Four ways

to turn
ideas into
action
Case studies in social change
from the RSA Fellowship
October 2013 by Sam Thomas

www.thersa.org

Politics used to be the way people would get

engaged in social issues. Fifty years ago, me,
I would have just joined a political party to
change my country andmy city. Its not that
Im not interested in politics, I just dont see
that as my way tochangethings.
Rob Greenland, RSA Fellow and co-founder of Leeds Empties

Contents
Introduction

1. Meet with others

2. Connect online

10

3. Share your skills

14

4. Grow your idea

18

Conclusion

25

Key learnings by project

26

Acknowledgements

27

Join the RSA Fellowship

28

Introduction

The RSA was founded in 1754, and during its long and busy
life has achieved many things. Common to all of them is one
consistent principle: that ordinary people are capable of changing
the world around them for the better, by developing and acting
ontheir ideas. Our mission today is to seek out enlightened
thinking and put it to work in practical ways.
One of the most important ways we do this is through
our27,000-strong Fellowship: a diverse group of people from
awide range of backgrounds, united by a desire to build a better
society. One of the things weve learned working every day with
this extraordinary group of people is that when addressing
complex social issues, having a good idea alone isnt enough.
People come up with new ways to solve problems all the time,
butmost of them never come to fruition and those that do
usually follow a long, difficult path before they can have a real
impact on theworld.
At the RSA, we work hard to support our Fellows in
developing and growing their ideas, and weve learned a lot
aboutwhat helps turn them into practical action. In what follows,
youll learn about ten very different ideas that RSA Fellows have
developed, and some of the ways in which we and others have
supported them. Weve grouped these into four sections, to
correspond with the four ways that we encourage our Fellows
tohelp contribute to our charitable mission:
2

Four ways to turn ideas into action

1. Meet with others

Good ideas about anything let alone the question of how society
can beimproved rarely emerge as perfect, fully-formed blueprints.
Ittakes discussion, debate and argument to improve an initial thought
to the point where it can serve as a spur to action. The RSAs Fellows
have been doing this since its inception, and they now organise lively
events and meetings all over the UK, and beyond. Well look at three
examples of how bringing people together can develop ideas and
connectcommunities.

2. Connect online
The web and social media make it possible for people whove never
mettowork together. These tools can help spread ideas and help people
participate in them more easily but technology itself isnt enough: it has
to be used effectively. Well explore two projects from the Fellowship that
have used social media in different ways to engage people in debate and
action on social issues.

3. Share your skills

Once you have an idea for how things could change, it takes a range of
skills and talents to make sure it happens. Luckily, more and more people
are looking to share their professional experience with each other and
with worthwhile projects, and RSA Fellows are no different. Well look
attwo case studies of how this kind of sharing can work in practice.

4. Grow your idea

If something works, it only makes sense to try to help it grow. If youve
found a new approach to a social challenge, it can be a struggle to prove
that it works. For over three years, the RSA has been helping RSA Fellows
do this through our Catalyst fund and the support we provide alongside
it. In this section we look at three inspiring examples of projects that have
grown from a good idea to do amazing things in theircommunities.

Not everything these projects tried was successful, and theres a great
dealto be learned from both the things that went well and those that
didnt. In all of the examples that follow, though, youll find three things:
a commitment to work collaboratively with others, the confidence to try
things out, and a shared aim to change society for the better.

Introduction

1. Meet with others

The RSAs Fellows met for the first time in 1754, at Rawthnells coffee
house in Covent Garden. They came together because of their common
interests and concerns, but from the outset they were determined to
workfor the benefit of others in society.
The idea of people meeting for the common good is nothing
new: think of civic associations, trade unions or political parties.
Many of these forms of association have struggled in recent years,
with membership of the main political parties declining rapidly over
the last thirty years.1 However, the impulse is still there for people
to cometogether andshare ideas for making things better and
the scaleand severityofthesocial problems we face today makes
itevenmoreimportant that we do.
A good place to start is by bringing together a group of people, and
exploring what they have in common. The RSAs Regional Programme
Team supports Fellows in organising events and workshops to explore
issues facing their communities, and provides advice on how to organise
and facilitate them effectively. In this section, well give some examples
of Fellows coming together, and how they make the time they spend
witheach other productive and enjoyable.

OpenDinner
RSA Fellows debate topical social issues over aninformalmeal

Education writer and

campaignerFiona Millar
speaksat an OpenDinner

1.See Participation: trends, facts and figures, NCVO, March 2011 (bit.ly/ncvoparticipation)

Four ways to turn ideas into action

When focusing on serious issues, its easy to forget that people also want
to enjoy themselves. The things that we look for when we spend time with
our friends and family good conversation, laughter, food dont cease
to matter when the focus shifts to solving a problem. In fact, sometimes
thebest work gets done when people forget that theyre working and
enjoy themselves.
Longstanding RSA Fellow Kevin Donovan is firmly of the opinion
that discussing important issues shouldnt mean adopting a serious tone.
Through the OpenDinner events hes been organising in Liverpool for
the last couple of years, he sets out to create an alternative to the stuffy
atmosphere of the formal dinner. My approach as chair of the meeting
is to get people to relax and realise that were having some fun some
serious fun together, Kevin says. Its being an MC more than a chair.
Its informal, its friendly and its collegiate.
The Liverpool OpenDinners take place at Delifonseca, a restaurant
in the city centre owned and managed by an RSA Fellow. They aim to
provide an entertaining, informative evening of debate and discussion.
Topics discussed at the meetings have ranged from criminal justice to
education, with a speaker sharing their personal experience in order to
provoke discussion. One of the best, says Kevin, was education writer
andcampaigner Fiona Millar: her delivery and style were obviously
very,very good, he says. Experienced, professional and political:
sheknew how to provoke questions.
The success of an event isnt just down to an engaging talk, though:
theres also careful planning involved. Whenever possible, Kevin meets
with the speakers in person ahead of the evening, to discuss what theyre
going to talk about and put together some prompts to get others talking.
These are particularly important: a set of questions or provocations,
shared with attendees on the night, which help give the evening some
focus. This ensures that as well as being sociable occasions, the dinners
provide plenty of opportunity for debate, with everybody encouraged
tocontribute.
Sometimes this preparation can be quite involved. At the most recent
event, RSA Fellow Michael King gave a talk on an unusual and perhaps
unpromising subject: heavy trains. Drawing on his PhD research, Michael
had prepared a Cluedo-style game that challenged diners to think about
an engineering puzzle: why are British trains heavier and hence less
energy efficient than those of other countries? By inviting attendees to
consider all the economic, organisational and engineering factors that
might be responsible, as well as the key characters from John Major to
Richard Branson he prompted a wide-ranging debate on the complexity
of addressing climate change.
The dinners are always lively and spirited, but Kevin reflects that
sofarthey havent sparked off any activities that go beyond the evening.
It hasnt made that little important click in peoples heads, Kevin
observes, to see that they can now use or be involved in the RSA in more
active ways. I find it frustrating that it still isnt happening. Perhaps it need
not perhaps Im trying too hard.
Nonetheless, hes already making plans for the next dinner, which
willbe the last he organises, featuring Gemma Bodinetz, artistic director of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres. The reason for

