1: IMPACT ARTS Profile o
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Page 17 and 18: Timeline Timeline Event 1994 Impact
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Page 29 and 30: CASE STUDY 3: ABERDEEN FOYER Profil
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Page 33 and 34: should not be dependent on individu
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Page 53 and 54: Deal. The Claverhouse Group quickly
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CASE STUDY 11: THE BREAD MAKER Prof
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1.11 In 2005, the company employed
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safety, environmental health) and t
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Summary of Key Success Factors and
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ISSN 0950 2254 ISBN 978 0 7559 9760
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