Pro Bono Week 2025

How Skills Exchange Helped Field of Joy Flourish

While much of the focus often falls on legal advice, Norfolk Community Foundation’s Skills Exchange shows that support from local businesses can extend far beyond the legal profession. For local charitable organisations, free assistance from a range of business services can mean the difference between just getting by and thriving.

When Lauren, from Norfolk Community Foundation, visited Field of Joy, she found a project that truly lived up to its name. Nestled in the Norfolk countryside, Field of Joy offers “love in action” as its founder, Caitlin, describes it. The not-for-profit is a community built around people, animals, and the natural environment. From hands-on gardening and conservation to mindfulness by the fire, the group provides a space where people of all ages and backgrounds can connect and grow.

Over the past four years, Field of Joy has received several grants from Norfolk Community Foundation, including Greening Our Communities and Offshore Wind Zone Community Fund support. These have helped them plant hundreds of native trees, run creative nature clubs, and develop intergenerational and youth wellbeing programmes. The results have been transformational: from one small group a week to nine, with up to ninety people now visiting regularly.

But as Caitlin told Lauren, the Foundation’s support has gone far beyond funding. “It’s felt really personal and approachable,” she said. “We can ask questions, get guidance, and you really understand the vulnerabilities of small projects like ours.” The Foundation’s community-minded approach became even more evident when Field of Joy received support from the Foundation’s Skills Exchange programme.

Through the Skills Exchange, the Foundation connected Field of Joy with Simon, a consultant from Wingfield Consultants, who volunteered his time to help Caitlin and her team develop a five-year plan. For a small organisation, the idea of long-term strategic planning can be daunting. Yet with Simon’s guidance, the process became both manageable and inspiring.

“I was emotionally invested from the start,”Simon said to Lauren during their visit. “I could see how much potential there was for Field of Joy to grow and have even more impact in the community.” His plan provided a clear, achievable roadmap for growth, while recognising the Field of Joy team’s capacity limits. “Simon really got us,” Caitlin said. “He understood that our work has to evolve gradually as we’ve got people, animals, and the whole site to look after. It was so helpful having someone explain everything in a way that made sense to us.”

For Caitlin, having that kind of expert input without the pressure of applying for funding or finding the money to pay for consultancy made all the difference. “We probably wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise,” she reflected. “It’s helped us think longer term, to build resilience. Before, we were always planning from year to year, juggling so much. Now, we can see where we’re going.”

For Field of Joy, the Skills Exchange set the course for a future full of sustainable growth. For Simon, too, the partnership has brought benefits that go beyond the feeling of doing something good. “Since getting involved with the Skills Exchange,” he said, “I’ve built up a portfolio of charity business plans – something I never had before. Now, I’ve been able to diversify my offer and around 30% of my clients are charities.”

Lauren’s visit captured exactly what Norfolk Community Foundation’s mission is about: being more than a funder. Through funding and the Skills Exchange, the Foundation helps charities like Field of Joy build the confidence and capacity they need to flourish. And as Simon put it, that kind of work stays with you. “The charities you help, they stay in your heart,” he said.

Norwich has been recognised as a Social Enterprise Place since 2021, yet for many Community Interest Companies (CICs) and social enterprises, finding support can feel like falling between two chairs. Too business-like for traditional charitable funders, yet too community-focused for commercial investment, they often operate in an important but difficult space that limits access to advice, expertise and finance. Norfolk Community Foundation is taking steps to change that.

Across all our programmes, we try to ensure socially driven enterprises aren’t left behind because of their legal structure. This includes our Skills Exchange, which connects charities, voluntary groups social enterprises, and CICs with skilled professionals who volunteer their time to share expertise in areas such as business planning, accounting, governance and communications.

One example is Repair Café Norwich, a CIC helping people mend broken household items instead of throwing them away. When they needed help submitting their Corporation Tax form, the Foundation’s Skills Exchange matched Head of the CIC, Martin Sweet, with Glen Saunders from Swan Saunders Accounting.

