Small charity, big mission

The story

Together Co is Brighton & Hove's leading social health and loneliness charity. Through befriending, social prescribing and volunteering services, they help people build lasting connections and feel part of their community.

Their mission is simple but powerful – create real human connection for people who might otherwise be isolated. But like many small charities, rising demand and limited resources meant the leadership team was spending more time on admin than on the work that matters most.

Together Co could see the potential of AI. They just needed a way to explore it safely, practically and without losing sight of their purpose.

The challenge

Together Co's leadership team faced three connected pressures:

• Stretched capacity – a small team juggling growing service demand with grant applications, compliance, communications and day-to-day operations.
• The admin trap – hours spent on background tasks that pulled focus from frontline connection work.
• Confidence gap – interest in AI, but no clear path to adopt it without risk or wasted investment.

The opportunity was clear: if AI could take on the repetitive work, Together Co could redirect that time and energy back to what they do best – helping people feel less alone.

The grants tracker

From workshop idea to weekly automation

During Workshop 4, we explored how agentic AI could help Together Co stay ahead of funding opportunities – a constant challenge for small charities. The idea was simple: an automated tool that scours grant databases every week, scores opportunities by relevance and alerts the fundraising team.

We built it. The tool now runs every Monday morning, searching for grants matching Together Co's focus areas – loneliness, social isolation, wellbeing, social health – filtered by geography and eligibility. In its first run, it surfaced 19 potential funding opportunities and delivered them as a ready-to-review spreadsheet.

What previously took roughly 10 hours a week of manual research now happens automatically – giving the fundraising team a head start on applications and ensuring no relevant opportunity slips through the cracks.

This is what happens when AI capability is built into the leadership team, not bolted on from outside. The idea emerged from a workshop conversation, was prioritised against other business needs, and turned into a working tool within weeks.

Beyond efficiency

New revenue from shared expertise

The most unexpected outcome of the partnership wasn't a tool or a time saving. It was a new revenue stream.

Through the AI-B-C programme, April Baker developed such deep confidence and fluency with AI that she now delivers AI training for other charity leaders – sharing what Together Co learned with organisations facing the same pressures.

This is the compounding effect of building AI capability at leadership level. It doesn't just improve internal operations. It creates expertise that has value beyond the organisation – turning a learning investment into a commercial asset.

What changed

• Operational focus: Automated admin frees the team to concentrate on befriending, social prescribing and volunteering – the work that directly reduces loneliness.
• Funding pipeline: The grants tracker ensures Together Co never misses a relevant opportunity, with weekly automated scanning replacing ad hoc manual searches.
• Leadership confidence: April and Emily now have the literacy and judgement to evaluate new AI tools, shape policy and make informed decisions about technology adoption.
• Innovation culture: Workshop sessions became a space for structured ideation – identifying business priorities AI can help with, then building and testing solutions together.
• New income: AI training delivered by the CEO to other charity leaders represents a genuine new revenue stream born directly from the programme.