What is a consortium?
A consortium is a group made up of two or more individuals, companies, or governments that work together to achieving a common objective. For Sutton Together, this is a collection of non-governmental, non-profit organisations that focus on creating social change and impact, rather than profit.
Sutton Together is a group of Sutton Voluntary and Community Sector organisations. The idea is that there is strength in numbers, that organisations are stronger with a consortium in place.
What is the objective of the consortium?
The group provides the opportunity for local organisations to develop joint working arrangements and in particular to encourage collaboration when there are commissioning or funding opportunities for the sector.
The members of Sutton Together come together as a consortium for many reasons, some of these include the following areas:
How does the group operate?
Sutton Together operates as a Hub and Spoke Model and agreed the following 'spokes' to become the focus for their collective work. These four spokes are young people, domestic abuse, health and wellbeing and community development.
A hub and spoke model provides a way of distributing something, for Sutton Together, this is largely best practice and knowledge. The spokes rely on the hub as a central location and/or source of information. The idea being that Sutton Together is the hub, allowing members to then distribute and share best practice and knowledge, taking this back to their individual organisations.
Sutton Together typically looks to meet four times a year, quarterly where possible, however the spokes, perhaps sub-groups and project working groups, meet more frequently to discuss opportunities, for example, this may be around funding, so that local voluntary and community sector organisations can generate income to deliver services and activities to local residents in Sutton with a collaborative approach.
What projects have Sutton Together delivered?
Sutton Together founded the Together for Sutton (TfS) contract, creating the initial bid together, applying for funding as a consortium and being awarded the contract by London Borough of Sutton Council.
TfS was launched in July 2022 and is a partnership made up of seven local charities, all delivering services in the London Borough of Sutton and with expertise in a wide range of services to support our Sutton residents and professionals. In essence, it operates as a consortium.
The TfS partnership delivers information, advice, support and advocacy to residents and professionals in the London Borough of Sutton.
Click here to learn more about TfS
How can I be part of Sutton Together?
For more information, discuss Sutton Together, or would like to apply for membership of the group, please contact Community Action Sutton:
Email: enquiries@communityactionsutton.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8644 2867
X: @ComActionSutton
Facebook: @communityactionsutton
