By Simona Stankovska
Rackets Cubed, founded by tech entrepreneur and keen tennis and squash player, Michael Hill in 2016, says that national growth and reaching £500,000 annual turnover has come with added complexities, and advised other organisations to be strategic with their growth.
In an exclusive interview with Sport Local Action (SLA), Michael says, “I think in hindsight, we probably shouldn't have gone national when we did, we should have focused on slightly fewer areas.”
The charity, which was established in West London and delivers an integrated programme comprising racket sports, STEM education and a healthy nutritious meal to key stage two pupils in disadvantaged and underserved areas, originally ran 2 programmes, but by the 2022/23 academic year, despite the pandemic it delivered 30 programmes across 11 cities nationwide. Its Community Box programme, which began during the Pandemic, has now provided over 1.7 million meals to date.
However, that has come at a price according to Michael. “We've gone through quite a large growth phase and have reached £500,000 of annual revenue, which is not big, but it’s also not small. But the cost of provision post COVID have gone up dramatically. Food costs have gone up 60 to 70%, so things are more complex,” he says.
“Therefore, we are going through a consolidation phase and deciding where we want to focus. Because we can't do everything for everybody,” he adds.
Focus is key
Therefore, Michael says that it’s important for newer organisations to be strategic with their growth and not try to achieve everything at once.
“I remember when I started my charity I wanted to do everything at once, and that's just not possible. You need to start small and build it up. Whether if it takes five years or 10 years to get to the end goal, it's better to do it properly.”
He adds that you can then make further decision as your organisation grows. “You can then decide whether you want to say super local, which actually is not bad, or if you want to grow bigger and scale up.”
Michael says that either way, an organisation needs to have a business plan. He adds, “You need to know which sites, which cities, and how much funding you will need. You'll then learn and optimise as you go along.”
Partnerships are key
Michael says that that’s also important to learn from other charities. Michael is therefore a big supporter of Sport Local Action, as he says, “You have to work in partnership – you cannot do it all by yourself.”
Rackets Cubed has been working with The Change Foundation and learning from the charity that’s been operating for over forty years.
“You can always learn from other people. We were recently with The Change Foundation, which was founded in 1981 off the back of the Brixton Riots and has been going for over 40 years. We sat down with the ex-chair and the current CEO and explained to them that we’re going through a consolidation phase and asked for their advice on how we should do it. They’ve obviously been through that - they've been through two or three iterations, so it was fantastic to hear their perspective on how they managed through that, what they did, and how they thought about funding. They shared some interesting angles we hadn't thought of.”