Social Sector Solutions with Hannah

I’m Hannah and welcome to my site! Before working with someone, I think it’s so important to get to know them and find out about them. I’ve put together a bio below of what got me here and why I love, and have a huge passion, for what I do!

My passion since childhood has been Charity and social enterprise. I remember that fancy dress walk I organised for Children In Need in my odd socks and funky looking clothes – and there was something different each year for CiN. That time I insisted my dad do my hair like Marge Simpson for Red Nose Day. I also loved to organise events and getting people together (still do of course!) from making and delivering a newsletter for all the houses on the street I lived on, to putting together our Year 11 Yearbook and then organising our Prom and leaver’s party too.

Throughout my teenage years, I was also heavily involved in a local Community Radio Station in Bradford (BCB), which Dan the Youth Worker there and all the team can take a huge credit for who I am today and my love for all things community and Charity. I hosted a weekly radio show and it was such a brilliant experience to meet lots of different people, interview them and create our own topics to discuss too. This also led to work outside the Radio too, where I supported other Youth events in the more deprived areas of Bradford.

During my Gap Year, I traveled to Ghana and worked in a babies’ and children’s home. This is by far one of the best things I have done in my life, and I cannot wait for the right time to go back and do more things like this. During my time in Ghana, I predominantly worked in the home looking after the babies, playing with the toddlers and teaching the slightly older children. Whilst out there, it was so clear they needed better beds, better toys and just generally better equipment. With my amazing contacts back home, we put a plan together to fundraise for the Home raising over £1000. Before I left, I travelled round the markets and shops and we bought the items the Home so desperately needed – one of my proudest, and most emotional, moments to date.

During my working life, I have continued to ignite the passion wherever this has been possible. In the last 12 years I have planned and run two Charity Bike rides (I did not ride myself, so cannot take credit for that too!), run a number of Charity fundraising days – the most memorable was making a Scarecrow out of pots outside the Branch I used to work in Shipley and many other smaller fundraising events over this time.

I was also a member of Rotary for a number of years and during this time I took part in a number of charitable activities, this included hands on work particularly at Leeds Children’s Charity at Lineham Farm, Wine Tasting fundraising events and Rotary Young Chef competitions. I also organised charity film nights to raise money too.

My work background is varied but with particular focus on customer service, complaints, compliance and process change. Following the birth of my daughter, Poppy, in 2018 and to support my work/life balance ethos I feel strongly about, I made the decision to open my own photography business and have been operating this since. To keep in line with my overall ethos, I run my business as affordable and open to everyone as I can and have over 200 5* reviews.

In 2020 at the start of the pandemic, I setup a Mutual Aid group in Brigg and the surrounding area. This supported people with buying their shopping in the main and other day-to-day activities that were difficult to do during that time. Whilst carrying out this work, it became apparent that people were starting to struggle more and more financially and some were unsure how to access a Food Bank. I decided to find out what was happening with our local Food Bank and took on the mantle of scaling this up and running it. As the month’s went on, our Mutual Aid run Food Bank got bigger and bigger and the donations coming in and parcels going out grew in number. In 2021, our Mutual Aid Food Bank officially joined forces with the Charity Oikos-Brigg which I became Food Bank Manager for. In 2022, I then also became a Trustee for Oikos. My roles and responsibilities have grown since. Activities I am responsible for include running the Food Bank, organising & running the Community Food Pantry and also setting up & running a new ‘Space 2 B’ socials. I also support with other activities including Youth Work. As a Trustee, I also support with minute taking, setting up Google Workspace, writing and updating policies & procedures and many other responsibilities associated with running a Charity and being a Trustee. My role is very varied and includes working with a number of third parties and signposting organisations too.

In 2021, I was asked to join the Board of Trustees at The Wharfedale Foundation which is a grant awarding foundation supporting Yorkshire & The Humber. Since 2021, I have supported with grant assessing . During 2023, as a Board we also had a review of our grant awarding processes and impact in the current climate and part of this included the decision to now spend out as a Charity. This involved a full assessment of our options as a Board and developing a strategy to do this. I have supported with some administration and website design since this decision too. I will continue to support until the end of 2025 when we have fully spent out.

Most recently I have become involved with Slow Circular Earth UK and supporting on their journey of growth and sustainability. This is a journey and a relationship I’m so excited to start and can’t wait to watch them grow over time.

This has all led me to where I am today in setting up my consultancy business. I want to support smaller charities, CICs, social enterprises and community groups in setting up, developing and growing. Whilst I can support with a variety of things, my main areas of focus and specialism are: