We change the world on Thursdays
Holding the big ten year vision and explaining what a CIC is
Before we begin, I’d love to invite you to our next Community Connection Circle
We’re meeting on Sunday, March 3rd - 6pm GMT | 10am PST | 1pm EST
You can head here to read more about it and find the Zoom link but, if you’ve been looking for more connection, for an invitation to pause and connect with yourself and others, then this space is for you!
“We can change the world on Thursdays”
Two years ago, I joined the beta-tester group for
’s Creative Content Club. It was all around content creation in a noisy world and served me so well in the early days of me building my social media presence. Claire had asked for volunteers the previous month and I’d had to ask her if it was for me. Because, back in early 2022, I didn’t see myself as either a creative or even a person in need of ‘content’. I was a research scientist, just returned to the lab following maternity leave, with an agenda born out of fury around the lack of postpartum care in the UK. I’d been fighting for a few months for better care and soon realised that systemic change takes a long, long time.I quickly burnt out from the relentlessness of that space and decided I wanted to be able to support people in the now, as well as working to change things for the future. I trained to facilitate circles and to hold space, I trained as a doula and learnt how to offer trauma informed care via Make Birth Better. I built my packages and my workshops and I created my website to market and sell it all. I now run a free-to-access community space in my hometown.
This work was born from wanting to support the community and my own life experiences had taught me that those most in need of that support can’t always afford the cost of my worth. My dream was to create an organisation where those who could, would pay for my services and time and those who could not would still be able to access the same level of care and support. And this is my underlying ‘why’ for being set up as a non-profit.
But what exactly is a community interest company?
A CIC is a type of limited company which serves the community, not just the company directors. I can earn a wage (one day 🤞) but that wage has to be fair, has to be agreed upon by the other directors on the CIC board and all of the rest of the profits go back towards supporting the community (as opposed to a standard limited company when they’re too often placed into bonus packets for the higher ups). It means that, when you pay for something - whether it is becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack, or booking me as your doula, or coming along to a paid workshop - your money is not coming straight to me. Instead, it is filling the pot which feeds and supports The Women’s Health Hub, the free care packages I send to new mothers, the online work I provide to those who cannot leave the house, as well as - eventually - feeding me.
We have governing documents that outline our key aims and we have to submit yearly reports to show how we’re meeting those aims and supporting our community. All of this, as well as our yearly accounts are easily accessible to everyone via Companies House. It’s fully transparent. You can support us, or buy our services without needing to do a deep web search to find out whether your money will be funding some sister company that is slowly ruining the planet or the Global South.
Being a CIC also means I am able to apply for funding and we have been successful in bringing in £11,000 so far and have a further £17,000 worth of bids out in the ether, waiting to hear of a decision. It also comes with a lot of admin and added stress and, being autistic, I often find this part difficult (though
is saving me with this one!).So how does it all fit together?
I find it quite difficult to explain to people the big vision in my head. Mostly because it shapeshifts and changes so often but also because what I am trying to do here is new - I am putting all my eggs in this one big basket and hoping I can get something back from it. And because my autistic nature means I’ve got super excited and passionate and done things all back-to-front and upside down - I ran before I walked, setting up The Women’s Health Hub in our first year rather than it being the long term goal I claimed to be working toward in my 2022 business plan. And now I need to gather it all back up again and try to make sense of how it all fits together.
So, how does it work?
Well, Postpartum Matters CIC is the business and I am the founder but also an employee of the company.
Everything I do - all of the paid and free work - is done under the business name. I am writing this newsletter for Postpartum Matters CIC - as an employee. This is important to me because, in order to show long-term sustainability, CICs have to prove that they can be income generating. And I am just one person - the only person currently bringing money into the company - with a limited amount of time, so all my work needs to go through the business. I only get paid, as an employee, when there is enough money in the business to pay for an employee. I can do this because I am privileged. Because I already get paid a small wage for my research PhD and because my husband earns a wage that covers our basic family needs.
