Awaydays, Workshops and Facilitation

Pulling all your staff, volunteers and board together can also be an expensive process you need to get the most from. If you are considering controversial issues, such sessions can also be key to future development. Whether you want to review your vision and strategic direction, build your team, develop your partnership working or unpick a problem; independent facilitation can help you achieve more from the time you have. I can structure your thinking spaces, lead the day so you are free to participate, keep the day ‘on track’, offer expertise of ‘what works’ and bring an objective and independent voice to the process which participants can welcome. If you are planning a thinking space then why not get in touch.

Case Study - Brunswick Organic Nursery (BON)

A successful charity and social enterprise offering work opportunities to people with learning disabilities, wanted to take stock, refresh its vision and plan a future which increased its sustainability and allowed it to deliver more opportunities to users.

The charity asked me to deliver a visioning workshop that would allow staff, board members and volunteers to come together and plan a way forward. In an amazing two day event staff drew on their creativity to celebrate their past, look constructively at their strengths and weaknesses, identified a wide range of opportunities that would allow them to increase their trading activities and adopted new ways of working. CEO Adam Myers said “We knew we needed time out from the day to day to look at where we had come from, where we were at and where we might go.

Having Judith work with us to structure and then ‘hold’ the days for us made sure we moved forward and didn't get stuck. This was vital to their success. For me as CEO it was fantastic – as I could simply take part knowing the process was in safe hands.” (2011).

Find out more about BON here.

Advice Sector

Working as an Advice Volunteer

• 5 years experience as a debt adviser
• 10 years experience of working with and managing Yorkshire Money Advice Support Unit, delivering 2nd tier support in consultancy, training, local and national liaison and lobbying, information and capacity building activities to some 300 free advice providers
• 2 year delivery of the multi-agency Working Together for Advice Project developing a quality mark for the sector (Partners included Age UK, Youth Access, Advice UK, Law Centre Federation)

Consultancy and Training Experience

• Citizens Advice (national)
• Design and delivery of a wide range of management training and e-learning to the Citizens Advice network 2000–11
• Delivery of merger feasibility work for Midlands CAB 2007
• Away days for Governance 2010 group and north and central regional committees 2006-10
• Workshops at regional events 2005-8
• National review of regional committee structure
• Keighley CAB - CEO mentoring, development of strategic plan, visioning away days with staff and board 2003–9
• Kirklees Advice Partnership 2008–12 Needs assessment and best value review, Advice Partnership Review
• Foxhill and Parson Cross Advice Centre – Away Day 2009
• Adviceline Contact Centre Setup and Interim Management 2011-12
• Advice North Yorkshire – Strategic Planning and Fundraising work 2008-10, merger feasibility study 2012-09-27 
• Richmondshire CAB – Big Lottery Fund Impact Evaluation 
• Scarborough CAB – Big Lottery Fund Impact Evaluation

Leadership and Management Training

Investment in training is one of the first things to go in a recession. But lack of investment in training for more than six months usually leads to under-skilled staff, poor delivery and complaints.

I have a PGCE and am a member of the Institute for Learning. I have 20 years experience of training adults and have taught strategic thinking, financial management, fundraising, outcomes, board effectiveness, people and group skills to a range of nfp networks including national charity networks and regional and local infrastructure organisations including Coventry, Craven and Bradford CVS, Sheffield VAS and Your Consortium.

If you need to invest in project or management skills then why not get in touch?

Governance Support and Legal Structures

To be effective organisations and social business need the right legal structure and strong, effective boards that drive vision and scrutinise performance. In conjunction with Charlie Cattell, one of the country’s leading experts on legal structures, I provide support to improve governance structures, increase board capacity and grow effectiveness.

We provide a design and registration service for nfp legal structures that will advise you on the right structure for your current and future activities, won’t bamboozle you with legal jargon and at a price that is well below that of comparable providers.

We have hundreds of satisfied nfp clients, so for a free chat and quote about your needs, why not get in touch?

Case Study - Chain Lane Social Enterprise, Knaresborough

When Your Consortium Ltd successfully won over £500,000 of funding to buy and renovate a local community centre, CEO Sue Vasey needed to quickly establish a wholly owned subsidiary to its contract management business to own and run the centre.

The new structure needed to ensure local people had a strong voice in the running of the centre and offered Your Consortium adequate protection as it had guaranteed the loan for purchase of the building. Working closely with Charlie Cattell, we developed articles which met the funder’s criteria and registered a new company to tight timescales.

Renovation work on Chain Lane Community Centre is now almost complete and the company is on track to be fully sustainable over the next two years. (2011) Find out more about Chain Lane Community Centre here.

Impact and Project Evaluation

Planning to assess impact needs to start well before your delivery does. Choosing clear outcomes and measures and developing and delivering the processes to gather these are vital. Evaluation can be delivered in so many ways.

My experience includes evaluating projects and services for North Yorkshire Citizens Advice Bureaux. Prism Youth Project, Clubs for Young People and York Mind. And I’ve designed and developed quality frameworks for national charity partnerships.

So whether you want a consultant to help you develop your evaluation framework, train users or volunteers in evaluation skills, mentor staff through the evaluation process or deliver the whole thing for you, why not get in touch.

Case Study - Prism Youth Service

Prism Youth Service was convinced that its structured 12 week BABIES programme delayed the age at which high risk young people became parents and CEO Paul Craven asked me to see if I could prove this.

The research used longitudinal studies with ex users, and qualitative and quantitative research with users who had taken the programme within the last year. Whilst being relatively small scale the research demonstrated that users changed both their attitudes towards parenthood and actual behaviour and two years on they were more likely to be in education and work and less likely to be parents than high risk young people generally.

