Introduction

The Bronte Youth and Community Centre (“The Bronte”) is the only youth centre located in the heart of Liverpool City Centre, with a history stretching back to the early 1960s. For over fifty years, it has supported children, young people, families and the wider community to build confidence, skills and positive relationships. In June 2023, The Bronte secured a £3.5m Youth Investment Fund (YIF) capital development grant, alongside a 20% revenue allocation, to modernise its ageing building and transform its long‑term sustainability.

Central Support Offer – Identifying the Need

While the capital refurbishment was essential, trustees were clear the project needed to go far beyond bricks and mortar. The Bronte faced several interconnected challenges: an ageing building in poor condition, reliance on historic philanthropic funding that was no longer available, the absence of a Chief Executive role, and limited internal capacity to lead a major organisational and cultural transformation. To be financially sustainable, The Bronte needed to change its business model, strengthen governance, build fundraising capacity and embed new ways of working across a long‑established organisation.

Support Provided

Through the YIF Central Support Offer, Eastside People provided tailored organisational development, governance and income‑generation support.

Eastside People is an award‑winning social enterprise providing consultancy, interim support and recruitment services exclusively to charities and not‑for‑profit organisations. They specialise in organisational change, governance, income generation and leadership development, supporting organisations to build long‑term capacity and impact.

Following an initial organisational MOT, Eastside People worked closely with trustees and senior staff to identify key capacity‑building priorities and assemble a wider support package.

Eastside People delivered income‑generation support as The Bronte prepared to launch a fundraising campaign, combining face‑to‑face workshops with ongoing remote support. At the same time, Eastside People led a governance review, delivering organisational culture and risk‑management workshops with trustees and developing an organisational change proposal focused on leadership structures, income generation, marketing and mobilisation planning.

As needs evolved, Eastside People brought in additional expertise to support the development of a new fundraising and marketing strategy aimed at significantly increasing regular supporters.

The Result and Impact

As a result of the support, The Bronte has gained much greater clarity around roles, responsibilities and decision‑making in the absence of a Chief Executive. Trustees are more confident, better skilled, and actively engaged in guiding change while protecting the organisation’s heritage. The charity has effectively reinvented its operating model to support future scale, resilience and sustainability.

Additional Impacts

Since securing its YIF grant and accessing CSO support, The Bronte has grown from one employee to a team of eight. It is now developing trading income alongside strengthened fundraising and marketing activity, reducing reliance on grant funding and positioning the organisation for long‑term financial resilience.

What They Said

“For Adrienne and I, who were in the thick of it, having another voice in the room just made it so much easier… when you’re trying to do something quite radical as a charity, you’ve got to take the people with you.”
 Andrea Deary, Trustee, The Bronte

For media enquiries contact:
press@sibgroup.org.uk