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A podcast for fundraisers who want ideas, examples and inspiration to help you raise more money for your charity or non-profit.
Rob is an author and award-winning fundraising trainer. Each week he and his guests share examples of successful fundraising, as well as lots of practical tips to help you apply these techniques in your own job.
Hi. It's Rob. Welcome back to the Fundraising Bright Spots Podcast. This time, if you've got an idea for how to make the world a better place, either in the context of the charity where you work or even in terms of a brand new idea or a brand new charity that could exist. I hope you're going to find this episode really encouraging.
Speaker 1:It's with the brilliant Shamim Jan who is the founder of BOLLYFIT Active. I found talking to Shamime and hearing this story really inspiring. I really hope you enjoy it too.
Speaker 2:Well Bolly Fit Active CIC, it started actually twelve years ago as Bolly Fit and, that was due to my own lived experience of trying to search for a safe, strictly women only safe space where I could do exercise, whether it was a gym or maybe a Zumba class. But none of those spaces was made for me, I felt, because the ladies only gym would have male PTs walking in, male cleaners walking in, and nobody at reception would understand my problem when a male would walk in and I didn't have my headscarf on. Women who attend BOLIFIT, does it affect their lives out of BOLIFIT? Immensely, immensely. Ripple effect.
Speaker 2:It's on their own confidence, their own self belief. Her daughter actually sent us a little message on our WhatsApp group to say she is so thankful for Bolly Fit because her mum was always in so much pain and agony with her fibromyalgia. But now since attending Bolly Fit she's changed her diet for the better, drinks more water and now she can hug her mother without her mother screaming in pain.
Speaker 1:Hi, Shemime. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hello, Rob, and thank you very much.
Speaker 1:So I really enjoyed our chat the other day when I was finding out all about Polyfit Active and I had a strong sense that this would make for a really interesting story for our listeners. Before we get into the detail of this amazing initiative could you just let me know your name and your title at Active?
Speaker 2:Yeah sure so my name is Shamime Jan and I'm the founder director of Wally Fit Active CIC, and we're a community interest company.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I guess for our listeners, many of the charities we talk to on the podcast, it's a lot of the funding comes from public fundraising. Yeah. But you're a not for profit, and what's the gist of what that means as a as a nonprofit that's a community interest company?
Speaker 2:Yeah. It does mean that we can apply for funding and grants, but also we can have, like a business, we can create profits as well by selling our services.
Speaker 1:Right. And I know it's thriving. My starting point really is what were the kinds of problem that you were seeking to solve when you set up Bolly Fit Active?
Speaker 2:Well, Bolly Fit Active evolved to Bolly Fit Active CIC. It started actually twelve years ago as Bolly Fit. And that was due to my own lived experience of trying to search for a safe, strictly women only safe space where I could do exercise, whether it was a gym or maybe a Zumba class. But none of those spaces was made for me, I felt because the ladies only gym would have male PTs walking in, male cleaners walking in, and nobody at reception would understand my problem when a male would walk in and I didn't have my headscarf on. And then I felt that that wasn't the place for me.
Speaker 2:I wasn't understood. I didn't feel I belonged. So then I went to Zumba. And again, at that time in my life, I was going through a lot of mental health challenges. And I knew movement was the answer, not medication for me.
Speaker 2:And so when I found a Zumba space again, I wanted some connection or what I felt again, it was in a very dumb, it was mainly a white community I lived in at that area. And it was mainly white English women who attended the sessions and nobody would speak to me, Rob. And it really made me sad, more sad than before. And even the instructor would come in and she would do the session like a robot and walk out. She wouldn't even connect with us.
Speaker 2:And that's when I sat back and thought, I am trying so much to fit into these movement spaces, the movement for women, but I don't feel like I belonged or I feel like I'm othered when I'm there. So I realised that there must be so many other women like me out there in my community. And I knew there were as well. Then I set Ballyfield. I thought we need our own space.
Speaker 2:If it's not there, let's create it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's such an inspiring story because in terms of what you've created, that's the absolute opposite of those challenges you were experiencing. It's just it's glorious. In a nutshell then, could you tell us what Bolly Fit Active is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. So it's a fitness session. So it's a forty five minute, what we call Bolly Fit 45. And they walk in, they get welcomed. We start them off by engaging them into a warmup, which is all about making them arrive.