The research provided the evidence needed for Prism to develop the programme as a marketable product. (2010). Find out more about Prism here.

Project Set-up and Interim Management

I've ten years management experience with national charities and a track record in interim management including crisis managing the set up of a national benefit advice line for Macmillan Cancer Support, interim business development activities for Your Consortium, a regional nfp contract management organisation and setup of a national call centre project using volunteer staffing for Citizens Advice.

So, if you are looking for an experienced interim manager with a track record in the nfp sector, why not get in touch?

Case Study - Adviceline Contact Centres, Citizens Advice

When Citizens Advice was awarded £1.5 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland to set up the Country’s first national Adviceline service staffed by volunteers, they realised they needed additional management capacity to set up the project’s four contact centres based in local Citizens Advice Bureaux.

With just under three months to go I took on the role of interim manager, and oversaw all activities during the project's set up and first six months’ delivery. Activities included installation of the telephone infrastructure, training of staff, delivery of the individual contact centres and development of specialist resources from Citizens Advice’s in-house experts.

The project has been a great success, proving again that volunteers can step up and deliver novel solutions to meeting community needs and answering tens of thousands of calls in the project's first year. (2011)

Find out more about AdviceGuide here.

Listen to Caerphily CAB contact centre here.

Partnerships, Collaborations and Mergers

To be successful today nfp organisations need to work effectively with a range of partnership structures, committing the resources, carrying the risks and managing the joint ventures or potential mergers that evolve from collaborative working. 

I’ve a range of relevant previous experience including due diligence work for York Mind, merger feasibility studies for North Yorkshire Citizens Advice Bureau, South Kent Age UK and Huddersfield and Bradford CHAS. Partnership facilitation includes York’s multi-agency Bright Ideas Group which identified ways to fix problems with mental health delivery in York. So, if you want to make sure that your partnerships work for everyone involved, why not get in touch?

Case Study - Bright Ideas Group, York

When the York Mental Health Partnership Board decided to form a small multi-agency think tank of grass roots providers to suggest ways of improving mental health services in York I was asked to facilitate the group’s thinking space.

With a committed membership, the group was amazingly successful, particularly considering its brief included not spending any more money! In one year and 12 meetings the group delivered an extensive analysis of problems, identified interlinking causes, chose 10 Bright Ideas, which would impact positively on a range of problems and developed action plans to take these ideas forward. (2010-11)

Case Study - York Mind and Our Celebration

Both these charities worked in York and district supporting people with mental health problems to achieve their potential. In 2010 the organisations decided to explore merger as a mutually beneficial way of increasing benefits to users.

The CEO of Our Celebration asked me to facilitate a workshop for the trustees of both charities and lead a group of associates to deliver a due diligence exercise. The workshop was an outstanding success with all trustees fully committing to the merger by the end of the event. The charities successfully merged in 2011. 

Find out more about York Mind here.

Funding Support

Nfp organisations today need clear funding strategies that plan how to use income from different types of funders (statutory, household, investment, sponsorship, training, corporate, endowment trusts) to best effect. Fundraisers need different skills to effectively attract income from these sources, and organisations and boards need to have developed the processes and procedures necessary to be contract ready. 

I've delivered funding and commissioning training for national charity networks and local organisations. I have a good record in winning funds and contracts from local authorities, lottery funders, European funders, endowment trusts and corporate clients. If you are looking to win more funding bids, why not get in touch?

Case Study - Pioneer Projects (Celebratory Arts) Ltd

Pioneer Projects (Celebratory Arts) Ltd is a community based arts and health charity in North Yorkshire. In 2011, I supported the charity to complete a Reaching Communities bid to the Big Lottery Fund. This mentoring saved the charity significant costs, whilst still ensuring the bid was of high quality.

As a result the charity secured three year funding to deliver an innovative arts programme called Own Now which provides opportunities for people living with dementia to participate in arts and cultural activities across Craven. (2010). Find out more about Pioneer Projects here.

Strategic Planning

A strategic/business plan shouldn't sit on a shelf and be looked at occasionally. It should be driving the direction and growth of your business. Successful charities and social businesses spend time planning strategically and involve a range of stakeholders to keep plans on track. 

Whether you need help delivering strategic research or visioning day, mentoring to write your plan or someone to write it for you, I can help. I've supported strategic planning for members of the Citizens Advice, Age UK and Mind networks, in addition to independent organisations such as Pioneer Projects, Your Consortium, Nomad Open Doors, Brunswick Organic Nursery and Helmsley Walled Garden. So why not get in touch?

Case Study - Nomad Opening Doors

When long standing funding streams for this Sheffield housing charity ended it took the opportunity to restructure and refresh its vision. This work reflected drivers for greater sustainability, increasing competition and the demand to commit to more partnership working.

An exciting away day for board and staff allowed the charity to mark the end of a difficult period and commit to a new direction. I then supported the senior team to develop:

• an improved public profile and enterprise culture for the charity
• a five-year, public strategy laying out what the charity planned to achieve 
• a three-year, confidential delivery plan housing commercially sensitive detail.

Find out more about Nomad

Enterprise Mentoring

All not for profit organisations are social businesses. Coping with the current turbulent pace of change while still growing is challenging. CEOs, senior managers and social entrepreneurs can lack places to test ideas, relevant skills and a full understanding of the challenges. 

Whether on the phone, in person or even over the internet/email; 1-1 enterprise mentoring offers professional support and guidance to help you find your way through the challenges your organisation faces. I’m a SFEDI qualified enterprise mentor with 10 years experience. Clients include CEOs from infrastructure, advice, adoption support, youth and arts organisations, so why not get in touch for a free session?