1. Meet with others

having her is that later this year the work will be completed on the new
theatre, so we plan to dedicate a seat to the RSA.
Kevin has no doubt that itll be a memorable way to cap off his time
organising these events, and is pleased to have already found two volunteers
to organise future events. Hes challenged them to develop the events further,
and build on the relationships that have already formed around the evenings.
Key learning: People learn more and make lasting connections when theyre

enjoying themselves
Find out more about the philosophy behind OpenDinners in Kevins
RSAComment piece: bit.ly/opendinner

Unleashing Potential
Connecting community organisations and RSA Fellows in the
eastofEngland

RSA chairman Vikki Heywood

hears about local community
projects (photo: R. A. Porrer)

Most voluntary organisations hold an annual conference a chance for

people to reflect on a year of activity and form plans for the next. A good
idea in principle, but the reality can sometimes be dispiriting. The formality of these occasions can stifle creativity, with time spent chewing over
administrative issues, or debating the finer points of group governance.
Increasingly, RSA Fellows who work together in regions across the UK
to plan activities and projects are trying something different: making
their yearly meet-ups an opportunity to share what theyve been working
on and draw inspiration from others.
When Chris Kington, an RSA Fellow based in Cambridge, was
thinking about plans for an annual meeting of Fellows in the east
ofEngland, he struck on the idea of bringing them to the Centre for
Mathematical Sciences a striking modernist building on the outskirts
ofthe city, light and spacious. Exactly the kind of place, he thought,
toget people to reflect expansively on what they could achieve together
through the RSA. On 29 June 2013, after much preparation, the Centre
opened its doors for Unleashing Potential a day-long event with a
tightly-packedprogramme.

Four ways to turn ideas into action

The conference was designed to showcase Fellows activity in

theregion to allow light into previously unlit areas, said Chris.
AnyFellow who needed a voice was encouraged to be heard. And
there were plenty of takers: 23 different organisations and projects were
represented on the day, ranging from a local community radio station in
Norwich to the Big Issue whose editor-in-chief and founder JohnBird
gave a keynote speech.
Having two excellent, engaging speakers John and the RSAs
chairman Vikki Heywood certainly helped to give the day momentum.
As well as this, though, Chris and his fellow organisers provided plenty
of space for attendees to discuss issues facing the region, inviting them
to suggest topics in advance. Having facilitators for a series of different
interest groups, which were all set out in the programme, meant that
people were free to join whichever discussion interested them most.
Topics up for discussion ranged from environmental protection to
education and employment and gave local Fellows a chance to plan
the activities that will take place in the region during the year to come.
One group identified lack of help with parenting skills as a pressing
issue, andidentified a Norwich-based charity, Home Start, which might
benefitfrom the support of local Fellows.
Organisations represented on the day found it useful too. Not only
was the general feedback very encouraging, but a number of connections
were made with Fellows who actively want to get involved in a personal
capacity, said Gavin Shelton, who runs community food sharing organisation The Peoples Pantry. Just one of many great outcomes from a
highly positive day.
When surveyed afterwards, 80 percent of attendees said they were
satisfied with the event and there was much positive feedback on the day.
Robert Porrer, a Fellow who attended the event, found the diversity of
the discussions particularly impressive. I went round all of the groups,
and each one was being run differently, he commented. It was entirely
appropriate they were different topics, different people andinterests.
Often the risk with engaging, noisy events is that all the energy they
create disappears when everyone goes home. Chris has avoided this by
working with other members of the regional team to produce a follow-up
newsletter, which identifies 12 different ideas discussed at the event to
pursue as well as reports on all the discussions and talks from the day.
And hes confident that the momentum will keep up: all in all, he says,
it was an immensely satisfying day with so many new links made and
plans are taking shape.
Key learning: Strong facilitation will help people to have more

rewardingdiscussions
Read the follow-up report from the conference:
bit.ly/eeconference

1. Meet with others

Keep Calm Prepare for Change

An event exploring how we can live and work more sustainably

More than 100 people attended

events across the day (photo:
Michael Ambjorn)

In October 2012, RSA Fellows in the north-west of England met to discuss

how we could start to live more sustainably. The Keep Calm Prepare for
Change conference they organised drew on the now-ubiquitous wartime
branding, but those organising had a straightforward reason for using
it. The famous slogan was aimed at raising morale in difficult times, and
as a society we face such times today in a different way: living within our
means, and the planets capacity.
Lily Barton, chair of the RSAs north-west region, explains where the
spark for the event came from. After joining the RSA I realised that the
Fellows I met were very much an innovative and entrepreneurial bunch,
says Lily. They had so much knowledge, experience and get up and go
that it got me thinking: why not harness their strengths for the benefit
ofthe many instead of the few?
Lily worked with other local Fellows to organise a day of events in
Manchester, which brought together business people, social entrepreneurs
and community groups. The days programme mixed debate and discussion with invited speakers and practical workshops, on subjects ranging
from why businesses find it hard to adopt green policies, to how behaviour
change can help tackle environmental problems.
Lily and 10 other Fellows in the regional team gave their time
tohelpwith organisation on the day, as well as 18 volunteer speakers.
Noindividual can deliver a successful event alone, says Lily. I believe
inworking in collaboration with others. So I would say that that is the one
thing I did to make the day a successful one: we all have different strengths
and, being realistic, its impossible to be strong on all fronts.
The team made a map of all the local stakeholders and, informed
by this, built partnerships with Manchester Metropolitan University
(MMU), the University of Manchester, Corridor Manchester and Business
in the Community. These relationships made the event possible: MMU
provided space at their new business school, and also contributed to the
day by sharing their work and promoting the event to their audiences.
The conference inspired several RSA Fellows across the region to
start putting the ideas discussed on the day into practice: for instance,

