Housing Charity Seeks Board Members to Support New Commercial Venture
A North Wales charity that helps older people stay in their own homes is looking for entrepreneurs and business people to launch a new commercial venture.
Canllaw, which provides a care and repair service across Gwynedd and Anglesey, is looking to recruit up to six new volunteer board members and create five jobs as part of the expansion.
The organisation, a subsidiary of the Grŵp Cynefin housing association, assists homeowners and tenants in private sector housing aged 60 or over.
Its mission is to enable them to live in comfort, safety and warmth by helping them with all kinds of improvements, adaptations and advice.
The Canllaw board has currently six people on it, and is seeking more members.
Chief Officer Elfyn Owen said the charity wants to appoint a minimum of two and up to six new board members to fill the skills gap created by the new enterprise.
He said:
'As well as delivering on our charitable objectives, we have two trading elements in the business.
'Canllaw Addasu carries out home adaptation works and Canllaw Technegol project manages major works such as extensions and conversions to clients homes.
'The new development is that we are now also installing kitchens and bathrooms on a commercial basis for Grŵp Cynefin in its homes in the two counties.
'We're looking for entrepreneurs and people with commercial experience or those with a background in construction or the law.
'We have already have board members who have experience in the public sector, health and social care, governance and finance so the priority will be finding people with experience in the private and commercial sector.
'On the other hand we're not saying that we wouldn't consider anybody from the public sector if they have the skills to enhance and add value to the board which oversees the three main elements in what we do.
'The charitable side of the operation is carried out by the care and repair team who help older people who are disabled or are vulnerable in some way, providing free advice about home repairs, adaptations or improvements to meet their needs and in some cases we can help them access funding to cover the cost.
'As we are developing our commercial trading operation, why we're looking for people with those skills to provide guidance in that particular field.
'In short we're looking for people who can contribute and provide strategic leadership to work with Canllaw to enable vulnerable people to stay in their own homes or come home sooner from hospital.
'What we do makes a tangible difference to our clients' quality of life and I know our volunteer board members feel it's very worthwhile and satisfying meeting the changing needs of people as they grow older.
'We receive public money from the Welsh Government, local government and the health board to support the activities of the charitable side of the operation, helping people to live independently in their own homes.
'There is a significant return on that investment because every £1 invested in the repairs and adaptations generates a saving of £7.50 for health and social care services.
'As well as saving a huge amount of money, it also relieves the pressure on hospitals and other statutory services that are struggling to keep up with the growing demand. We provide a lot of bang for their buck.
'In terms of revenue, we have a turnover of £1.5 million and we are expanding the Canllaw Addasu operation and recruiting five more people to the team to carry out kitchen and bathroom installations for Grŵp Cynefin in their housing stock.
'That's a new commercial venture in addition to what we have traditionally done and it will increase turnover to around £2 million and create extra income which will be recycled to support the charitable side of things.
'The public purse is under pressure like never before and the grants we receive does not necessarily meet all of the needs of our clients.
'So the need to develop other sustainable solutions is part of business model going forward – to benefit our clients and support our charitable obligations.'
The new board members will be expected to devote an average of one day of their time every month, attending quarterly meetings as well as strategy meetings and workshops.
'If anybody is interested I would ask them to get in touch with me in the first instance,' said Mr Owen.
Anybody wanting more information can contact Elfyn Owen by email at elfyn@canllaw.org or on 07702 191 828.
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