Creative Business Support
Many creative businesses start out as a single, passionate project. Ideas snowball, audiences grow & other artists start believing in what you’re doing. Somehow, you’re running a business now. How did that happen?
Many artists & creative people struggle at this stage. Suddenly we have to worry about policies and data protection, invoices and – if we’re lucky – staffing and payroll.
I’ve spent my whole creative career working with companies in this phase. I’ve supported companies through their first Google Workspace, first reporting rounds as National Portfolio Organisations, and building their first website
I can help with advice, templates & systems to get you through the muddy stages between emerging company and established business.
Reporting Systems
If you’ve been lucky enough to secure your first multi-year funding, the new reporting requirements can be a bit of a shock.
Workforce, audiences, freelancers, finances – all need accounting for & reporting on monthly, quarterly and/or annual bases to your board, your advisers & your funders. It can feel like your job is more about filling spreadsheets than running your company.
Every company is different, but there’s usually a combination that can save you hours of time every single reporting deadline:
. Timely data-collection with staff & freelancers
. Automated reminders for data collection
. Combining rotas with venue, staff & freelancer information
. Aligning accounting categories with major reporting categories
. Well-designed spreadsheets with simple calculation formulas
If you’re sick of chasing down a single error in your spreadsheets, contact me
Free Tool!
National Portfolio Organisation Finance Report Template
Every Quarter, Organisations who are part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio or Organisations have to complete a Financial Report.
The Report is a two-page spreadsheet, which includes a cash forecast and an annual budget. The annual budget page asks for information about the current period (financial quarter) and year-to-date budget spend amounts. These figures are added manually.
Using this template, accurately completing the cash forecast sheet will automatically populate the annual budget sheet.
Here’s a short video explaining how it works:
Meeting Facilitation & Process Management
Part of growing your company means allowing more voices in. This is great! More passionate, skilled people offering ideas about how to push things forwards.
But it’s also more work. It can be difficult to keep everyone informed, manage group dynamics and make decisions in a useful, timely way.
At the same time – the decisions you need to make are bigger! You need 3-year strategies. You need to replace template policies with ones that actually matter to you & your community – ones that will stick around for years.
How do you make everyone’s voice heard?
I can help with:
. Designing accessible agendas
. Facilitating meetings
. Note-taking & post-meeting summaries
. Designing & managing clear processes that last over multiple-meetings
File-Sharing Systems
A brilliant file’s only worth something if everyone knows how to find it.
Growing companies need to manage more files and more types of people who need access to them – freelances, salaried staff, board members, partner organisations.
Who needs access to what? Who did we get consent to share information with? Is it secure enough? Can I just email it? What does GDPR say?
It can be a real headache.
How can I help?
. Setting up your first Google Workspace & Google Drive
. Create a clear file structure with different levels of access for sensitive information
. Training staff in data protection & how to use file-sharing systems
Bid-Writing & Proof-Reading
I’ve written dozens of successful funding applications, small and large, for a range of organisations.
Whether you want a second opinion, some help with supporting documents or need someone to form a first draft from a couple of scrappy voicenotes – I’m happy to help support you on your funding journey.