Wycombe Heritage Arts Trust, Wycombe
Registered as a charity in 2014, the Wycombe Heritage and Arts Trust (WHAT) aims to promote a love of heritage, culture and arts amongst the local and wider communities.
They seek to engage them in an exciting and creative range of storytelling and displays.
Reaching out to the local communities of High Wycombe, Princes Risborough and Marlow, WHAT works closely with Wycombe District Council and other local partners to deliver a programme of events and maintain a collection of items of national significance at the Wycombe Museum.
Challenge
To support planned and future activities, WHAT needed to develop a funding strategy as well as create a plan in line with the Board vision and aims of the charity.
The charity was also keen to get help in setting up an HR function in a new organisation.
The solution
WHAT attended several Community Impact Bucks (CIB) training events to get the know-how and information to develop a funding strategy and plan, including the Funding Fair, Trustee Conference and Recruitment Fair. CIB staff also facilitated sessions with WHAT trustees to help develop their strategy and fundraising approaches.
Armed with the information gathered from the workshops, the board of trustees were able to take a structured approach to thinking about the strategic aims and the mission for the organisation.
The Museum Manager attended CIB training too which helped to clarify strategic and operational issues and to consider the parameters of effective management under the new charitable structure.
CIB also suggested utilising the online volunteering database Reach Volunteering to find the HR help the charity needed. Through Reach, WHAT was able to secure both an HR expert who volunteered for a few days to advise the organisation on their HR needs as well as a second expert volunteer to help on a fundraising campaign. The organisation also secured two trustees from the CIB’s Trustee Recruitment Fair in 2018.
Quote from organisation
“CIB put us in touch with a number of experts who supported us in key areas and helped the transition to a fully functioning and strategic board. It was a critical helping hand we needed at that part of our development.” Simon Kearey, Chair of Trustees, Wycombe Heritage Arts Trust
For more information, visit Wycombe Heritage Arts Trust , CIB training and events and Reach Volunteering.
