Introduction

Wellspring Settlement is a community anchor organisation operating across three sites in Bristol, formed through a merger in 2020. The organisation delivers vital services including youth work, financial resilience support and community engagement programmes, and manages several community premises, including a converted pub housing youth facilities. At the time of receiving Youth Investment Fund (YIF) support, Wellspring Settlement was facing significant cashflow pressures while continuing to maintain strong relationships with young people and the wider community.

Central Support Offer – Identifying the Need

Wellspring Settlement found itself operating in what it described as “crisis mode”, having reduced staff hours to 75% due to cashflow challenges. Income was split between grants and contracts (60%) and building rentals (40%), with no clear or consistent pricing strategy and several tenants paying below‑market rates. There was an urgent funding cliff edge for youth services approaching 31 March, requiring the organisation to raise £50–60k annually to sustain provision. While relationships and trust remained strong, leadership needed support to move beyond short‑term survival and strengthen financial sustainability.

Support Provided

Through the YIF Central Support Offer, Wellspring Settlement receive consultancy support from Participate Projects, structured across youth service sustainability, income‑generation strategy, and tenancy and room‑hire optimisation.

Participate Projects works with charities and community organisations to strengthen income generation, governance and strategic planning. Their participatory approach supports organisations to clarify purpose, build internal confidence and capability, and develop sustainable, mission‑aligned business models rooted in organisational values.

The work began with an online “Best Hopes” discovery session, bringing staff and leadership together to articulate priorities and identify risks. Shortly afterwards, Wellspring Settlement secured an uplift in Lottery funding, providing 18 months of breathing space. This allowed the support to pivot from emergency fundraising towards strategic capacity‑building.

The revised focus included:

  • Developing a Theory of Change with youth workers and young people, ensuring youth voice directly shaped how impact is articulated
  • Facilitated on‑site sessions exploring income generation using Solution‑Focused and asset‑based approaches
  • Introducing the “tension triangle” framework to balance decisions between services, community benefit and use of space
  • Beginning development of systems to support sustainability, including pricing analysis, CRM adaptation and wellbeing measures aligned with young people’s priorities

The remaining support time focused on embedding these approaches into pricing frameworks, impact measurement and market benchmarking.

The Result and Impact

With immediate risk reduced, Wellspring Settlement was able to move from reactive crisis management to strategic decision‑making. Youth perspectives are now more clearly embedded in service design and impact framing, while leadership has a practical framework to guide complex decisions around space use, pricing and community benefit.

Additional Impacts

The organisation is developing foundations for long‑term sustainability, including clearer pricing principles, improved use of data and systems, and reduced reliance on crisis‑driven grant funding. The flexible nature of the support allowed it to adapt as circumstances changed, strengthening internal confidence and capability.

What They Said

“Working with solution‑focused and asset‑based approaches has really chimed with our values as an organisation. The consultant’s willingness and ability to flex and pivot throughout the project has been key to its success.”
 Beth Wilson, CEO, Wellspring Settlement

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