FREE Training Event for Swindon charities

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FREE Training Event for Swindon charities

Sales Executives from one of the UK’s leading Microsoft Partners took time out of their working week to share their knowledge and expertise with representatives from local charities.

Taking the shape of a free training event, this was delivered by eBECS and hosted from their bespoke training suite located within their South Marston offices. The award-winning Microsoft Gold Partner, who deliver IT solutions to over 300 customers globally, were keen to share their sales and CRM skills with the local Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), particularly in light of new research showing just how tough times are for small charities.

According to The Social Landscape 2017 Report, published by the Charities Aid Foundation and Acevo, more than a quarter of small charities are struggling to stay open and face the heartbreaking possibility of imminent closure.

The findings follow statistics published by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, which showed many charities are unable to grow or extend their reach as they have been forced into ‘survival mode’ by rising demand and decreasing funds.

Step up eBECS.

“We saw this as an opportunity to reach out to the Swindon VCS community and do our bit to help” says Sam Dharmasiri, eBECS Sales Director.

Sam, who lives locally and has been with the company for 12 years, goes on to say:

“Our expert team of Sales Executives have a wealth of skills and experience that we felt could be of benefit to local charities, particularly those who are looking to build new funding relationships, grow their donor base and generally raise awareness of the work they do.”

In a professional capacity, eBECS has a strong record of working closely with large UK based charities, for whom they provide a range of IT consultancy, software and services in helping them meet their everyday technology demands.

They also regularly have members of the team taking part in fundraising activities. This includes Christmas raffles and the annual eBECS charity bike trip, the last of which was around the coast of Holland in June 2016, raising a combined total of over £50,000 for the RNLI and Macmillan Cancer Support.

“This free training event, however” explains Sam, “was a different way for us to engage with the charitable community, not by raising funds, but by sharing skills”.

The event was delivered by Michael Smythe and Keith Delarge, both experienced Sales Executives for eBECS and responsible for helping the company secure new business and grow their customer base.

Michael and Keith tailored the training to be of specific benefit for smaller charities, focusing on those aspects of selling and relationship-building that can have the biggest impact. This included looking at the organisational and soft skills underpinning good Customer Relationship Management (CRM), exploring Value Proposition and what this means for a charity and how to plan successful campaigns.

The ultimate aim of the event was to provide an overview of some of the tools and techniques that small charities could adopt in order to help them push beyond survival mode and build for the future.

The event was well attended by representatives from a range of local charities. Amongst the attendees was Carol Harrison, Fundraising Administrator for The Open Door Centre, who provide support for adults with learning difficulties.

“The event was an excellent idea.” said Carol.

“The Voluntary and Community Sector can rarely afford to pay for help from experts within the business community so having someone relate sales skills and techniques to charity needs was very useful.”

Racheal Gerrard from The Salvation Army was another attendee of the event. Racheal is the Catering Coordinator for The Sandwich People, a Social Enterprise run by The Salvation Army that creates opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness to turn their lives around.

“The training was very informative and has given me some great ideas for the future” said Racheal, who felt that the sharing of skills by experienced Sales Executives has equipped her with some tips and techniques to help her gain new customers.

The initiative is something that eBECS hope to replicate across the UK from their other offices located in London, Chesterfield and Dublin, supporting more small charities that are based in those areas.

For more information, please contact:

Mike Smith
Bid Manager, eBECS Ltd – 07793 240 451 (Wed-Fri)
Business Development Manager, West Swindon Family Centre – 01793 871303 (Mon/Tue)

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