Social Founders Hackney Impact Forum

We are holding our December Forum for Hackney Social Founders, in partnership with Hackney Impact, on Thursday 6th December, and really hope you can join us.

Our theme for this Forum is income generation, and financial sustainability. Our expert speakers and experienced attendees will share experience, advice and opportunities to grow income from a range of sources including grants, public and corporate sectors, trading and donations. The emphasis will be on how you, as a founder, can move towards building a steady and sustainable mix of income, in order to deliver your vision and impact in the community.

We'll follow our usual format: arrive from 9.45am for registration, coffee, croissants and fruit, with a prompt 10.15am start and introductions. Our speakers will talk for c. 20 minutes each and then there will be Q&A, comment and discussion with the speakers, and yourselves. We want to hear from you, both your own challenges and your advice to other social founders in the room.

The discussion will be followed by a short workshop exercise and a networking lunch.

After lunch you are welcome to stay on until 4pm to meet up informally with other delegates and/or the Social Founders team.

Who is this event for?

This event is for Hackney residents and entrepreneurs, with a focus on mid-stage social impact founders & business owners, looking to grow their income generation model and financial sustainability from grants, contracts, trading, sponsorship and/or donations.

Our Speakers

Our speakers include Joyclen Buffong, Founder & CEO of Rise:365 and Jamie Ward-Thomas MBE, Chair of the Co-op Foundation and Founder & CEO of Do It, Charlie Fraser Co-Founder and Partnerships Director at TERN, Rhyania Blackett-Codrington Founder of Beta Minds, Paul Monks Founder of Core Arts.

Joyclen Buffong is Founder & CEO of Rise:365, a CIC she set up on the Kingsmead Estate to “Reach, Inspire, Support and Empower young people and the community”, brilliantly running, growing and creating amazing profile for Rise:365, all while working full-time as a social worker (and mum!).

Joyclen has very recently won a prestigious Gucci Foundation award, and at our event she will talk about how she positioned RISE:365 to be in a position to attract Gucci’s attention, and win this award, how she manages the relationship with a global corporate, and how the award will affect her organisation going forward. Joyclen is also a trustee of Hackney CVS.

Jamie Ward-Smith MBE is Chair of the Co-op Foundation, and Co-Founder and former CEO of DoIT.life (formally do-it.org, the UK’s lead volunteering site) is one of our guest speakers. Jamie is a social founder and CEO/NED with experience in charity, social enterprise and government - specialising in digital transformation, youth engagement, volunteerism and social investment.He is Chair of the Co-op Foundation, the charity arm of the Co-op Group and the UK's only cooperative funder working with young people and communities to build a better future together. Jamie is Co-Founder and former CEO of Do-it.org (now DoIT.life), the UK's first digital volunteer matching service which has been connecting people with community causes for over 20 years and is now powering the Big Help Out. Jamie was made an MBE in 2023 for services to young people and charity. He lives in East London.

Caroline Diehl MBE is Founder & CEO of Social Founders, a global network for founders of impact organisations. Caroline is Founder and former CEO of the Media Trust and Together TV(The Community Channel). She is a Hackney governor of ELFT. Over the years, Caroline has raised many millions of pounds from corporates, foundations, government, trading income and individual donors, and will share her experience and advice.

Charlie Fraser is Co-Founder and Partnerships Director at TERN, an ambitious social enterprise and ever-growing community with a mission to enable refugees to thrive through the power of their own ideas. Since 2017, they have worked with more than 520 refugee entrepreneurs in the UK and are on a mission to launch 2,000 refugee-led businesses by 2025. Charlie has also worked as a trustee for the Refugee Employment Network, and as an advisor to the Global Refugee Entrepreneurship Network and the Home Office's refugee entrepreneurship pilot.

Rhyania Blackett-Codrington set up Beta Minds in 2020, following ten years working as a teacher. The organisation delivers ‘intergenerational youth provision’. Beta Minds removes obstacles facing inner-city youth and their support networks through services such as tailored in-school workshops, careers advice and individual and small group tutoring.

About Hackney Impact

Hackney Impact is a dynamic partnership between a group of local organisations all committed to fostering growth and prosperity within Hackney’s vibrant business community.

Together we are offering free business support, events and coaching to residents and entrepreneurs across the borough. As part of this partnership you can sign up for mentoring delivered by Social Founders.