Brian is clearly committed to young people and to seeing the work of Tomorrow’s People produce tangible outcomes. We asked him about the most rewarding aspect of his work. His response focused on people, firstly working with staff, the people that make a difference to young lives. Secondly, seeing the successes of young people, where they have achieved something important in their development. In many cases the impact on a young person’s life can be huge, and thirdly, the challenge and reward of liasing with a variety of investors from large corporates to trusts and individuals. When meeting firms in the City, he says it is heartening to see extremely busy business executives demonstrating the desire to help socially, wanting to make a difference.
As well as gaining a glimpse into the heart of Tomorrow’s People, its people and outreach, we wanted to find out just what kind of difference Inspiring Scotland has made through its investment in this venture. Brians’ response was unequivocal. Foremost in his answer was the longevity of the investment period. Change does not happen overnight, and it is this real commitment to change from Inspiring Scotland that Brian feels is truly significant. As an organisation it means that Tomorrow’s People can scale and replicate a proven model while the venture philanthropy model opens up new networks. Brian talks about the Inspiring Scotland mindset and the desire to create impact and lasting change, an outlook espoused by the Inspiring Scotland team. He also alludes to the benefit in collaborating with Inspiring Scotland and also with other ventures within the 14:19 portfolio, bringing together good practice and creating service delivery that will have a significant impact.
For Brian, the venture philanthropy model, characterised by a desire to invest long-term and thereby to create landscape change, is deeply heartening. It inspires the hope that together we can influence mainstream activity and allow young people to develop in an environment that supports them to succeed.
We recently caught up with Brian Gibson, National Manager – Young People Services for Tomorrow’s People. We wanted to find out what it’s like to be involved at the coal face in one of the ventures we support, so we put some questions to Brian with the aim of shedding some light on the work that’s being done through Inspiring Scotland.
Brian began his working life as a Professional Footballer following which he joined the Careers Service in Glasgow and it was in this role that he first came into contact with Tomorrow’s People, who were a service provider and recipient of referrals from Brian’s team. He was alerted to the fact that the charity was recruiting by a colleague and successfully applied for a position within the organisation as a field development officer. This brought him into contact with a caseload of young people in Lanarkshire where he monitored the charity’s work. After just 9 months in this role, he was asked to manage a new area – Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll, based in Paisley – where Tomorrow’s People were expanding their services. Brian took the organisation through a quality badge for Approved Training Organisation Status and then went on to spend several years working on marketing and research and development before returning to work directly with young people. Brian says he recognised a real need coming from young people and that this demographic was a growing problem in society.
So what is it like working for Tomorrow’s People on a day to day basis? Brian’s role is varied and broad in its scope. He is involved with the strategic development of the organisation and also maintains links with key supporters who come from the corporate sector, as well as philanthropic outfits such as Inspiring Scotland and Private Equity Foundation. This he particularly enjoys. Brian talks about the sense of fulfilment he gets from seeing hard nosed corporate players wanting to make a difference in society and also the commitment to change demonstrated by the philanthropic sector. In a typical month he visits London several times to oversee the nationwide work that Tomorrow’s People undertakes. Their ‘Working It Out’ programme, supported by Inspiring Scotland, is active in six cities UK-wide. Brian’s remit is to see what’s working and to share the learning throughout the organisation. He talks of his involvement in ‘seeing is believing’ visits; where investors get to experience the work that they are funding at grassroots level. This is also a key part of the investor experience at Inspiring Scotland giving our investors the opportunity to see the real impact of their support. Tomorrow’s People is still growing as an organisation and has recently won a significant size Flexible New Deal contract.