Speaker 2:Because the women we work with is mainly in deprived areas, a lot of isolation. And what we find is they might be there in body, but they're not there with those in mind. So we're very mindful of the start of the session that we keep doing the warm up until we feel the women have actually arrived in their bodies and they're with us. I don't know if that makes sense to anybody, but it makes sense to us and the women. And then we take them into a cardio, we raise their heartbeat a little and then pull it down with a slow movement to bring the heartbeat down.
Speaker 2:Then we created a circle. It's called a confidence builder circle. So we all go in a circle and one by one, the women will come in the center of the circle and showcase their movements, their joy, their whatever they want to show us in whatever form. So they dance to the music. So round the circle, some will be shy.
Speaker 2:They won't come in yet. And some will be quite confident who are more than ready to come in, jump in. And we just go around that circle. Why we call it the confidence builder circle is because after a few years of doing it, women used to come up to me and say, that circle changed my life. Not just to here, I'm more confident outside as well.
Speaker 2:So then after the confidence builder circle, we take them into some squats, some arm movements, and then some nice rhythmic storytelling movements from our cultural music that we have. And also the music is culturally relevant to the women who are there. So if it's Asian women we're working with, it'll be Bollywood, Bhangra. If it's the Afro Caribbean women, it'll be the Afrobeats. Middle Eastern women, we'll bring in their songs, their cultural music.
Speaker 2:So then the half an hour is up and then we take them on the floor. Then it's the body conditioning. We do a lot of planks and we okay, we start with thirty seconds, your new try and manage even ten seconds. But the ones who've been coming for a while, take you up to two minute plank. And we do things like that on the floor to build their core as well.
Speaker 2:So, and then we open our feet again, and then we finish off with a nice relaxing cool down, bringing their heartbeat down, making sure everybody's safe and well, and had a good sweat and lots of smiles. That's the forty five minutes done and dusted. And that is our magic.
Speaker 1:And I have to say, I've been enjoying watching your film and various other clips you've put online. And within a second of the clip starting and the Bollywood music playing and how the energy is in the room, I absolutely confirm and I would maybe we might be able to put a link in our episode notes. What comes through is two or three words I wrote down because I felt them and one of them was joy, absolute unbridled, enormous joy, and also confidence. But also interestingly, based on what you said just now, is that a sense of belonging? And I love that you took something you felt that was clearly not right and didn't serve you, of feeling othered or not belonging, and you've quite deliberately created the opposite of that and it clearly works, but also I see how then via the exercise it's an avenue for other progress people might be making in terms of confidence in their own lives and also choices they're making about nutrition for instance.
Speaker 2:Definitely, definitely. Yeah. So I'm so glad you picked up the joy and everything and the belonging is all there. It's all present and the joy we actually teach Bolly Fit coaching programme that we deliver. We actually teach joy in there, how to create joy in your own self and then how you can deliver it to others.
Speaker 2:Because it's something that I think all humans need to learn. I often feel that in life, you know, we have our ups and downs, but it's learning how to be constant. Yeah, how to be constant, not go down with the downs and not go too high with the ups. So it's learning that. So we train and teach our coaches that as well, that, you know, when they've had a bad day, they can still bring joy into that room because we're all humans, we'll have difficult times in life, but they can still create joy in that room.
Speaker 2:And again, when I sat back to think, we need to create a space for women like me. And what I thought was, where do I see Asian women, for example, I thought, where do I see Asian women the happiest? Because again, I've worked with Asian women now thirty years now. So twelve years ago, looking at where do I see them happiest? I don't know if any of your listeners and your viewers will have been to an Indian Asian wedding, Pakistani wedding, we have very long duration.
Speaker 2:And then we have some sessions, some evenings where we call it Sangeet night, dorky night, where it's usually strictly women only space and women get the opportunity to dress up and women who wear hijabs like me, they sometimes take that off, get their hair done. And then they sing songs, they play the drums, then they start dancing some of them. And some of them who aren't dancers or are shy to dance, they will sit around and there'll be clapping and cheering those women on. So that's what I had in my mind. That's where I've seen Asian women the happiest for each other, as well as themselves.
