For every great idea in the voluntary sector, there is a long list of things that need to happen behind the scenes. Wendy Ward’s CIC – Set Up and Go! course is designed to make sure those details are not what hold people back.
There is a particular kind of business owner Wendy encounters time and again. They arrive not with a five-year plan or a polished pitch deck, but with something far more immediate – an idea rooted in lived experience or a desire to fix something that is not working.
“I deal with accidental business owners every day,” she tells unLTD. “These are people in the non-profit sector who set up organisations with a charitable purpose. They don’t necessarily set up the business side of them because they’re not always business people.”
Wendy, founder of Let’s Save, has built her Sheffield-based consultancy around exactly this space – where social purpose meets the often less glamorous realities of governance, compliance and funding.
Her original business focused on cost management, helping organisations reduce overheads.
Then Covid hit, buildings emptied, and demand fell away almost overnight. Instead of waiting for it to return, she asked her clients a direct question: what do you actually need?
“The answer was money. So I had to learn bid writing and support. I’ve created my consultancy out of what my clients want.”
So, finding funding is naturally an important early step. Just as important, however, is getting the structure right first.
It is a gap she sees repeatedly across South Yorkshire’s growing community of charities, social enterprises and community interest companies. There is no shortage of energy or intent, but the infrastructure behind those ideas can be fragile or missing altogether.
“Grant funding is so competitive that you don’t want to give them a chance to put you on the no pile. Funders will check eligibility before they even read what you want them to fund. Have you got a bank account in your name? Have you got two signatories? Have you got the right policies? If not, you’re out before you’ve even started.”
This is where her CIC – Set Up and Go! course comes in. Developed towards the end of 2024 and now running in cohorts, the eight-week programme is designed to take founders from early idea through to a fully structured, fundable organisation.
Wendy delivers the sessions live, working through each stage alongside participants. The first weeks focus on fundamentals – choosing the right structure, understanding whether a CIC is appropriate, and completing the registration process properly.
“I always check out that a CIC is right for them, because it’s not right for everybody. There’s no point in somebody coming on a course, setting up a CIC, paying me money to help out, and it’s wrong for them.”
That upfront honesty is part of the appeal, even if it can be a reality check. For those who continue, Wendy shifts the focus to readiness – not just the paperwork, she explains, but the mindset behind it.
“People say, ‘We’ll do that when we get the money’. No. Because when you get the money, you’ll be so busy delivering that you forget the safeguarding policy, or the right signatories on the bank account. My advice: do the boring stuff first.”
It is a phrase she returns to more than once – the boring stuff. Policies, procedures, governance, compliance. The elements that rarely feature in the origin story of a social enterprise, but which often determine whether it survives.
Across the eight weeks, participants build out these foundations while also developing a business plan, exploring income streams and preparing funding applications. By the end, they are in a position to move quickly if an opportunity arises.
My advice: do the boring stuff first.
“They’ll have something that is compliant, legally set up and as fundable as possible. They’ve got a real springboard. A funding bid underway, the policies and procedures in place, and they’re ready to deliver.”
The cohort model is a deliberate choice. Alongside the formal content, there is space for discussion, shared experience and, increasingly, collaboration.
“People end up helping one another. By the back end of the course, I sort of step back a bit and they start advising each other.”
That sense of collective effort reflects the wider ecosystem Wendy operates in. Her work sits alongside organisations such as South Yorkshire Community Foundation and the South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau, and she is quick to signpost clients to them.
Part of that signposting also involves connecting clients with a trusted network of specialists – accountants, HR advisers, marketing support – many of whom she has worked with for years.
Wendy’s own background helps explain that emphasis on relationships. Before moving into consultancy, she spent two decades in recruitment, a career that sharpened her instinct for matching people with the right opportunities.
It all comes back to that broader philosophy – one that runs through her work with early-stage CICs. Success is not just about securing funding or even completing the paperwork. It is about building something that fits, that lasts and connects with the people around it.
At the heart of that is clarity. Wendy pushes participants to define not only what they want to do, but where it is heading.
“The first questions I ask are, what’s the exit plan? How will you know when it’s been successful? What’s the postcode of the sat nav? Where are we going?”
Without that, even the most well-intentioned project can drift.
“You just wander about not knowing what you’re doing. You need people singing off the same hymn sheet. That’s where the power is – bringing people together for one common cause.”
It is that moment – when an idea starts to take shape as something more concrete – that still gives her a sense of momentum and has kept her in the non-profit sector since 1992.
“I enjoy the buzz of a fresh idea. The fact that it’s going to make a difference.”
Across South Yorkshire, that impact is tangible – in services filling gaps and organisations sparked by one person deciding to act. Wendy’s role is to make sure those beginnings are built to last, not just get off the ground.
“Just because it’s not for profit doesn’t mean it’s not a business.”
To find out more about setting up a CIC or joining the course, contact Wendy at wendy@letssave.biz.