Martin explained: “I was expecting a good service based on recommendations I’d had, but the service exceeded them easily. It helped us in the short term, but has also made future accounting efforts far simpler.”

The support they accessed has made a lasting difference, giving them the confidence and knowledge to manage their finances more effectively in the future. For Glen, offering his expertise through the Skills Exchange was equally rewarding. He said, “It felt good to know that I was able to help and that the correct amount of tax was paid.”

Supporting Social Enterprise

Norfolk Community Foundation is often able to support CICs and social enterprises, recognising the vital role they play in tackling local challenges. Our funding is intended to add value to, rather than replace, income generated through enterprise activity, helping to deliver additional projects or community benefits. To ensure we are supporting organisations that operate in the true spirit of social good, we ask that social enterprises meet the same standards of governance and eligibility criteria that we expect of the other charitable groups we work with.

The Foundation also recognises the valuable contributions of FUSE CIC, an integral part of Norfolk’s growing social enterprise network. FUSE’s mission is to create a strong ecosystem in which social enterprises can flourish and address complex social issues.

FUSE has also benefited from professional advice through the Skills Exchange. When assisting an individual with prior convictions to establish a social enterprise supporting ex-offenders, FUSE’s Willow Farrell sought legal clarity on who can serve as a director. The Foundation matched her with a local solicitor, who provided expert guidance and reassurance. This support enabled Willow to advise her client confidently and help them take the next step toward their goal.

Both of these examples took just a few hours of professional time but saved the CICs involved hundreds of pounds — resources that can now be reinvested to benefit their communities.

FUSE has recently supported Norwich’s Social Enterprise Place status to be renewed, and we’re proud to continue growing and evolving our offer to social enterprises across Norfolk.

Nourishing Norfolk is building healthier communities through food.

Each hub operates independently, but all 26 are part of the Nourishing Norfolk Network. This means that no only can they access funding, training and opportunities through the foundation, but they also benefit from the Nourishing Norfolk Distribution Hub. The Distribution hub, offered thanks to a partnership with Norse Group, was identified in the recent Nourishing Norfolk Evaluation as a critical factor to the networks success. It is the only food hub network with its own dedicated distributor in the UK.

Norse group go beyond just housing the Distribution hub, however. They also support the running and logistics of the food operation. Recently, their SHEQ Health & Safety and Environmental Advisor Simon Nelson has helped to review and re-write old risk assessments  and provide COSHH assessments. Simon has visited the Distribution Hub operation on site, spoken with our warehouse manager Brian, and done the work back and forth to understand and assess the operation.

Food Strategy Development Manager Dr Victoria Lewis said: “The team at Norse are so professional, and took the time to understand the nuances of what we needed and developed the work with us carefully, step-by-step. We’re really happy with the result.”

Simon added: “I also learned a great deal about Nourishing Norfolk and their work. It is always good to know that there are people out there willing to help those in need or who are struggling.”

Earlier this year, we shared a story about St Faiths Sunflowers – a community group going from strength to strength. We shone a light on help from Sam Teal at Gasway to set up a new Facebook page. Thanks to this, they have been able to share the local good they do and attract new members.

After receiving a grant from the Foundation for new powered gardening tools and protective equipment for volunteers, St Faiths were keen to ensure that all of the health and safety procedures were fit for purpose.

Through the Skills Exchange, we were able to connect Chair Fiona with Sarah Daniels from the Redcat Partnership. A specialist in health and safety, Sarah was able to quickly put Fiona’s mind at rest.

Fiona said: “Sarah from Redcat gave me the assurance I needed that I was providing the best cover I could for the volunteers with regards to the safety and use of the newly purchased tools. The detailed response was clear and concise and gave me that extra confidence I needed.”

While the support was a small, one-off piece of work for RedCat Partnership, the impact on the group has been huge. Thanks to their support, St Faiths is now able to confidently train and recruit volunteers with the robust procedures they now have in place. This will help to ensure the long-term sustainability of the entirely volunteer-led group.