Speaker 2:And that's what I wanted to create with Bolly Fit. And I feel personally, and a few people have said it to me, it feels like a vibe of a dolki nights and gid night. And women love that. Women love the joy that we bring to them. Women who attend Bolly Fit, does it affect their lives out of BOLI FIIT?
Speaker 2:Immensely. So a lot of stories in BOLI FIIT I could share with you and some I will share today. I know those I would love your viewers to go onto our website and see those stories. For example, there's a lady who came into our diabetes programme that we deliver and her issue was actually a fatty liver and through the programme because we teach about healthy eating and also it's culturally appropriate for the South Asian women that we work with. So the food change them, teach them how to change the food.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden within three months of that programme, that lady came back to us with a letter from a hospital wherever she had the checkup again, she has no longer fatty liver. How amazing is that? She was in awe of it all. She was just, you know, couldn't contain her excitement. Because again, that's health.
Speaker 2:Where else would they get something like that? So the other lady we had was again, she comes to our Bolly Fit sessions, fibromyalgia, that was a main thing that she was, her body was really stiff and always in pain. So she's been a Bolly Fit for quite a while for over a year regular. She's become a volunteer, but now her daughter actually sent us a little message on our WhatsApp group to say, she is so thankful for Bolly Fit because her mom was always in so much pain and agony with her fibromyalgia. But now, since attending Bolly Fit, she's changed her diet for the better, drinks more water, and now she can hug her mother without her mother screaming in pain.
Speaker 1:I guess one question I've got is in terms of what you've learned from working with partners and getting buy in from some partners. I'm sure it's not all been easy, but in terms of the some of the breakthroughs you've made with any kind of funder or partner, I wonder if you could give us some tips on how you've done that.
Speaker 2:CIC was created in twenty twenty pandemic time and that's when we started applying for funds. But what I could say is, you know, yeah, I had a vision for it. My vision was so clear in my mind what we wanted to create. But we have had lots of struggle with funding streams and what I would say to anybody and including reminding myself is stick to our values. What are our values?
Speaker 2:If they're not, if the funders aren't aligned to us, then you know walk away from them and I've done that as well. Well, I recall one fund I remember it was you know I'd only been into this sector two years and I thought oh we're easily going to get this fund. It's all about sport. It's all about health inequalities and women and we tick it all. So I was so confident and we they said oh yeah we appreciate this and there's this part of the budget we're not happy with.
Speaker 2:And all it was Rob was £30 for a WhatsApp group support per week we wanted. Well, I wasn't budging from that because without the WhatsApp group, it doesn't bring the joy. That's part of our ecosystem we've created at Bolly Fit. So I pushed back on the emails that I kept getting. And I had about three emails coming to me and me pushing back.
Speaker 2:And on the third one, I just lost the plot. As you would say, I thought, I'm not having this because this person is a paid person, nine to five person who just emails me. And I want your viewers to hear me on this one. When you're getting pushbacks like that, do what I did because it worked. I said, could I have a conversation with your panel?
Speaker 2:Because they kept coming back saying, our panel said this, our panel said that. So when I push back, I want to see to speak to your panel, I'm not answering to you anymore. Then they connected me with a regional lead. And she came on and she was totally different. You know, the higher up you go, I always find they listen a bit more.
Speaker 2:So she listened to me the reasons behind it within ten days, we got that fund, We got that £30 extra for a WhatsApp group. But what I'm saying is your values, make them understand because their systems are broken. Things are not working for them. You have got a passion. You no doubt are a leader who's got a calling.
Speaker 2:A lot of the voluntary sector leaders I meet personally, I see them that they've got a calling in their life. They've got that passion for what they're doing. Don't let anybody take that away from you. Yeah, you will have to pivot. You will have to move around and maneuver because not everybody will understand.
Speaker 2:But the biggest thing is I know for sure in the sector I work, the health sector, the systems are broken. The cogs are not working anymore. They either need to take the ego out of themselves as whoever they are decision makers and bring in people like us who have created something that's working and fit us into the cogs. Well, I'll tell you this as well Rob. Last year, I nearly had a nervous breakdown because last year, five years of hard work, we created the BOLI fit system, created the diabetes program, created the trauma awareness, created the weight loss challenge, which are all combating health inequalities around diverse communities, women in diverse communities.