Four ways to turn ideas into action

JulesBagnoli has just received funding from the RSAs North-West

Venture Fund totrialasystem for using shipping containers for food
farming, using hydroponic technology.
What made this event work and set it apart from other conferences
and meetings was the extent to which it brought people together around
a shared aim. Collaboration between organisations and people is becoming increasingly important, particularly within the environment we have
to operate in today, Lily explains. Those that dont work together in
partnership are letting great opportunities slip away.
Key learning: Find people and organisations that share an interest, and let

them spark off each other

Find out more about Keep Calm Prepare for Change:
www.keepcalmnw.co.uk
Find out more about Jules Bagnolis Refarming project:
www.refarming.co.uk

Support and resources

Inspired to meet with others to solve a problem facing your community?
Heres where to go next:
See the RSA ChangeMakers handbook for more advice on facilitating
meetings: bit.ly/changestarts
If youre an RSA Fellow, your regional programme manager can provide
advice and support on facilitation. Find out how to contact them here:
www.thersa.org/fellowship/contact-fellowship
Find out more about RSA networks and meetings near you:
www.thersa.org/fellowship/where-you-are

1. Meet with others

2. Connect online

Its never been easier to share your idea with the world. The web and
social media provide a way of communicating with people thats both
quick and inexpensive, and RSA Animate videos have shown how challenging ideas can reach a worldwide audience. However, people are
quickly realising that as useful as the new tools we have are, they remain
just that: tools. Theres a craft to getting your message across well online,
just as there is when youre talking to a room full of people.
In the last section, we saw how bringing people together in person can
help generate excitement about an idea. Not everyone, though, is able or
willing to spend time at events or meetings and if the focus of what youre
doing is wider than the immediate community, there may be people with
insights to offer from further afield. For this reason, people are increasingly
turning to social media online tools that allow people to communicate
easily and quickly, such as Twitter and Facebook as an alternative way
ofpromoting causes and projects in which theyre involved.
RSA Fellows are a vocal presence on social media, as youll see if you look
at one of the many places where theyre talking about their work together.
Increasingly, RSA events and meetings have a second, parallel life on Twitter,
with people commenting, sharing and contributing their own knowledge.
The Fellowship has a group of voluntary digital champions who help others
to get involved online, and theres also plenty of free advice available to get
started. In this section, well look at two examples of Fellows projects that
have used the web to engage with two very different communities.

Leeds Empties
A Fellow-led campaign to bring empty houses in Leeds back into use

Leeds has over 5,000 empty

residential properties
(photo:Anthony Farrimond)

10

Four ways to turn ideas into action

Leeds Empties started with a simple, stark fact: more than 5,000
homesinLeeds have been empty for over six months. To Rob Greenland,
a social entrepreneur whos been working in the city for over a decade,
itdemanded a response. Theres nothing more basic than needs around
food and shelter, Rob says. It felt like an issue where theres a gap to do
something different, and we thought itd engage people. You can point
toan empty home, and just ask: why?
It turns out, in this context, that why? is a difficult question to answer.
Nine out of ten empty homes in Leeds are privately owned, whichmeans
the city council although keen to address the issue doesnt have the
power to solve it on its own. And the reasons that homes lie empty are
numerous, ranging from poor maintenance or lack of finance to family
disputes. Rob and his business partner Gill Coupland took to the web
to raise awareness about the issue, and the result was Leeds Empties,
acampaign working with property owners to help emptyhouses
becomehomes again.
I have no doubt at all that we would never have got to the point of
action without social media, says Rob. It allows you to find a critical
mass of people quite quickly. By focusing on a single issue in a single
city, he and Gill were able to generate a real buzz around Leeds Empties.
Partly this was down to Robs strong network of local Twitter followers, many of whom were also RSA Fellows, who helped get the message
out wethought RSA Fellows could be a good network, whether its
academics, architects, local community activists, he says.
Sparking a debate also helped. It was more about asking questions
than saying we have solutions to problems, he says. Wed say did you
know there are 5000 empty homes in Leeds? People respond to that,
andconversations begin there.
These conversations came together at a face-to-face event. Rob created
an Eventbrite page to allow people to register, and 100 people signed
up a huge turnout for a brand new campaign. At the event, people were
encouraged to pledge support for bringing empty homes back into use,
and the team followed up these promises afterwards. On a very basic
level, there was an energy to that day that came from there being 100
people who all saw other people being quite generous, hesays.
Rob is also clear that keeping up momentum following this event was
the hardest part of the project. After six months of donating their time
and pulling in favours, he and Gill found they were hitting a wall. Its
easy to get people to explore ideas, he says, but to go back to them a
week or two later and say that was really interesting, lets get together
and explore how it might work as a business theres a need for someone,
in most cases, to be paid to work with people to do that stuff.
Rob and Gill started to seek financial support for the project, and secured
funding from the RSAs Catalyst fund and subsequently Leeds City Council.
Theyve been able to trial a number of initiatives, including an Empty
Homes Doctor service that provides intensive support for owners of vacant
properties who want to bring their home back in to use. This scheme was
so well received that the council has now committed a further 100,000
toexpand it a huge vote of confidence in Rob and Gills hardwork.
Social media will continue to play an important role, not just in promoting this scheme, but letting people know about its impact. Hopefully

2. Connect online

11

in a couple of months we will have proper stories of real people whose

home was empty three months ago and now have got tenants living in it,
Rob says, and we want to tell that story.
Key learning: Use your own networks on social media, and ask questions

that draw people in

Find out more about Leeds Empties: www.leedsempties.org.uk

Shout Out Suffolk!

