Newton Abbot CIC | Cosmic Skip to main content

Newton Abbot Community Interest Company (Newton Abbot CIC) are a social enterprise that seeks to improve the quality of life for all those living or working in Newton Abbot. The CIC’s main activities fall into three broad areas: the direct delivery of projects, enabling and supporting other community organisations and activities, and lobbying for change and improvements within the town and surrounding area.

Newton Abbot CIC took on the management of the Buckland Centre, a building in the heart of the community; without their intervention it would no longer be here – so keeping this valuable community hub open was important to their mission. The Buckland Centre is a work in progress, but it provides a useful space for many vital services: social clubs, fitness classes, a hall for rent and a base for Newton Abbot’s Children’s Centre. 

Newton Abbot CIC first came across Cosmic nine years ago whilst looking for someone to host their website and email servers. Over the years they’ve had various involvements with Cosmic, from training to IT support, but in 2018 Emily Farrell, their Business and Community Development Manager, came across our Enhance Social Enterprise programme and decided to sign up.

The course offered a valuable insight into Digital Leadership, something that they had little experience with as a small organisation. It also gave Emily and colleagues a chance to meet other Social Enterprises who do similar work and face similar challenges. Along with this, they knew that they had no Social Media presence, and completing this course would not only give a useful insight into successful Digital Marketing, but would also make sure they devoted time to fixing the issues they were having.

The Enhance Social Enterprise course provided them with a massive amount of knowledge and insight, as well as practical solutions to problems. The course opened their eyes to issues they were having, and made sure they devoted the thinking space to problem-solving. During the course they wrote up a Digital Marketing Strategy, a lot of which has been put into place since the end of the programme. Also, they now have a new website, combined with the Buckland Centre to make events and booking much easier to find. In order to boost their Social Media presence, they have created three Facebook pages: one for the youth club, one for the CIC and one for the Buckland Centre. These pages are now run by a new Social Media Manager - a job role they created as a result of the course.

Enhance Social Enterprise has allowed them to think more Digitally. The website is now regularly updated, and their Social Media is kept up-to-date with interesting posts and news. Newton Abbot CIC still have more plans for the future though, such as introducing an online booking system to their website. However, for now, they have made incredible progress thanks to the course. We are happy to have helped such a key organisation!