Speaker 2:Whatever you read on health inequality, we were ticking everything that we can support in a solution. But nobody was listening to me everywhere I took it saying, right, we've created this impact, there's your data, here's our system, what works, we're credited by Active IQ, we've got all these policies and procedures in place. We are ready for you to take us on board and let's scale it. We were like we were invisible. Made me feel wherever I went, they made me feel invisible.
Speaker 2:And one very high level person, I don't want to discredit anybody in any way, but I had a meeting after three months of requesting a meeting, finally got a meeting with them. And they heard my story and what we were trying to create. They said just be patient, Shameen. And I'm like patient for what? If I'm going to be patient, meaning step off the accelerator, who's going to suffer?
Speaker 2:Our women in the community. There's women every day suffering with their health. There's doctors who are suffering as well in a way that they can't see all these patients. You know, I'm sure doctors don't do on purpose that they give you an appointment after a month. This is what the women tell me.
Speaker 2:They don't get his appointment. Who's going to suffer? What's the point of being patient? You are looking for health inequality solutions. We've got it.
Speaker 2:So that's the day I realised that we don't fit into the system that they've got in place at the moment. So we need to create our own structure, our own system. So that's when last October, I decided for the CIC, we're going to utilize how we're going to create an income. And that's by creating more coaches. They'll go and deliver out there and we create a subscription model and then we make this movement larger and larger until people listen.
Speaker 2:And by so when I started doing that in October by January, February and I did, I've documented my story throughout and the Bolly Fit story through LinkedIn and other social media platforms. So on LinkedIn, I started getting visibility more and more and more. And then the right partners started aligning and coming towards themselves rather than chasing people. So that's a message for all those leaders out there with a vision. Sometimes you will be in darkness where you think nobody can see what I can see but you must stay true to your calling and follow that dream and just the hardship you have to go through it.
Speaker 2:You must go through it. And when you do keep going, the right people will come into your lives. Well, you've got to stay visible though. Don't go like a hermit. Stay visible on your social media.
Speaker 2:You're doing great work. Take pictures, show it on social media that people keep seeing you. The great work that you're all doing, it needs to be seen more and more.
Speaker 1:Shameem, I love how you've changed strategy and there's clearly at least one reason for why you changed strategy. Do you want to say a tiny bit more about what caused this shift that's now enabling the growth?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the strategy changed. And again, it changed because I'd had so much, all the experience of working with all the women led voluntary groups. I saw the fragile ness of them. They all come in with great ideas, or a lot of them don't have the business acumen sometimes. They don't have the know how or how to maneuver with written applications or going for funding.
Speaker 2:And they really struggled. And I've always thought I want to empower these women as well. It's not just about Bali Fit Rob, I am for empowering women wherever they are. So all along I was thinking I need to support them but there wasn't any option coming. But then when in October, decided that we will create this training programme.
Speaker 2:Every month I deliver the programme, we train women. What I thought and what I started having dialogues with women led organisations is how about you train one of your coaches, so sponsor them, a volunteer or a worker, come and train with us as a coach, Afrofit BOLI fit coach. They come back to you. They're your in house fitness instructor now. So you can deliver fitness every day through this person.
Speaker 2:Yeah? Whether you want to charge the women who come in or not. But you, if you start doing that, you will create data. Month one, you've helped 30 women. Month two, sixty women.
Speaker 2:You will have data as an organisation, independent data that you are creating these fitness sessions that now is creating this outcome. Then you can apply for funding from other funders. You can use BollyFit's data as well because they are a BollyFit coach. So we will allow you to access our social value impact report. Anything you need offers, we will support you to for you to apply for funding independently and get stronger.
Speaker 2:And now since doing that, we've had quite a few organisations who've done that. And there's quite a few in the pipeline who are applying for funds to train their volunteer or worker up as a coach as well. Because I want to strengthen these organisations with BOLI FIFT because I'm a believer. I don't want the pie to get big for me. I want the pie to get big for all these organisations so that we all have a larger slice of it.
Speaker 1:Hi. It's Rob. Just before we get to the final part of the conversation, if you find these podcasts useful, just imagine what's possible when we go deeper with your whole team live together. Like the podcast, our Bright Spot membership and our team training days are packed with practical examples and techniques. But because we're working with you in real time, the shift in confidence and results happens at a completely different level.