Using social media tools to share young peoples views on education
inSuffolk

One of hundreds of
submissionsto the project,
fromMakia, aged 10

Theres plenty of potential to use social media to get across a message, but
its real strength is that it works in both directions. The ease of connecting
using these new tools gives them the potential to amplify peoples voices,
and uncover those that might otherwise not be heard. If youre trying to
work with a community of people, theres no better way to involve them
in what youre doing than letting them speak for themselves.
In July 2012, the RSA and Suffolk County Council launched an inquiry
into how to improve education in the county, which is underperforming
compared to the national average. The project brought together school
leaders, teachers, parents and educational experts from other parts of
the country to create a response to this huge challenge. RSA Fellows in
Suffolk also lent their time and ideas, and firmest among these was a
commitment to help make sure young peoples voices were represented.
Dr. Emma Bond, a senior lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies at
University Campus Suffolk (UCS), worked with other Fellows, including
local RSA Fellowship councillor Suzanna Pickering, to design an online
research project that encouraged young people across the county to
share their views about education using social media. If we are really
going to grasp why Suffolk is failing to meet the educational needs of
young people, Emma explained at the time, we need to understand
what theireducational experiences are like and we need to listen to
theirviews,as they are the very people who are going to be affected.

12

Four ways to turn ideas into action

The project received support both financial and in-kind from RSA
Catalyst and UCS, which made it possible to make progress very rapidly.
Young people were encouraged to submit their ideas which could be
inthe form of drawings, text or videos to Pinterest (an online pinboard
tool that makes it easy to collate different media). These were then shared
with a wider audience through a Twitter account for the project.
Emma and others produced an engagement guide that they sent out to
schools, young peoples organisations and RSA Fellows, which explained how
young people could make their contribution to the project. It was important
to ensure that as many young people from as broad a range of backgrounds
as possible were able to join in. The project accepted submissions through
arange of tools including Facebook, Twitter and email and worked with
the Widening Participation team at UCS to engage students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The team also used targeted advertisements to reach
more of the 40,000 Facebook users under the age of 20 in Suffolk.
The project involved an incredible 568 young people, and their contributions covered subjects ranging from bullying to the pressure of GCSE
choices. Many submissions were illustrated, and one group of students
produced a YouTube film with the support of a theatre company. Emma
was struck by the range and quality of the contributions, and produced
adocument collating the young peoples views for the inquiry to consider
alongside evidence from teachers, the public and RSA Fellows.
The team involved in the project are keen to ensure that it has a legacy
beyond the publication of the final report in May 2013, which drew on
the projects work. They plan to seek further Catalyst funding to develop
the project so that it can be adapted elsewhere in the country, and have
published an evaluation report that explains how they designed the
project tohelp others learn from the experience.
Key learning: Social media can help you to capture voices that would

otherwise be left out

Find out more about Shout Out Suffolk!: shoutoutsuffolk.org
Read the projects evaluation report: bit.ly/suffolkeval
Read the final report of the Raising the Bar Inquiry, No School an Island:
bit.ly/noschoolanisland

Support and resources

There are plenty of ways to get started using social media no matter
your level of familiarity with them:
You can get started by visiting RSAFellowship.com, our online social
network, and reading about the seven ways to be an online Fellow
Connect with RSA Fellows by searching for#FRSAand#thersaon
Twitter, joining ourLinkedIn group, or liking us onFacebook.
See the RSA ChangeMakers handbook for more advice on how to use
social media: bit.ly/changestarts

2. Connect online

13

3. Share your skills

Theres long been a popular image of volunteering as carrying out selfless,

often thankless tasks in aid of good causes. In many cases, such as the perennial bake sale, they have little relation to the cause in question beyond
the money they raise. Increasingly, though, people are seeing volunteering
differently: as an opportunity to use the skills theyve developed in their
professional lives to help others intheir community.
These skilled volunteers are more focused and demanding, and may
see their volunteer roles as a natural extension of their professional life:
in fact, the line between the two often blurs, particularly for those who
are self-employed or work flexibly. The growth of social enterprise, which
blends a commercial approach with values drawn from the third sector, is
a big part of this shift, as people come to see their working lives and their
commitment to social causes as intimately linked.
RSA Fellows have a diverse range of skills, are often active in their
communities, and are increasingly giving their time and expertise to projects and organisations they find through the Fellowship. A recent survey
found that 70 percent of RSA Fellows were interested in supporting each
others initiatives, and the RSA SkillsBank helps them do this by pledging
time to projects. As well as this, there are opportunities for Fellows to
become involved in our programme of action and research.
In the examples that follow, youll see some of the ways that RSA
Fellows are sharing their skills, and benefiting from the expertise of others.

Social Entrepreneurs Network

Helping social entrepreneurs learn from each others experiences

A Social Entrepreneurs
Networkbreakfast meeting
(photo: Anthony Epes,
www.anthonyepes.com)

14

Four ways to turn ideas into action

Social enterprise, at its simplest, is doing business with a social purpose.

