UnLtd Impact report 2018/19

Solutions
for an Ageing
Society
Photography: Find Your Voice and Ollie Dixon
Find Your
Voice hitting
the high notes
Find Your Voice is a thriving social enterprise with
a focus on giving vulnerable people the opportunity
to learn a skill, no matter their stage in life.
Their programmes enable adults to learn singing in
multi-sensory sessions: “they're noisy, messy, chaotic
and user-led,” Emma says. “From session one we ask the
group to lead us in what material they want to hear and sing.”
Her early success, being commissioned to provide sessions
to a cross-section of communities in London, gave Find Your
Voice the potential to make a big impact, and an interest in
scaling up. In 2018, Find Your Voice was awarded £50,000
through Transform Ageing to work with people in later life
in the South West.
Find Your Voice conducted independent research in care
homes that revealed many have a multitude of options for
someone singing at them, but fewer where the residents can
take part. The venture gives people the opportunity to learn
something to a high standard – and not just the same old
war-era songs usually offered. “Some adults want to hear
glam rock! It’s not about prescribing the music and songs,
but about letting them take the lead,” Emma says.
The organisation is now working with Learn Devon, to deliver
programmes to adults living with disability in the county. Each
year Find Your Voice reaches over 1,500 vulnerable adult
learners of which 85% are over 65 and living with disability.
Learning by Doing
For the first cohort of ventures
we offered up to £25,000
per award, with the potential
for match funding in the form
of debt or equity. However,
we learned that bringing an
existing product or service into
a new area can take as much
work as setting up something
new. For many ventures this
proved tougher than expected.
Recognising they required
significant expenditure
upfront to establish in new
areas, we increased the
maximum award size to
£50,000 and removed the
match funding. Find Your
Voice was one of the ventures
who benefited from this
change. When the award
increased, they were able to
take on public sector contracts
and new work, safe in the
knowledge they had the capital
behind them to meet demand.
Supported by
UnLtd impact report 2019
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