CoRe 2020 Case Study: FoodCycle

The charity 

FoodCycle’s mission is to nourish communities using surplus food. FoodCycle provide a free, healthy meal for vulnerable people at risk of food poverty and social isolation. Everyone is welcome – no questions asked – ensuring they reach a broad range of people, from low-income families to the elderly, people living alone and the homeless. Many of their guests suffer from multiple challenges, including physical and mental health issues. 

The project 

FoodCycle came to CoRe looking for support to help them progress their expansion plans more quickly, allowing them to make the most of strong volunteer availability and reliable food supply in London to benefit more people in need. CoRe 2020 offered timely support to ensure research and proposals could be presented to the board in 2021 while allowing FoodCycle’s Regional Managers to focus on the smooth-running of their existing projects rather than worrying about expansion.  

Impact on FoodCycle as a result of CoRe 

Capability:

• Significant improvement in operational processes e.g. IT, HR, etc.

• Recognisable improvement in:

  Governance and/or management;

  Ability to provide a better service to your beneficiaries

Capacity:

• Recognisable improvement in ability to:

  Engage more beneficiaries;

  Provide new or additional services

Sustainability:

• Recognisable improvement in ability to identify opportunities and minimise threats to their organisation.

Added value provided by the volunteers 

Expansion strategy, which includes:

• New location feasibility analysis, including research template

• Competitor analysis

• Cheat sheet for internal use and board presentation

FoodCycle’s CoRe experience:

“During a very challenging year for us all, it was great to have the external resource and input from the CoRe volunteers. We really have appreciated the additional head space and perspectives they’ve given us and it’s not a piece of work we would have had time to complete ourselves. When we’re able to reopen all of our services and turn our attention to expanding our services again, the volunteers’ work will mean we’ll be ready to act and won’t lose time conducting the research ourselves” (Victoria, Head of Fundraising at FoodCycle)

The FoodCycle CoRe Volunteer experience: 

“We’ve had the rewarding experience of assisting a small, dedicated team in tackling a typical 2020 issue: How can a charity providing community meals expand at a time when facilities are closed and communities are in lockdown? For all volunteers it drove home just how quickly smaller organisations and their leaders have to adapt to survive in difficult circumstances. It was inspiring to work with people overcoming such adversity on a daily basis. We were glad we could make a meaningful difference and finish with a genuine sense of achievement” (David, FoodCycle CoRe volunteer)

For more information on the full CoRe programme visit our CoRe pages. If you'd like to access CoRe for your organisation get in touch with info@thebigalliance.org.uk