Alongside the financial support our People & Place innovators receive, Footwork also draws on expertise and input from a pool of mentors to help innovators establish the building blocks that will set them and their initiative on the path to long-term success. Read more about how we support local social innovators.
Marianna, co-founder of Take Note, has been supporting Sophie to help her feel clear and confident about Yodomo’s identity and how that is communicated to others. They also worked on Yodomo’s theory of change so that the impact of their work can be clearly articulated and understood.
Photo: Knitting workshop held at Yodomo's Circular Hub at Hackney City Farm
“The time we spent with Marianna was invaluable. It really helped us to carve out the time to sit down and really reflect on the business - past, present and future. I don’t think we could have gotten anywhere near where we got on our own. Having that third party and experienced facilitator was just brilliant and the work we did, as a result, has helped us in all sorts of ways - from our communications to our funding bids to our business development” - Sophie
By the end of their time together, Sophie and her team had a fully completed theory of change which they are already using and referring to for different purposes such as informing external articulation of Yodomo on their website. With a better understanding of Yodomo’s identity, Sophie and her team have since used parts of their theory of change to help complete fundraising applications, and have since been successful in receiving a grant from ReLondon!
“The benefit of having a relatively short amount of time is that everyone has to be focused and disciplined with the time during the sessions. I personally found this helpful and motivating and made each session feel purposeful. To me it felt like the sweet spot between adding value and supporting the project in a way that was manageable time-wise” - Marianna
What’s next for Sophie?
As well as continuing her work at the Yodomo Circular Hub at Hackney City Farm, Sophie will also be managing a new textile reuse hub based in The Trampery Fish Island Village as part of the Hackney Wick and FiIsh Island Community Development Trust’s ReRoute Project. The hub will focus on solutions to reduce textile waste and be the home of the Sustainable Young Makers Programme.
“We really enjoyed working with Marianna and would love to do more work with her directly and we’re so grateful to Footwork for giving us this opportunity to learn from her amazing expertise” - Sophie