One Year of Done Together CIC
Done Together CIC has turned one! We are looking back at a very busy first year of projects, partnerships, new opportunities, lessons learned and the brilliant people and organisations we have worked with along the way.
5 min read
Last week, Done Together CIC officially turned one.
It is slightly surreal looking back at how much has happened in those first 12 months.
We started with five women, a lot of combined experience, plenty of ideas and absolutely no idea quite how much would happen in Year One.
Since then, we have delivered more than 35 events and sessions, worked with schools, young people, community groups and organisations, secured funding, built new partnerships and grown a social media community of more than 600 followers.
There have also been radio interviews, press coverage, awards, funding applications, project plans, spreadsheets, boxes of resources and quite a lot of figuring things out as we went.
It has been a very full first year.
From an idea to actual delivery
When we started Done Together, one of the big questions was whether people would understand what we actually did.
We knew we wanted to help organisations turn good ideas into real projects, particularly when they had the idea but not necessarily the time, staff or capacity to manage everything around it.
Over the year, that has meant very different things.
We have delivered Afro hair workshops, worked with young carers, supported youth engagement through Wrecsam2029, run practical sessions in schools, developed an intergenerational Pen Pal project, organised community events, launched Grow Together and held our first Wrecsam Photomarathon.
There have been bath bombs, braiding, henna, hydroponics, photography, clay, plant pots and a lot more besides.
It is probably fair to say that no two projects have looked the same.
And we quite like it that way.
That collaborative approach has been noticed by the people we have worked with too. Vicki Lindley Jones from WCBC’s Ageing Well team described us as bringing “creativity, enthusiasm and a collaborative approach” during Intergenerational Week.
That is exactly the kind of feedback we hoped we would get when we started.
Listening properly matters
A lot of our projects have involved working with people who need to feel heard, not managed.
That was especially true with our work with young carers and the Wrecsam2029 Youth Forum.
With Credu, the young carers were not just invited along at the end. They helped shape the celebration itself. That mattered, and it was reflected in the feedback we received afterwards.
Sally Duckers from Credu said of Done Together CIC:
“They really understood the importance of making the event young carer led.”
We have carried that same approach into our youth engagement work with Wrecsam2029.
Morgan Thomas from Wrexham Community & Culture Trust described Done Together as “a valued partner” and highlighted the way the team had supported young people to think ambitiously, contribute creatively and play a meaningful role in the City of Culture journey.
For us, that is what good engagement should look like.
Not asking people for an opinion and then carrying on as normal.
Actually making room for their ideas to influence what happens next.
Some things we did not expect
Some of the nicest parts of Year One were things we could never have planned when we first set the CIC up.
Our Lead Director, Natalie Edwards, received Wrexham University’s Entrepreneurial Mindset Award, recognising her journey and the work that had gone into getting Done Together off the ground.
We have had three radio appearances and featured in more than five news articles, giving us opportunities to talk about the projects we are delivering and the communities involved in them.
Our social media following has also grown to more than 600 people across our channels.
The numbers are lovely, but the most useful part has been the connections behind them.
People have contacted us with ideas. Organisations have recommended us to others. Practitioners have become collaborators. Conversations that started with “could we possibly…” have turned into actual projects.
Sometimes those opportunities have come at very short notice too.
Adam Greenwood from Owen Davies Consulting Ltd said that when a gap appeared in their facilitation team, Natalie stepped in and delivered “with real confidence and professionalism”.
That kind of work might not always make it into the project-photo collage, but it is an important part of what Done Together does.
We can step in, understand what is needed and help organisations keep things moving.
Building something that gives something back
One thing we were determined to build into Done Together from the beginning was our Together Fund.
Paid commissions help us generate income, but part of that income can then help us make community activities more affordable.
During our first year, the fund has helped us subsidise activities including Pause & Paint and our women’s self-defence course which will be starting on Thursday 10th September.
That matters to us because we do not want social impact to be something separate from the paid work we do.
If an organisation commissions Done Together, it gets the project, support or service it has paid for, but that work can also help create an additional community benefit elsewhere.
That is the whole idea behind the Together Fund.
A lot happens behind the photographs
Social media naturally shows the nice bits.
The busy room. The finished activity. The group photograph.
It does not usually show the hours spent writing proposals, contacting practitioners, sorting insurance, building budgets, checking invoices, finding venues, writing risk assessments, promoting activities and following everything up afterwards.
There have been countless conversations and meetings during this first year, many of which have led to projects and partnerships we would never have predicted 12 months ago.
We have secured grants to develop new work while also building income through commissioned projects.
And, in the middle of all that, we have been learning how to run the organisation properly.
Some lessons have been exciting.
Others have involved spreadsheets.
Quite a lot of spreadsheets.
Partnerships have become a huge part of Year One
One thing we probably underestimated at the beginning was just how important relationships would become.
So much of our work has happened because organisations, practitioners and community groups have been willing to share ideas and work collaboratively.
Sometimes that has meant delivering a project together. Other times, it has meant helping an organisation work through something practical behind the scenes.
Gareth Hall from North East Wales Community Cohesion described Done Together as “one of our most valued partners”, highlighting our work supporting the North East Wales Multi-Cultural Hub with its Terms of Reference and facilitating the conversations around it.
That is another side of Done Together that does not always involve a workshop table or a box of resources, but it is just as important.
Sometimes getting something done together means helping people find a structure, make a decision or get everyone in the same room.
Five women, one very busy year
Done Together is led by five women who brought very different skills and experience into the organisation.
That was always meant to be one of our strengths.
Across the team we draw on experience in areas including education, youth work, safeguarding, communications, community engagement, accessibility and project delivery.
Nobody does everything.
Usually, somebody in the team knows something useful, knows somebody who does, or knows enough to ask the right question.
That has probably helped us more than any perfectly written business plan could have.
And now Year Two
We have achieved more in our first year than we expected when we started.
But we are also very aware that we are still new.
There is plenty we want to improve, more organisations we would love to work with and quite a few ideas sitting in notebooks that have not made it into the world yet.
That is probably the exciting bit.
A year ago, Done Together existed mainly in conversations, documents and plans.
Now there are real projects, real partnerships and real people who have taken part in something we helped create.
So thank you to everyone who has commissioned us, worked with us, delivered alongside us, taken part in a project, shared a post, recommended us or simply encouraged us during our first year.
Done Together CIC has officially made it through Year One.
Year Two, here we come.
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