The Family Business Network delivers skilled volunteering project for charity

By The Family Business Network

08 Sep 2020

sue-howorth-and-dave-clarkson-tfbn.jpg

The Family Business Network has recently undertaken a volunteering project for local suicide prevention charity, Action for Wellbeing.

By volunteering their time and skills, a team from The Family Business Network coordinated and delivered a project to provide support to the charity in the form of a new website, social media advice, a promotional film piece and broader marketing awareness work.

The project was initiated shortly after lockdown was announced, when colleagues from The Family Business Network arranged an online meeting to discuss how they could pool their skills and knowledge to help a worthy cause during the Covid-19 pandemic. Aware that the pandemic would present huge fundraising and volunteering challenges for charities, the team set out to identify a suitable local charitable cause that could benefit from their range of skills and knowledge. 

Sue Howorth, of The Family Business Network said, “We identified a number of local charities that we could potentially support, but decided upon Action for Wellbeing as a charity both close to home and close to the hearts of several of our team. We contacted the director of the charity, Fredrika Buchanan who explained what help and support she was looking for. During a series of online meetings, we were able to work with Freddie to create a project brief and establish roles and requirements.”

Action for Wellbeing was formed in late 2017 with an aim to reduce the number of suicides in South Cumbria and North Lancashire by providing support to those considering suicide and those bereaved or impacted by suicide.

Charity Founder and Director, Freddie Buchanan said, “Following the death of a dear friend of mine, I wanted to do something to help others affected by suicide and so founded Action for Wellbeing. Alongside a dedicated group of volunteers and with the help of financial support from donors and a grant from The National Lottery, we are able to offer long term, one to one telephone support, advice and advocacy to individuals over the age of 18 who live in South Cumbria or North Lancashire.

Freddie added, “I am incredibly proud of the work we do and was delighted to receive the offer of support from the team at The Family Business Network to help us with our marketing and communications.  Through them, we were able to launch a new, easy to navigate website featuring a wonderfully produced video and access great marketing support and advice”.

Over a period of three months, the whole team volunteered in excess of 100 hours of their time to the project, which was tracked and managed through the Investors in Community platform.

Dave Clarkson, of The Family Business Network said, “We work closely with Investors in Community through the network, to highlight to our wider family business community the ways in which the platform can help to manage their corporate social responsibility activities. 

“With this knowledge, one of the first things we did was to add Action for Wellbeing onto the Investors in Community platform, to introduce the charity to a wider audience and enable our team to set out the project and engage with it as individuals as well as an organisation”.

Since the project began, the team have worked together and brought in specialist expertise to deliver a new website, produce a promotional film and provide brand awareness, social media support and one to one mentoring and advice.

The new Action for Wellbeing website, built by Helen Dowthwaite of Creative Essence can be found here featuring a fresh new design and simple navigation menu, along with a new private resources facility for volunteers to access.

The website also features a short film, shot in Arnside where the charity is based, and was produced by FamBiz Media film director Sheenah Alcock.  It features Freddie, the charity’s founder, and also a song written by her and featuring her fiancé Robin on guitar. The track “There” highlights why the charity was originally created.  Freddie and Robin work together professionally as the musical duo ‘Me & Fred’.

For more information on the work of Action for Wellbeing, please visit their website

For more information on the Family Business Network, click here

For more information on Me & Fred, please click here

Latest news

1

Post Office future secured as council explores new options Abington Street Post Office

Post Office future secured as council explores new options

17 Sep 2025

2

Airframe Designs supports new defence strategy with pledge to nurture talent Jerrod Hartley

Airframe Designs supports new defence strategy with pledge to nurture talent

17 Sep 2025

3

Fox Group makes second acquisition since Stellex Capital backing Roger Thistlethwaite, managing director NMS Civil Engineering Limited. Paul Fox, CEO Fox Group. John Flood, Executive Director Fox Group

Fox Group makes second acquisition since Stellex Capital backing

17 Sep 2025

4

Villa at Wrea Green bought for £3.6m by Haythornthwaite family The Villa Wrea Green courtesy of The Villa Wrea Green

Villa at Wrea Green bought for £3.6m by Haythornthwaite family

16 Sep 2025

5

Fourth Lancashire Bodycare store to shut Nick Holloway of administrators Interpath

Fourth Lancashire Bodycare store to shut

16 Sep 2025

Background image for hub sign up block

LBV Hub

Leverage Lancashire Business View platforms

Post your news
Post your events
Post your offers
Build your network
Improve your SEO
Gain coverage in the magazine
Sign-up
Events
LBV124 September/October Launch Event
MBP Arc Cinema Preston Opening 205
Networking
18 Sep 2025

LBV124 September/October Launch Event

The Arc Cinema, Preston, PR1 2BL

08:30 - 10:30

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course

Preston Campus, Preston, PR1 2HE

08:00 - 17:00

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course

Preston Campus, Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 17:00

Ladies Lunch
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
18 Sep 2025 - 18 Sep 2025

Ladies Lunch

Lancaster Golf Club, Lancaster, LA2 0AJ

12:00 - 16:00

Cumbria Business Expo 2025
https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-880461633-4862066883-1-original.20241022-110415.jpeg.jpg
LBV Hub Exhibitions
19 Sep 2025 - 19 Sep 2025

Cumbria Business Expo 2025

Carlisle Racecourse, Carlisle, CA2 4TS

09:00 - 15:00

Your Business, Your Region: Making sense of devolution and Local Government Reorganisation
Chorley Council breakfast event new
LBV Hub Networking
23 Sep 2025 - 23 Sep 2025

Your Business, Your Region: Making sense of devolution and Local Government Reorganisation

Worden Hall, Leyland, PR25 3DH

08:00 - 11:00

Preston Freelancer Meet-Up: September
Sept Freelancer (1).png.png
LBV Hub Networking
23 Sep 2025 - 23 Sep 2025

Preston Freelancer Meet-Up: September

Society1, Coworking Space, Preston, PR1 3LT

10:00 - 11:30

Speed Networking with BNI
2.png.png
LBV Hub Networking
24 Sep 2025 - 24 Sep 2025

Speed Networking with BNI

Chorley Football Club, Chorley, PR7 3DU

16:00 - 19:00

The Marketing Meetup IRL: Lancashire - September
TMM Lancashire
LBV Hub Networking
25 Sep 2025 - 25 Sep 2025

The Marketing Meetup IRL: Lancashire - September

Chorley, PR7 2SL

18:00 - 20:00

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) drop-in day
MTD drop in session.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
25 Sep 2025 - 25 Sep 2025

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) drop-in day

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) drop-in day, Blackburn, BB1 5QB

10:00 - 16:00

The Marketing Metrics That Matter – Sept 25
Metris 25.09.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
25 Sep 2025 - 25 Sep 2025

The Marketing Metrics That Matter – Sept 25

Door4 Office, Burnley Wharf, Burnley, BB11 1JG

09:00 - 11:00

Help to grow management course
Help to grow - barriers to growth.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
26 Sep 2025 - 16 Dec 2025

Help to grow management course

Preston Campus , Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 15:00

Advertise with us

Reaching 50,000 members, our print, digital and event platforms offer a fantastic way to raise your business profile and help you grow.

Find out more LBV124 Online Graphic
Subscribe now

Weekly news bulletin