Community Franchising Insights - Hindrances

In January-March 2011, the Cinnamon Network conducted research into Community Franchising. Several thousand Churches in the UK were contacted as well as franchisors/ees of 9 ‘ministries’. We had responses from 190 churches/ministries. Results are as follows:

 What have been the hindrances of Full Franchises*?

Obviously, preparing for, launching and running a Full Franchise* is not all plain sailing. We asked franchisees what were the hindrances they have had in the last 12 months. A number of themes can be seen by analysing the free text:

Key franchise leader skills needed seem to be; volunteer management, networking/communication, fundraising and admin. The leader needs to appreciate that some of their time will be needed to manage the franchise rather than work with clients. Expectations need to therefore be realistically set to avoid stress.

Quotes:                                                                           

“All our volunteers are very busy people - so hard to get all together to pray.”

“Volunteer commitment is not as strong amongst some as it was when they first started.”

“There is too much in the manual to take in. It felt overwhelming.”

“The re-organisation of the County Council from 9 regions into 1. Lot of redundancies and personnel moving around. Hindered links we had already made in various departments.”

“Other churches have a different level of priority towards the franchise.”

“We have been unable to get a foothold into key local referral sources. They 'buy-in' the service from the local Citizens Advice Bureau.”

“Trying to find external funding.”

“Restraint on church finances & my time.”

“Difficulty in finding support workers available during the day (most church members are in employment).”

“Time taken for local referral agencies, other local churches and organisations to get on board.”

“The balance between client focus and Head Office administration.”

“Not enough appointment slots to meet the needs.”

“Finance is an issue - can only run with volunteer centre manager.”

“Other life issues of clients eg mental health issues.”

*The Full Franchises reported on were; Christians Against Poverty, Street Pastors, Black Boys Can, Care Confidential, The Lighthouse Group, Romance Academy and Trussell Trust Foodbanks.

What have been the hindrances of Courses**?

We asked churches what were the hindrances they have had in the last 12 months in giving Courses. The answers were free text and some of them are quoted below. A number of themes though can be seen by analysing the free text:

Quotes:                                                                           

“Time in a busy calendar.”

“Babysitting so that both parents can attend.”

“Availability of leaders.”

“Not enough people attending.”

“Having enough volunteers to help over the whole course.”

“Recruiting people to do the courses in already very busy lives.”

“People's perception that their marriage has to be in trouble before doing the course.”

**The Course Franchises reported on were; HTB's The Marriage Course and Care for the Family Parenting Course.