In the UK its growing rapidly as a sector, with more and more people
looking at how they can solve issues in their communities using app
roaches drawn from the commercial world. As both the public sector
and charities struggle to cope with cuts in state funding, policymakers
and politicians are increasingly looking to different models for providing
services and solving pressing social issues.
Many RSA Fellows are at the cutting edge of this movement, and in
2010 a group of them started to discuss how they could help each other
with some of the challenges they faced. As people working in a relatively
new sector, they discovered they had a lot to learn from each other. They
decided to arrange regular meet-ups and, with support from RSA staff
member Sarah Tucker, founded the Social Entrepreneurs Network,
aloose affiliation of people working in or interested in the sector.
Since then, its helped hundreds of entrepreneurs share what theyve
learnt through the exhilarating, frustrating process of starting a social
business and inspired many others to make the jump themselves. Its
members have pooled their expertise on issues ranging from finance and
fundraising to how to communicate effectively, and provided an informal
marketplace for tips, contacts and moral support.
At the start, this happened very informally, through meeting over
breakfast at the RSAs House in central London, and events where invited
speakers drawn from the network would share what they had learned. As
more people became involved including growing numbers from outside
the Fellowship many said how much they valued the opportunity to
reflect on the challenges they had faced, and share problems with others
who might have been through a similar experience.
In response, Fellows and staff worked together to set up the Spotlight
programme, which helps nine social entrepreneurs each year reflect
on their experiences setting up a business. Each time they meet, the
Spotlighters share three things: a success they have had since the last
meeting, a challenge they have faced, and a pledge of what theyll do
next.Talking about the bad as well as the good is a crucial part of
this, and one persistent theme thats emerged from their discussions
isthat common sense about what works and what doesnt isnt always
ascommon as weassume.
Bringing together people with different perspectives and skills in
a safespace somewhere they can talk about their work in a free and
candid way allows them to admit the things theyre unsure about and
share insights that might seem obvious to them, but were in fact hard-won
through experience and trial and error. Given so many of those involved
in social business are trying to do something new, the opportunity to
share this kind of knowledge in confidence is invaluable.
RSA Spotlighters often lead the regular meetings of the network,
andthe programme has just completed its second year with an event
thatbrought together over 100 people at Westminster Hub, a shared
working space in central London. Sarah Tucker quotes one of the best
pieces of advice she shared with the network, from one of the more
established entrepreneurs involved: ask people for help: they usually
sayyes.

3. Share your skills

15

Key learning: Create a safe space to share experiences and ask

difficultquestions
Join the Social Entrepreneurs Network online: rsafellowship.com/group/
socialentrepreneursnetwork

RSA Family of Academies

RSA Fellows helping young people think clearly about their skills
andaspirations
The RSA has a growing family of Academy schools that are working
together to improve the prospects of young people in London and the
Midlands. As an organisation, the RSA has a long history of working
in education from the vocational examinations it established in the
mid-20th century (now managed by the OCR exam board) to our recent
interventions in government debates on school standards and admissions.
The Academies are state schools serving communities with above average levels of deprivation. Schools and students benefit not just from the
RSAs expertise in educational practice all the schools teach the Opening
Minds curriculum developed at the RSA but also from the skills and
connections available through the Fellowship. Through these, students
canaccess opportunities that they might otherwise not have access to.
For instance, Peter Johnson got involved with the RSA Academies
through a conversation with Rich Pickford, an RSA regional programme
manager who works closely with the schools. Peter helps senior figures
from businesses and charities right up to the board of companies that
have a turnover of billions of pounds every year understand their own
strengths and behaviour. He was organising a training session and offered
some free places to teachers at an RSA Academy.
As Peter recalls, Mark Healy, vice principal at Arrowvale Academy in
Redditch, had other ideas. He said: hmm, any chance we can send some of
the students? The head boy and girl at Arrowvale went on the programme,
and came back raving about their experience. They fitted in phenomenally
well; they were delightful and everyone thought they were fantastic during
the session. They went back to the academy saying this is brilliant.
The training the students attended builds a profile of their strengths
and capabilities, using a model called Insights Discovery. Peter, an accredited trainer in using this tool, felt it was a particularly valuable experience
for the students because it helped them to understand their value and
their uniqueness and that they have strengths, no matter where they are.
Celebrating that is very powerful. This kind of experience, more commonly experienced by students at schools in the private sector, reinforces
the Academies work to help students realise their potential.
Its clear that there are huge benefits to this kind of skilled volunteering
for both students and staff at the schools but what about the Fellows
who give their time? Peter is clear that he gained a great deal from working with the students. The experience was uplifting there are some
fantastic young people coming out of the schools, he says. Whats more,
though, it provided a route into the RSAs work. Ive been a Fellow for
15 years, Peter explains, and Ive been relatively passive because Ive
notknown what to do, how to get engaged.

16

Four ways to turn ideas into action

Another example of a Fellow sharing their expertise with the RSAs

Academies is Bruno Taylor, a designer who is working to tackle the root
causes of youth unemployment. He and his team are building a web platform, with the working name of Flip Yourself, which helps young people
showcase their skills and achievements to employers. Bruno has been
working with RSA schools to trial the tool, and feels they have welcomed
his approach to solving problems.
Our design and development process is very much user-led, he says,
and I dont think many people get young people as involved in the design
process as we have done. Weve been focused on what provides real value
to the young people first, and then the school. The trials of the software
are about to begin, and the project will soon launch as a fully-fledged
social venture.
Like Peter, for Bruno the RSA Fellowship is a good place to apply
his skills to social challenges, and he looks forward to doing more.
Imconstantly surprised, and very pleasantly, about what the
communityhas to offer, he says.
Key learning: Applying your professional skills to social challenges can

open new doors

Find out more about the RSAs Family of Academies:
bit.ly/rsaacademies

Support and resources

If you want to share your skills with others, or get help with a project
youre running, here are some ideas:
If youre an RSA Fellow, register for RSA SkillsBank and we will try
andmatch you to projects and opportunities that fit with your skills
andinterests: www.thersa.org/fellowship/skillsbank
Explore GoodPeople, a website run by RSA Fellow Richard Tyrie
thathelps connect people and opportunities to do good:
goodpeople.co.uk

3. Share your skills

17

4. Grow your idea

Weve explored some of the ways that ideas are strengthened through
being discussed, shared and improved by the skills and experience of
others. At some point, these ideas need to prove that they can work in
practice. This can demand a lot of things funding, persistence, luck
but its also about making sure that the right support and guidance
isinplace to help an idea take root.
For the last couple of years, RSA Catalyst has been supporting Fellows
ventures and helping them to achieve social impact. Through it, weve
given nearly 300,000 in small grants to projects, and made hundreds of
connections between projects and individuals or organisations that help
them meet their goals. Catalyst aims to support ventures that gobeyond
the community of RSA Fellows.
In this last section, youll see how three projects led by RSA Fellows
have come to play an important role in improving their communities.

