ORGANISATION PROFILE
Bannockburn House Trust is a charity based in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire. They set up as a community buyout of a 17th Century mansion that was in a state of disrepair, they hope to complete restoration work on the historic building and make it an asset for the local community. They have a team of around 200 volunteers who are working to make this happen.
Challenges
The Trust first found out about GoodCall through searching for ‘charity mobile phones’ online. Like many charities the organisation had a tight budget and wanted to make sure they were getting the best deal. One of the issues they faced when searching for mobile phones was that there were too many options and often, they were faced with a sales pitch rather than the support they needed. Sheila Taylor, Project Support Manager said:
“The multitude of options out there was frustrating and we seemed to be swamped with information on different websites and it was nearly impossible to tell what the best deal was.
It was difficult to speak to someone that understood charities, salespeople seemed very intent on selling us extras. We did not want any extra administration… but wanted to know if we were overspending or making use of the services we were paying for. That’s why GoodCall was a good fit for us. ”
The GoodCall Solution
GoodCall worked to understand the charity’s needs – Five members of staff needed mobile phones. The Project Support Manager, Events Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Head Gardener and Operations Manager all had very different roles and will be using their mobile phones for different purposes so GoodCall wanted to make sure they had the correct data package in place.
Five lines were set up along with a monthly report of spending on the account. Tracking the monthly spend was really important for the team as that they could share this information with their funders quickly and efficiently. They found it very easy to get set up with GoodCall supporting them along the way. Sheila said:
“I feel that the rapport I have built up with Elaine from GoodCall is excellent and I would feel very comfortable asking her to explain specific features further or raising a complaint with her if such a circumstance arose.”
The most positive experience they had with GoodCall was how easy it was to get in touch and change the start dates of their contracts due to pressures of the coronavirus pandemic:
“This would probably have not been an option with other suppliers but it was exceptionally easy for us to change our dates to better suit us with GoodCall. Elaine helped us with all the paperwork and made everything very easy to understand.”
Impact
The impact that GoodCall’s support has had on the organisation has been felt by staff and volunteers alike. It has made remote working even easier for their growing team and allowed them to stay connected and access files on the go – which was previously a challenge.
“Our mobiles will be extremely beneficial to us. Particularly for connecting our Volunteer Coordinator with our 200 volunteers and our Project Support Manager being able to access all our files and documents while in a meeting without the need for a laptop. This will make our day to day operations within Bannockburn House much easier.”
Not only has GoodCall’s solution saved the organisation money, but it has helped them implement their track-and-trace system onsite, keeping staff and volunteers safe. The impact of this technology has been two-fold for the charity, meaning they can easily keep in line with government restrictions and requirements. Transparency for their funder was another major benefit, as they knew they were getting the best value for money from GoodCall.
“We have saved approximately £240 annually from our initial budget. This will undoubtedly make a huge difference to us at this time. The budget we received for this was from the Scottish Government to take on staff and support them so we will be able to use this money we have saved on the mobile phones to purchase new items and resources for our staff office and it has helped reduce the strain of the current COVID-19 situation.”
Recommendation
“We all love the phones and we are now also using them when we are at the house to access our track and trace system for Bannockburn House. I would absolutely recommend this service to other charities and social enterprises – GoodCall have been great for us and we really could not rate their service highly enough.”
Sheila Taylor, Project Support Manager, Bannockburn House Trust
