Why the scheme was introduced?

The scheme has been developed for a number of key reasons

• There has been a significant reduction in the level of more traditional funding streams available to charities, social enterprises and small businesses.
• Research has shown that when funding has been made available many businesses have become frustrated that they cannot use their funding to develop core marketing materials and tools such as logos, websites and literature because the funding is restricted to advice and consultancy only, but their needs are to put things in place to generate income.
• Market forces mean that many growing businesses, charities or social enterprises simply need to be able to do more with less and accessing some top up support helps tremendously, particularly at the early stages of a business or project when things are front loaded.
• Customers want access to a design team that operates at agency level and can provide a reliable and proactive service, deliver quickly and to a high standard. In the past this has often not been affordable with agencies charging up to £100 per hour.

The scheme operated for two months in pilot during January and February 2010 and successfully provided over £10,000 of design and marketing support to growing business in Yorkshire and the Humber. The scheme was then formerly launched in March 2010 with support from a number of deliver partners.