Every so often you get an opportunity to take stock, to look back, to reflect on where you’ve come from. Today, Jane and I have been looking back to our first year as Impact Wales back in 2015 and thinking about how things have changed for us as we head ever closer towards the end of the summer term and our tenth year.
How has our first decade as Impact Wales gone?
Quite well thank you very much. In fact, we have seen a 90% growth rate from our first year in 2015/16 to this year. Just to say that again, that’s almost double the turnover from our first year.
Back in August of 2015, when Jane and I were busy seeing solicitors, setting ourselves up as a limited company, becoming VAT registered and working out what we were all about, we set ourselves our first turnover target. This wasn’t about focusing on making money, it was about making our venture a success. Making sure Impact Wales generated enough income to allow us to make a living and to keep on doing what we do. The professional learning, the business-to-business consultancy work, the sketchnotes, the podcasts, the blogs and the opportunity to share our opinion on where education in Wales should be going.
We wanted to have an impact on learning in Wales. We wanted to have an impact on the teachers of Wales. Above all we wanted to make a difference to the children of Wales. Thanks to you all, our loyal followers and supporters, that is exactly what we have been able to do. Our bottom line tells us that.
We’ve grown as an organisation and weathered many storms, not least a global pandemic. March of 2020 was such a difficult time for all of us. So much changed in such a short space of time. Our working lives became more demanding, our personal lives changed forever. On top of that Jane and I spent many wakeless nights worrying that we would lose our business too. But we didn’t. Far from it. During lockdown we recognised the need to connect with our followers, so started our podcast. We learnt how to provide high quality, bespoke professional learning remotely. Impact Wales during covid wasn’t just a passive experience for staff, we used technology to engage and impact on teachers understanding.
And we kept on growing.
We grew an extra 60% during and after the pandemic. And we have you to thank again. Thank you for helping us to grow, for helping us to keep on thinking, supporting and improving learning in Wales. Thank you for helping us reach our tenth year as Impact Wales. We owe you!