Tracy Clark, CEO of Young Gloucestershire, tells us how working in partnership with Infobuzz is an exciting time for both charities.

12 October 2016

The world out there is tough at the moment for the voluntary sector. There is less money around, it’s more competitive and many organisations aren’t surviving. Young Gloucestershire is in the same boat as most organisations. Every day involves creativity, finding affordable solutions, trying new approaches, all to achieve outcomes and ensure that the much needed services we provide are able to thrive.

Unfortunately, in recent months Infobuzz like many other local charities found themselves in a challenging position. Here is the history lesson; Infobuzz started life as a project within Young Gloucestershire and in 2005 a decision was made to separate Infobuzz out and to form its own charity. Following this Infobuzz has been a successful independent charity for the last 11 years focusing on drugs and alcohol services and then moving into criminal justice and mental health services. Whilst the services have been well regarded and in high demand unfortunately generating the income to sustain the charity has been difficult. As a result, Infobuzz has asked YG to take over the day to day management of the organisation. This means that we can share all the expensive core costs an organisation faces such as: management costs, marketing and communications, fundraising etc…

Despite the challenge that has brought us back together we are very excited about the two organisations working closely together again and the opportunity it brings to broaden the services we offer to young people and families across Gloucestershire. I believe that reducing costs by running charities together is a really valuable way forward for the sector and am really pleased we have had the opportunity to maintain the good work Infobuzz is doing rather than having to close.

So what’s the future? We are exploring legal working structures as we further formalise our working partnership. We will continue to be two charities seeking a way to be linked or grouped together as part of a consortium pooling our resources to achieve a common goal. So watch this space for more news in coming months!