Changing Chelmsford
A group of RSA Fellows who helped their town to become a city

The Ideas Hub in High Chelmer

shopping centre, Chelmsford
(photo: Sam Thomas)

In 2010, a group of RSA Fellows led by Malcolm Noble came together

todiscuss a big question: how could Chelmsford become a moresuccessful place? The Essex town had plenty of things going for it, but the group
felt that its civic and cultural potential were not being realised, andthat
local people deserved a greater say in some of the decisions thatwere
being taken about its development.
Over the summer of that year, they organised a series of debates,
workshops and talks that brought together over 120 people and 80

18

Four ways to turn ideas into action

organisations including residents, politicians and experts from

otherparts of the country. Many of these came to the project through
theprojects partners: the RSA, the two local councils and the Academy
of Urbanism. Over 100 ideas emerged from the events, and to capitalise
on this the partners created a Community Interest Company (CIC),
ChangingChelmsford.
Since then, the team has gone from strength to strength. Last
year,theyopened an Ideas Hub in an empty unit of the High Chelmer
shopping centre. Its designed to be a space fit both for business and
community activity, and as Malcolm explains, it hasnt been short of
users. People can rent space for working; weve had exhibitions on;
wevegot all sorts of different age groups doing workshops; elderly
folkdoing crochet one week, fathers and children next.
Malcolm attributes much of this success to the way that Changing
Chelmsford built its network gradually, starting with groups (like the
local civic society) who were easier to engage. Start with groups that
areeasy to make contact with and involve, he advises. Identify who
youreasy allies are to begin with, whoever it is, get them on board,
andthen work out a strategy of moving stage by stage.
Another advantage of a broad partnership like Changing Chelmsford
is its ability to inspire new projects. Young Urban Explorers, the brainchild of local architect Annabel Brown, worked with over 100 young
people from the area to re-imagine the citys under-used spaces. Itreceived
funding from RSA Catalyst to create an interactive online map of their
photographs, and with the support of the CIC they were able to present
their ideas to representatives from the council, having their say about
what would improve their neighbourhoods.
Looking to the future, the project is increasingly focused on opening
up Chelmsfords civic buildings. For instance, the Shire Hall in the middle
of town which had long been largely inaccessible to the public is now
to be the object of a million-pound restoration, due in no small part to
Changing Chelmsfords efforts. Theyve had even greater success with the
former Marconi factory in the town an iconic building that hosted early
experiments in radio broadcasting. The site had been derelict for some
years, but a concerted campaign led by the organisation which attracted
coverage in both the local and national press has persuaded the developers who own it to adapt their master-plan for the site, creating a walking
link between the university and the city centre.
More than just assuring these sites future, though, theyve also helped
create activity in the meantime. We also commissioned some public art
on Marconi around the building, Malcolm says, and had volunteers
digging, making the garden look nice. Funded by the local businesses
and the council, its a great illustration of how a volunteer campaign can
also be an effective lobbying tool: the sheer number of people and range
of activities around these historic buildings proved to the developers that
there was interest and affection for them.
Malcolm says that while the problem at first was finding enough
people to help keep the project afloat, they now have the opposite
problem: you get to a tipping point, and were well past that tipping
point, where youve got so many people involved that the issue becomes
managing them which is a nice place to be. One thing thats helped

4. Grow your idea

19

enormously is having talented project managers initially Stephanie

Mills, and now Leonie Raymondt keeping everything together, but
he admits that finding funding for these vital positions has been a
realchallenge.
Changing Chelmsford shows how a simple idea that the places we
live could be better and that citizens have a role to play in shaping them
can become an enormous source of civic pride and energy. In 2012, the
project was cited in Chelmsfords successful application for city status
as a leading example of good community engagement, and this has been
reflected by growing awareness about the project and its impact. Malcolm
explains the difference: when we started not that many people knew
about Changing Chelmsford. You wont find that now.
Key learning: Grow slowly and steadily, and dont be afraid to be political

Find out more about Changing Chelmsford: www.changingchelmsford.org

Vertical Allotments
Bringing urban gardening to sheltered housing schemes

Growing vegetables in a vertical

allotment (photo: Centre for
Sustainable Technologies)

Lynette Warren and Mike Anstey have turned Vertical Allotments their
idea for growing vegetables upwards, not outwards into a promising
social business. Mike and Lynettes journey started when they took the
decision to leave their jobs at the University of Bedfordshire, and strike
out on their own.
We went a bit demob happy, and had so many ideas bouncing
around, Lynette recalls fondly. At the university, the pair had managed a
programme which created spin-off companies to adapt academic research
for profit. Its therefore hardly surprising that they started to think about
how they could make a living from some of their own interests.
We picked up the feeling that grow your own initiatives were well,
growing! And that there was a shortage of allotment space. Looking
at the high rise flats, we thought: wouldnt it be nice to green the
environment there as well? They were interested in working with older
people, especially those in sheltered housing, to tackle the problem of

20

Four ways to turn ideas into action

growing plants in very confined spaces: a small patio, for instance, or

thebalconyofa high-rise flat. We thought: why not grow upwards?
Lynette says. Itmakes sense youre utilising wall space that does
nothing, and if you start growing on balconies or walls it gives a
muchmore pleasantappearance.
An initial challenge was that equipment available on the market was
too expensive and sophisticated for their purposes. Instead, they took
matters into their own hands. Mike was interested in Meccano as a
boy, Lynette says, so he said the easiest thing to build is something
that follows those lines. After a great deal of research to find the best
materials for the job, they settled on a flexible design that used inexpensive plastic tubing and steel joints to form a growing frame which they
calledGutterGrow.
Mike and Lynette were able to secure good partnerships with housing
associations. Most of the housing associations weve had contact with
are charities or social enterprises, so we have the same ethos. Theyre
always looking for initiatives that will help their residents. The project
has been a huge success in terms of participants reactions, with the new
gardens helping to bring people together, sharing food that they had
grown with their neighbours. It was a real focal point new residents
that came in said they had really like to get involved, so in that way its certainly demonstrated that it was a pleasurable activity, Lynette explains.
In building these partnerships, they benefited from receiving an
RSACatalyst award, which provided funds to make the first pilot of their
technique possible, purchasing equipment and tools. It also helped to get
their foot in the door with other organisations: going to talk to people,
the fact that we were Fellows from the RSA gave us credibility, and you
cant discount that people took it more seriously.
The project also demonstrates the challenges of partnership working,
particularly when it comes to engaging volunteers. Through an RSA
connection, Lynette and Mike teamed up with Cambridge Hub, an
organisation at Cambridge University that helps students give their time
to good causes. They recruited several volunteers, but found the growing
time as dictated by nature clashed with the students exams. Although
the students were enthusiastic, they struggled to commit time to the
project; Lynette hopes that planning their involvement more carefully
willmean they can make a fuller contribution in the future.
And thats not the only way that she and Mike are looking to the
future. Theyre currently applying for further Catalyst funding to support
an apprentice, who would work to promote the model to other housing
associations, while also developing horticultural and business skills.
Their ambitions are big, too: wed like to set up an apprentice scheme
that could be emulated across different regions, Lynette says. Our ideal
vision is for the social enterprise to be run by a whole team of young
people. All in all, Vertical Allotments shows how a good idea can benefit
from the support of willing partners especially when they can see the
benefits for their own work.
Key learning: Finding the right partners is crucial in helping your idea take off

