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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£3.2M
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Spending
£2.9M
Public benefits
All of our purposes are for the benefit of the public in the West Belfast area but also in other areas of social and economic deprivation. The direct benefits which flow from the promotion of urban or rural regeneration in this socially and economically deprived area are the creation of training and employment opportunities by providing retail
units and workspace on favourable terms which greatly assists those starting a business as the cost of rent can be very difficult in the businesses early stages. By assisting our tenant base, who are primarily small locally based businesses, with onsite free business support; marketing support; business planning; financial support and tailored support packages, we are actively helping to create employment opportunities in our area. We enhance knowledge about setting up and running small businesses or social enterprises, which results in increased levels of self-employment and better opportunities for sustainable development. We work with local people within our community to work up business ideas and also assist them to get back/into work. We also have a wide range of programmes aimed at relieving unemployment and poverty in the area such as Exploring Enterprise which works with unemployed people to help them start up a business; Steps to Work which works with unemployed people to help them with a business idea and start test trading; RSI – working with local people to write a business plan and start up in business (usually around 125 per year). All of our activities will lead to better employment opportunities and job prospects in the area. This is evidenced by numbers of participants who have completed our various programmes and high occupancy rates in our retail units. Evidence can also be seen in internal and independent evaluations of the activities and impact of the work of WBEB t/a Ortus. The direct benefit which flows from furthering such other purposes which are exclusively charitable under the law of Northern Ireland is that from time to time we will provide financial assistance by way of grants to support a wide variety of projects by local charities, organisations or individuals. Our designated Communities Initiative places specific emphasis on: Community Reinvestment and Regeneration; Fundraising and Community Events; school bursaries (we give £4000 to Corpus Christie College every year); sponsoring sporting events; support the C&V sectors on things such as suicide awareness, drug and alcohol abuse etc. Since its inception in 2007 the Communities Initiative has worked with over 100 organisations; donated over £250,000; heavily supported cross community development; and invested approximately £50,000 in local education initiatives. The benefits of these donations into local groups are profound and far-reaching. We often donate/sponsor where mainstream funders find it difficult and work with the hardest to reach within our heavily deprived community. We also organise a number of free events in the year for the local community including the Family Fun day every August at Twin Spires. Last year over 700 people attended the event. We also sponsor the local Festival (Feile) every year at approximately £5000. We organise and charity golf event every year to raise money for other charities in NI. To date we have raised approximately £40,000 and this has been donated to NI Hospice; Mac Millan Cancer; Foyle Hospice; Southern Area Hospice etc There is no private benefit and there is no perceived harm, only good, that will come from our work.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
West Belfast Enterprise Board t/a Ortus is a local enterprise agency based in Belfast and offers support primarily in West Belfast. We provide support for small businesses, primarily, but not exclusively, in our community, to help them set up in business and create employment. We offer rental units (at subsidised rates) to promote self-employment,
social enterprise development and small business start-up and growth in the area. This actively promote employment and economic activity in the area. We offer a wide range of support initiatives to the local community such as exploring enterprise to help unemployed people investigate and start a business idea; steps to work, which assists unemployed people start and test trade a business idea and the RSI (approximately 125 per year) which helps individuals with business planning and start up support. We do outreach work in communities in all parts of West Belfast and beyond with a wide range of diverse community organisations such as the Neighbourhood renewal partnerships, community organisations, local training providers and social enterprise hubs to encourage individuals to consider self-employment and social enterprise development. We also will provide financial assistance by way of small grants and sponsorship to support a wide variety of projects by local charities, organisations or individuals. Our designated Communities Initiative places specific emphasis on: Community Reinvestment and Regeneration; Fundraising and Community Events; school bursaries sponsoring sporting events; and support the C&V sectors on things such as suicide awareness, drug and alcohol abuse etc.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The prevention or relief of poverty
- The advancement of citizenship or community development
Who the charity helps
- Adult training
- General public
- Interface communities
- Unemployed/low income
- Voluntary and community sector
How the charity works
- Community enterprise
- Economic development
- Education/training
- Relief of poverty
