Golden Opportunity Skills and Development (GOSAD)

Project snapshot

The cause

Golden Opportunity Skills and Development (GOSAD) is a West London-based charity that works with the local community to build a vibrant and equal society. They provide skills-building projects, courses, advocacy, and advice. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the team devised new ways to work safely, partnered with other organisations and increased their volunteer pool. Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were impacted disproportionally by the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. As a result, demand for GOSAD’s employability and other support increased sharply, and the impact on mental

The objectives

The GOSAD team wanted to invest in post-pandemic strategic thinking and business planning, income diversification and Board development. Their reliance on short-term funding that focused on service delivery meant they didn’t have the capacity to plan. “All resources usually go to the front line,” says Sharmarke Diriye, Programme Lead at GOSAD. “There’s nothing left for behind the scenes. Funders want you to work on building resilience and show that you are resilient, but don’t usually fund it, in our experience.”

The impact

Main Grant: £94,500 towards employability and wellbeing support for young people from BAME communities. The main grant enabled GOSAD to help 35 young people transition into paid employment. A further 12 have started apprenticeships and 7 have returned to study. GOSAD also helped young people address challenges with housing, debt, mental health and discrimination.

Resilience Support Grant: £15,000 for consultancy to help develop their business plan, support their Board and work on an income generation strategy.

• Funding gave them the space, time and support to develop a clear, realistic business plan. This has already helped them secure funding to expand into a neighbouring borough.
• Support to help develop their Board led to the successful recruitment and training of two new trustees. This has brought additional skills and experience to the organisation.
• GOSAD have also secured funding to partner with other Black-led organisations. They used the grant to develop their role as partnership convenor, providing capacity building and support to local BAME organisations and helping others to thrive.
• The support they received to scope income generation opportunities helped GOSAD to position themselves as a strategic partner of the local authority. They are now in in a strong position for a five-year commissioning round.

CAF Reslience Fund

The CAF Resilience Fund is a £40 million grant programme generously funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the insurance and long-term savings industry as part of the Covid-19 Support Fund. Read the full report to find out how the fund spported other charities around the U.K.
Read the full report