Keep up with Lynette and Mike via Twitter: twitter.com/Guttergrow

4. Grow your idea

21

Plan Zheroes
Helping fight food waste and food poverty in London

Mapping food waste in London

at the launch of Plan Zheroes
(photo: Sam Thomas)

Every year in the UK, 1.6 billion tonnes of surplus food is sent to landfill
sites by retail outlets. And at the same time, in the same country, four million people are in food poverty. In 2009, three campaigners Lotti Henley,
Maria Ana Botelho Neves, and Chris Wilkie decided they wanted this
tochange. The impulse came from Lotti, whose experiences of food
shortages during the Second World War left her appalled by the idea of
good food going to waste. Their response was Plan Zheroes (short for
zero food waste heroes): a project to raise awareness about food waste
and food poverty and help tackle the two together.
From talking to small businesses, they realised there was a need for a
simple way to link businesses with food to spare and charities who could
give it to those in need. Initially, this seemed a straightforward goal.
Atthe beginning we were nave, full of enthusiasm, Maria Ana recalls.
Wejust had a vision, we knew where we wanted to be, and had no clue
how difficult it is. What the team hadnt counted on was the complexity
of thesurplus food problem.
What works for a hotel doesnt necessarily work for a shop or a
supermarket, Maria Ana explains. Sometimes you have food that is only
surplus for 12 hours, and you need to quickly find a place that will consume
it, while at other times it might be packaged and fine for three months.
And charities needs are very different too, from the soup runs on the
Strand where theres no phone contact, its just something that happens
toorganisations like the Salvation Army, who have fully-equipped kitchens.
Theres also the question of health and safety regulations, often given as
the reason that food must be thrown away. According to Maria Ana, this is
often an excuse: in most circumstances, safety shouldnt be an impediment.
The more they learned, the more the team realised that the biggest
role they could play was learning from organisations like FareShare and
companies such as Pret a Manger, who have already done the groundwork
and found out what works, and inspire smaller businesses to do the same.
We [felt we should] focus on whos doing it those are the real heroes
and then learn from them and become gossipers, Maria Ana says: just
tell others whats possible.

22

Four ways to turn ideas into action

The project received funding from RSA Catalyst and support from
the campaigning organisation London Citizens, and was launched at
Londons City Hall in February 2012. Its not all been plain sailing,
though, and Maria Ana is all too aware of the costs of seeing an idea
through to completion. She explains that from the start everyone involved
saw the project as a collaborative one between equals with shared ownership, and shared leadership. That meant that as the campaign gathered
pace, it became difficult to make decisions: everybody the co-founders
felt this is my project.
This open approach extended to working with volunteers. Maria Ana
explains the format of early meetings: we would say okay, introduce
yourself, and the next thing we would say was now, do whatever you
think you can do. This is the worst way to engage volunteers! There isnt
a single person that wants to be thrown a huge opportunity and not know
where they fit.
These challenges became so severe that Plan Zheroes success became
impossible to manage and several people involved having to step back
from the project due to the pressure of keeping everything afloat with
little funding or structure. As a result, they decided to put together a business plan and budget, create proper procedures for managing volunteers
and are now registering as a charity. However, Maria Ana is adamant that
they had to decide to do these things the hard way, and that the initial
freedom or chaos, as she puts it was necessary. If wed been very
structured, you know what would have happened? Wed have given up,
she says. The reason we didnt is because there was a lot of enthusiasm
more than that, determination.
Its a real dilemma: a campaign like Plan Zheroes needs to be inclusive
and exciting enough to inspire people and get them on board, but structured enough to survive in the long term. How to get that balance right
will differ for every project. One important lesson, Maria Ana explains,
was to learn to say no to new ideas. People will throw you fantastic,
fantastic suggestions, and youre not ready, she says. Stop being overwhelmed and panicked because its not the right time but put those
ideas in a place where you can visit them as the journey progresses.
Theres little doubt now that it will. Maria Ana and the Plan Zheroes
team have recently worked with the Greater London Authority and other
partners to design the London Food Map, a new tool allowing anyone in
urgent need of food to find the nearest provider that can help whether
thats a food bank, a soup kitchen, or a caterer or sandwich shop with left
over stock. This has encouraged the team to start thinking about how they
offer their model to other local authorities. However, Maria Ana insists that
the focus has to remain on the social impact of what theyre doing. What
we cant do, because it will kill the project, it will kill the culture and why
were doing it, is just look for ways of making money, she says. Because
its not about making money, its about solving a problem.
That sense, that the project is tackling a real and pressing issue, is
never far from the teams minds. We feel special every day we receive
an email from a charity to say what they achieved by being part of Plan
Zheroes, she says: that they can help another 50 people now, or they
cansave the money they have spent on food.