Speaker 1:To find out more, head over to brightspotfundraising.co.uk/services. This makes sense to me, Shamim. And in terms of the partners you're working with now, I wonder if you could give me an example of one or two of those and what you've learned from working with them.
Speaker 2:So we've got great relationships with Manchester Active who's been sponsoring us and supporting us from day one. They saw the vision with us so they've been a great ally as well. And Active IQ, our accreditation company, anything we need support with, we go back to them. And last October I did. I said, look, we're struggling here in The UK.
Speaker 2:We really want to scale this up and we really want to take it globally. And one of the things that I was keen on, it was Saudi Arabia because there's something called Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia that organisation is well aligned to that. And Stuart from Active IQ said, well, I was there last week, Shamim, and your product would fit in nicely. So we're having dialogues on taking it to The Gulf. But then coming back to The UK, as I said, I keep showcasing our achievements on social media and LinkedIn especially.
Speaker 2:And from there, I've had connections with some universities like Salford University at the moment. I've spent half a day there looking at their venue and what they're interested in is sending some of their students over placement to us. These are students who will go into rehabilitation work. And also they would like the university would like us to deliver some BOLI FIRE AFROFIT sessions for their workforce, their students and their local community as well. So we're connecting with the local women's hubs around that university to welcome the women in from there.
Speaker 2:And also they would like us to, for me to deliver some sessions for their students a workshop as well on our Belong method that we've created through the BOLI FIT twelve years of working. And also British fencing, you know, they saw what we're doing, they were connected to us from GM moving. And what they said is we want to do this pilot of swords after surgery, which is something that's been delivered in France for ten years for women who've had mastectomy, cancer care, breast cancer survivors, that they can do this exercise after they've had the surgery. So would you be interested in training some of your coaches? So some of our coaches have had specialist training.
Speaker 2:And then in the meantime, we applied to McMillan's to deliver this as a project, swords after surgery. And McMillan came back to us said, we love what you're doing. And the lady had seen Bolly Fit Journey from six years ago, she said, because she'd met us somewhere else. And she said, we don't want to just give you this fund, but we want to become your partner because we feel as you're scaling up nationally, we want to support that. And we want to work with you in different towns as well.
Speaker 2:So we're having a with Calderdale, Macmillan's in Calderdale now as well because of that. So we've got great partners on board now who are aligned to our long term strategy. And sometimes it takes over and over and over and over and over again. And you have to just keep going until you reach that point when others start seeing the vision with you, you know, and that's the exciting bit, you will get there, you will get there. As long as you're creating outcomes, you know, and that why I see that vision so clearly, because I keep in contact with our participants, There's always a week, at least once a week, will be in there with the women doing the Bali fit with them and seeing and hearing their results.
Speaker 2:And that's what keeps me fresh, keeps me going because I know it's working, but the world can't see it, but we can see it. So we need to keep drumming on about it always.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for all these ideas you've been sharing. I guess one question I've got is, because you've shared so much already, but if there's someone listening out there and maybe they work for a charity or that maybe they run a nonprofit or maybe they've just got a good idea for how to do some good in the world, if there's one more idea you could share with them that might just help, what would that be?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So just keep telling the story of what you can see, the vision you've got, and get to as many meetings as possible. Learn as well because I could tell a lot of the stuff that I've been through or I've learned to my 20 year younger self, well, she would not understand it. She will not be able to do what I'm doing at this moment because you've got to grow into yourself. You've got to evolve with the learning.
Speaker 2:And where do you learn? When you're around people, you learn from them. And I'm a believer and I teach our coaches, be a learner till the end. Every day we can learn something new that can tweak something that we're doing and make it better.
Speaker 1:Wonderful stuff, Shemime. Such helpful, wise advice. I've so enjoyed finding out about BodyFit and the amazing difference it clearly makes and I've really enjoyed our conversation today. Thanks for coming on to share. I look forward to continuing to enjoy the journey you're on and staying inspired by it.
Speaker 1:Until the next time, Shamime, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's all folks. Thank you as always for listening and for supporting the Fundraising Bright Spots Podcast. If you liked it, I'd be super grateful if you take a moment to share it on with your team or on LinkedIn. Good luck with your fundraising, your leadership, and with being resilient today. I look forward to sharing another Bright Spots story with you very soon.