Today I felt guilty for not doing very much work compared with my business partner so I decided to do some research on funding. 

  I looked at the Prince's Trust website but we are too old and in employment so we would not be eligible to apply for one of their grants.  However their website did include good information about other sources of funding

  PRINCE'S TRUST

  http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/need_help/the_business_programme/other_start-up_support.aspx

   
J4BCOMMUNITY

  I registered with j4bCommunity.co.uk. http://www.j4bcommunity.co.uk/default.aspx

> Your email address is: projectw@live.co.uk
> Your password is : worthless
>
> If you require any assistance, please use the contact details below.
>
> Regards,
>
> j4b Customer Services
> customer.services@j4b.com
>
> First Floor, Alderley House, Alderley Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 1AT
> United Kingdom
> www.j4b.com

I didn't have time to look at everything but they have really good info.

  There's also a J4B for businesses  http://www.j4b.co.uk/

  LONDON REBUILDING

  This place looks interesting (although they hand out loans not grants) http://www.londonrebuilding.com/homepage/89712/home/

  and have specific loans for ethical organisations http://www.londonrebuilding.com/information/89714/90279/assistance_and_business_loans_for_ethical_enterpri/

  Look at this too http://www.nfea.com/  They have local-based members who offer support

  BUSINESS LINK

  http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk&target=http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/

We need to work out a way that we can tap into the global mobile phone market with our idea. A simple application that listed volunteer opportunities that were free within a certain radius may work. You would not need a huge amount of content and all the content would come from the website anyway.

Obviously this is stuff further down the line but with the right content and the correct marketing this could be huge when you think of all those who go travelling and end up doing a bit of volunteering.

Employment History
 
Tribal Resourcing, Account Manager, December 2007 - Present
- Responsible for recruiting staff in the public sector
- Internal Project Manager for 10:10 campaign
 
EMAP, Account Development Manager, DeHavilland, December 2006 - December 2007
- Account Manager for political monitoring agency
 
EMAP, Advertising Manager, Health Service Journal.  November 2002 - December 2006
-  Managed a sales team of 7 people - EMAP's youngest manager looking after its most profitable magazine.
 
Other Interests
 
I am passionate about travel and have visited New York, Paris, Mexico and Moscow recently.  I'm looking forward to celebrating my 30th birthday in Berlin - the wall came down 20 years to the day on my birthday.  I'm an active member of my local community and ran a Not-For-Profit business in Hackney that brought families together in a party environment.  The highlight was being part of Stokefest 2008 - a free festival for the local community.  I regularly take advantage of free events in London and also listen to a lot of live music.  Spiritualized at Royal Festival Hall, White Lies at Brixton and Bat For Lashes at The Roundhouse are all to look forward to in autumn 2009.  My other passion is my local football team, Sunderland.  I am a member of the London Branch of the club’s supporters and play an active role in the branch and attend several games throughout the season. 
 
Aims
 
To provide an interactive website that contains free, in-depth advice and information on rewarding yet affordable volunteering opportunities in South East Asia.  After carrying out extensive research, I discovered very little information for people of more modest means who do not wish to organise their volunteering experience through a company and pay a high price for this service.  This Fellowship will therefore research and highlight the work of smaller charitable organisations that are not currently represented by international organisations or promoted very well on the internet, but who are in great need of the services, education and skills that volunteers bring. As well as generate support for the projects, the main aim of this proposal is to increase the amount of people from the UK who volunteer abroad regardless of wealth or background.
 
How to achieve aims
 
I will actively seek smaller charitable organisations that are not represented very well on the internet or through 'package volunteering'.  I will do this by carrying out desk research in the UK and then engaging with locals, volunteers and travellers on the ground.  I will work as a volunteer in the organisations and/or interview other volunteers and write a detailed report on the experience, also including any useful local knowledge. Reports will be backed up by photos/video and all information then uploaded onto a website that is free to view.  I would also supply advice on helping the project become sustainable.  All of this would mean that volunteers could choose a placement that best matches their skill set.  Once the site is up and running, users can become members, which will allow them to record their own experiences on-line and add new destinations and tips for volunteers.  Over time, the site will organically grow as more people volunteer and give advice on affordable projects across the globe. This will mean that independent volunteers on a budget, will have enough information to travel to a volunteer placement and arrive equipped to make a difference. 
Even if the placement is free and food and accommodation are provided, the cost of a flight will be restrictive to many people - especially the young or the unemployed.  In order to enable a greater and wider cross section of society to volunteer, I also plan to offer a service, as a Not For Profit business, that helps volunteers to fundraise in their local community prior to travelling abroad, so that there is little cost (aside from time) for their volunteer experience.  The service on offer would explain how to raise enough money to pay for flights, accommodation, food, living expenses and help support our international partner organisations.  
In terms of marketing, the most effective way to increase traffic to this website will be to have a high ranking on Google via search engine optimisation (SEO). I will also promote the website virally via social networking sites and volunteer forums. I will also engage with local community groups, universities, businesses and the media.
 
Future and benefits to community
 
The main purpose of this Fellowship is to help graduates or young people who are unable to find employment in the current economic crisis but who wish to maximise their time spent out of paid work, to build new skills and gain confidence that will help them in their future job hunt.  This Fellowship will also provide opportunities for more experienced people who have been made jobless or who wish to change career and are looking for rewarding work that will equip them with new skills to add to their CVs.  The knowledge I gather about affordable volunteering opportunities abroad will open up opportunites for people to do these things. In terms of the impact on the community, volunteering will help alleviate feelings of negativity and depression that unemployment often brings and instead enable participants to do something positive, altruistic and life-changing with their spare time.  As well as enhance confidence and skills, the project will also expose participants to new cultural values and foster understanding amongst people from different backgrounds - a trait that can also be valuable  in terms of building better community cohesion in the UK.  Volunteers are also likely to continue their charitable work on returning to the UK, even after new employment is found, once again strengthening and improving their local community.  This website has the ability to be the information portal of choice for affordable volunteering, helping to create international volunteering opportunities for all regardless of wealth and background.

 STRENGTHS

unique idea
increasing market (2011, European year of volunteer)
simple route to market for us (planning to travel extensively anyway)
difficult to emulate the detail we can produce
worldwide market for volunteers and projects
low cost to entry
time to research and plan prior to summer 09 start
have skills, passion and contacts
rewarding
funding
UGC
potential for interactivity between users and projects
having a KPI system so volunteers can choose projects that suit skills

OPPORTUNITIES

2011
olympics/Hackney
universities
current climate
financial
easy to spread virally
low cost to promote
good PR story
british library contact
a book

WEAKNESSES

site exists in some way already via a number of different sites
don't know market for sure
never volunteered in a foreign country
no web skills
no gravitas within market
few contacts in sector
filming
easy to replicate site
ratings - need to find a way to stop this putting people off

THREATS

legal issues
competitive market
funding - lengthy and difficult to source
could be too time consuming
we may hate it
may not be a business model (financially)
hard to charge for content

SUMMARY ON PROGRESS SINCE SWOT ANALYSIS

funding - already have irons in fire
content - agree we can't charge for this.  need to flesh out 'membership gate' and what rewards members get
filming - can use digital camera
web - Kuki can build for decent price
£20 membership fee exists already on another site (find link from favourites)