4. Grow your idea

23

Key learning: Have enough structure to make your idea sustainable

whilekeeping things fresh

Find out more about Plan Zheroes: www.planzheroes.org
Explore the London Food Map: www.londonfoodmap.org.uk

Support and resources

Theres more opportunity than ever to test out your ideas for social
change. Heres where to start:
The RSA supports Fellows ideas that aim to have a positive social impact
through Catalyst. It provides grants to ventures, connects them to support
from within the Fellowship, and helps them run crowdfunding campaigns:
www.thersa.org/fellowship/catalyst
Find out about some of the big ideas that RSA Fellows are developing,
and how you can get involved: www.rsablogs.org.uk/tag/big-idea

24

Four ways to turn ideas into action

Conclusion

The path from having an idea to making it happen might be a long one,
but as weve seen, there are ways to make it much easier. These projects
diverse as they are point to the potential of good ideas when developed
in the right kind of environment, and where people work together and
pool their expertise to improve and act on them.
The first step in developing an idea is to meet with others to discuss
it, and draw on their knowledge to improve and refine it together. These
meetings neednt be stressful or glum indeed, they should be some of
the most inspiring and enjoyable time you can spend with others. The key
is making sure that the conditions are right: plenty of support, a relaxed
atmosphere, and strong facilitation to make sure that everyone is able to
make their views heard.
Next, put it out into the world. Its never been easier to tell the story of
something youre working on to others including those youve never met
who might share your interests. Creating excitement around an idea will
enlist others to your cause, but new technology also gives you the opportunity to seek others views, and get them to critique what youre doing.
At this stage, its time to draw on the skills and experience of others.
You may be sure that your idea is a good one, but its highly doubtful you
are able to realise its potential alone. This might mean asking for help
to make your idea happen, or it might mean finding the people who will
benefit from it. Either way, networks like the RSA Fellowship are a fantastic place to find willing volunteers.
Finally, test your idea and make sure it works. At this point, difficult
questions start to arise: how do you persuade others to take notice? What
kind of scaffolding do you need to make your idea stand up? And perhaps
most crucial of all, whos going to pay for it? None of these have easy
answers, but the support is there if youre willing to look for it.
Perhaps this makes solving social problems seem like hard work. If
so, thats because it often is: none of the people featured in this booklet,
whether theyre rescuing empty homes or tackling food poverty, would
describe their achievements as easily won.
All the same, we hope theyd agree that discussing ideas, sharing
themand putting them into action is time well spent. We hope their
example inspires you to go out and do the same with your idea
whateverit may be.

Conclusion

25

Key learnings by project

OpenDinner (page 4)

People learn more and make lasting connections when theyre

enjoyingthemselves
Unleashing Potential (page 6)

Strong facilitation will help people to have more rewarding discussions

Keep Calm Prepare for Change (page 8)

Find people and organisations that share an interest, and let them
sparkoff each other
Leeds Empties (page 10)

Use your own networks on social media, and ask questions that
drawpeople in
Shout Out Suffolk! (page 12)

Social media can help you to capture voices that would otherwise
beleftout
Social Entrepreneurs Network (page 14)

Create a safe space to share experiences and ask difficult questions

RSA Family of Academies (page 16)
Applying your professional skills to social challenges can open new doors
Changing Chelmsford (page 18)

Grow slowly and steadily, and dont be afraid to be political

Vertical Allotments (page 20)

Finding the right partners is crucial in helping your idea take off
Plan Zheroes (page 22)

Have enough structure to make your idea sustainable while keeping

thingsfresh

26

Four ways to turn ideas into action

Acknowledgements
Huge thanks to all of the RSA Fellows whose work is featured in this
publication, and especially the nine who generously gave their time to
speak to me over the spring and summer of 2013:

Lilian Barton
Maria Ana Botelho Neves
Kevin Donovan
Rob Greenland
Peter Johnson
Malcolm Noble
Robert Porrer
Bruno Taylor
Lynette Warren

Id like to recognise the hard work and enthusiasm of all my colleagues

atthe RSA in supporting the initiatives featured here. Id particularly like
to thank Jamie Cooke, Joanna Massie, Nathalie Spencer, Sarah Tucker,
Alex Watson and Nikki Wilson for their thoughtful and constructive
comments on various drafts.
Im grateful to Alexandra Barker, Martina Booth, and Becca MasseyChase for their careful proof-reading, and Rachel Bray at Soapbox for
her design and typography.
Finally, thanks to Michael Ambjorn for his tireless efforts to help RSA
Fellows work together over the last three years.

About the author

Sam Thomas is the RSAs project engagement manager. He is
responsible for helping people engage with our programme of action
and research, and as part of this is shaping our approach to working
with skilled volunteers. He was previously the RSAs programme
manager for London and the east of England, and worked closely
withmany of the projects featured in this publication.
You can follow him on Twitter at @iamsamthomas

Acknowledgements

27

Join the RSA Fellowship

The RSA Fellowship is a network of people from a wide range of
backgrounds, united by a desire to build a better society. If you are
inspired by ideas and have a commitment to social progress, you
should consider becoming an RSA Fellow.

Why become an RSA Fellow?

You will be joining a diverse and influential movement for social change,
which will allow you to:

connect with other Fellows

access funding and advice to develop your ideas
share your skills and expertise to support Fellow-led projects
access the facilities at the RSAs House in central London
receive our award-winning quarterly Journal

As a Fellow, your annual donation will also support the charitable

workof the RSA, including our public events programme, which
provides a platform for some of the worlds leading thinkers by
holdingover 150 free talks and debates each year.

How to apply
Fellowship is open to anyone anywhere in the world who shares
or demonstrates a commitment to positive social change in their
professional, civic or personal life.
To request a joining pack, email fellowship@rsa.org.uk, telephone the
Fellowship team on 020 7451 6904, or visit our website:
www.thersa.org/fellowship

28

Four ways to turn ideas into action

The RSA: an enlightenment organisation committed

tofindinginnovative practical solutions to todays social
challenges. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong
Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human
capability so we can close the gap between todays reality
andpeoples hopes for a better world.

8 John Adam Street

London WC2N 6EZ
+44 (0)20 7930 5115
Registered as a charity
in EnglandandWales
no.212424
Copyright RSA 2013

Cover image by Michael Ambjorn

www.thersa.org

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