There currently isn’t enough money in the business to pay me as an employee. This is largely because of running The Women’s Health Hub. The Hub is the CICs first big project. It is a free-to-access community space which is beautiful and magical and also an incredible amount of work. I decided, at the beginning of this year that, rather than pay myself, I would rather invest in help to keep this space open and to make it a success. And so most of the money I have earnt has gone towards paying for support - from our amazing accountant, to our virtual assistant, to a specialist grant writer, to advertising and leafletting.
“We can achieve anything in ten years time”
shared this wisdom with me in a recent chat she kindly joined me in, whereby she offered her eyes on my business and shared ideas and inspiration for how to make things work better (this is also where the title of this post came from - as we both only have Thursdays to solely dedicate to our respective businesses. Thursdays are where we change the world).In ten years time, everything is possible. So what is it that we want to achieve here?
In ten years time, I will be working solely for the CIC, the babies all in school (or uni/ employment at that time?! 😲), my PhD finished and the title of Dr firmly attached to my name.
I will earn a comfortable wage from the CIC that allows me to be financially independent - something which is super important to me, as someone with experience of previous domestic violence and financial control.
In ten years time The Women’s Health Hub Hartlepool will be a thriving community space - ran by and for the local women who live there.
We will also have helped others to set up similar community spaces in their own local towns - building a network of support across the UK (across the globe maybe?).
In ten years time, raw and honest stories of postpartum and early motherhood will exist in the mainstream consciousness.
Postpartum Matters CIC will have supported nationwide arts activism projects to promote honest stories and to create places for folks to unpick and examine their own experience. I’m thinking a big travelling van filled with art, with poems, with quilts and hand written notes of pain and suffering but also triumph and healing.
I can’t bring myself to say that in ten years time we will have better postpartum care. Certainly not via the NHS. All that feels so uncertain. But I do know that, via this growing community and the networks we will build together, we will create ample spaces for new mothers to come to be held and supported and cared for. I do know that less new parents will go through that transition alone and that more will head into it feeling prepared and informed.
And where do you, dear reader, wish to fit into all of this?
I am honestly, genuinely grateful to each and every one of you who subscribes to this newsletter, who follows me on Instagram or Facebook, who shares my work far and wide and helps to grow this passion project of mine. All of that is so important - I write all of those numbers down on our funding bids - the engagement, the feedback, the well-wishs - it all goes towards showing that we are a growing and thriving organisation worthy of investment (which we definitely are!).
Here are a few other ways you could choose to support us, depending on your energy levels, your financial situation and your location, you could:
Become a paid subscriber to this Substack - it’s £6 a month or £60 for the year and you also get access to our bimonthly circles as well as our mindful bookbinding course.
Attend one of our paid for workshops or even buy a ‘pay-it-forward’ slot for doula care.
Continue to champion and share our work and our message.
If you’re in the North East of England, why not rent the space out for a party or even to hold your own workshops - we’re always looking for new practitioners to work with us. Rent is £10 an hour or 25% of revenue - whichever is the least amount!
Come and volunteer! Making online content, posting leaflets, holding sessions at the hub - there is so much work needed to get this project off the ground and stable and your time and energy for free would be greatly received and appreciated.
Set up your own community space ❤️ you can always contact me at zoe@postpartummatters.co.uk and I would love to chat with you about how you can begin to build this for yourself.
Buy something from Virginia’s amazing online store - The Feminist Shop - of which I am an affiliate - and support both of us in the process!
I’d also love to hear from you in the comments - your thoughts on all of this, your takeaways, your big ten-year vision?
Till next week,
If you liked this post or know someone who could benefit from reading it, I would love it if you would share via the button below xx
I am obsessed with your 10 years vision (how needed in the world and how many people will benefit from it) but let me tell you that I am also obsessed about your now! About your passion, the way you got such an incredible space sorted out and how much you bring to your community! Thanks and a million time thanks! The world is a better place because you are in it, even if we only get to dedicate it our full attention on Thursdays! (Thanks for the mention!)
I love this, Zoe, it's so inspiring! I'm always happy to volunteer if there's anything I can do remotely!