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Cranfield Trust to explore development of new management training programme for charity sector and invites research proposals

Cranfield Trust is exploring the development of a management learning programme for leaders and managers of small to medium size voluntary organisations to develop charity leaders of the future.

The national charity and leading provider of pro bono management consultancy, mentoring and online learning to social welfare charities, is inviting proposals from organisations to undertake the feasibility project from April 2023.  The research project will explore available management training for small to medium sized charity leaders and managers, their interest in taking up existing training opportunities, and the potential for the development of a management training programme for the sector.

Amanda Tincknell CBE, CEO of Cranfield Trust, is leading the project.  Amanda said:

“There is a great deal of training available in the voluntary sector, and more widely, but through our extensive work with charities we have seen that there is little training geared to people developing their careers in the voluntary sector, to help them develop management skills early in their careers, or to help Chief Executives and senior leaders in smaller charities refresh their skills or fill skills gaps. Most voluntary sector staff do not take a great deal of general management training, and prefer training that is specifically developed for the voluntary sector market.

“Much of the specialist voluntary sector training is geared to leadership and strategy, not management, so middle managers or emerging managers do not have many specialist voluntary sector learning opportunities.  Some of the training available is also relatively high cost for smaller charities meaning it is not affordable, even more so in the current cost of living crisis which has hit charities as hard as the rest of the country.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Masonic Charitable Foundation for generously supporting Cranfield Trust with a grant to undertake this research, which will allow us to explore the feasibility of establishing a relevant, flexible and cost-effective management learning programme with an academic partner for leaders and managers of small to medium size voluntary organisations to help develop charity leaders of the future.”

Cranfield Trust is looking for a contractor to deliver the research project, to start from mid-April, with the aim of reporting to the Trust’s management team in early September and to the Trustee Board in October 2023. 

The deadline for submission proposals is by end of day on Thursday 23 March 2023.  Interviews will take place in the week of 27 March 2023. Proposals and questions should be submitted to: [email protected]

Download the full invitation to submit a proposal below.