Management consultancy
Pro bono management consultancy to help you achieve your charity's goals.
Management Consultancy
Our pro bono management consultancy is available to charities addressing human welfare issues in England, Scotland and Wales. We work with charities of all sizes to maximise potential, build resilience and strengthen management skills.
How we can help
Types of project
Our team of regional project managers, along with our highly skilled management consultant volunteers, work with charities to support four main management areas:
| Business area | Example of project |
1. Leadership and strategic direction | - Charity governance and building an effective trustee board. - Strategy development and business planning. - Leadership development and mentoring. - Marketing and communications. |
2. People management | - Organisational structure. - Merger and collaborative working. - Recruitment and retention. |
3. Financial management and sustainability | - Financial performance and reporting. - Forecasting and scenario planning. - Financial process improvements. - Understanding costs. - Developing financial information for business planning. |
4. Performance and impact | - Key performance indicators. - Developing performance tools and systems. - Impact reporting. |
"Our experience was exceptionally positive. We didn't really know what to expect in relation to support - our volunteer being a commercial background and our position as a children and young people's charity. However the expertise was excellent, we met all of our outcomes in relation to improving HR systems and policy refresh, and upskilled our management team to be confident in implementing changes. The value based advice and approach from our volunteer made this possible." The Junction Foundation / North East England
Real examples of free management consultancy projects we have delivered to charities:
- Finance review following unsuccessful bid to The National Lottery Community Fund (following this project, a successful bid was submitted and the charity was awarded £455,601).
- Producing a strategy to have a clear road map and to support fundraising efforts.
- Developing a plan for good governance to create an effective and decisive board of trustees.
- Producing a business plan to build confidence and become less risk adverse.
- Conducting a trustee skill review, and creating and implementing a new trustee recruitment process.
You can read about all the positive outcomes of these projects and others on our case studies page.
How it works
Contact the Trust, and our project co-ordinator will talk you through our process and answer any questions you have. You will then be put in touch with your regional project manager. They will work with you on your project brief before matching you with a volunteer consultant, who has the specialist experience and expertise to support your project.
Over the course of several months, you will work with your volunteer consultant to achieve the objectives set in your project brief. Your project manager is there to help with any additional needs or questions, and to support you and your volunteer consultant as you work together.
To request a consultancy project, see Next Steps at the bottom of this page.
Journey to Excellence
When we work with you on a consultancy project, we use our impact framework, Journey to Excellence (J2E), designed specifically for charities.
J2E helps to identify organisation development needs at the start of your project and measures development; so you can be confident you're making the right decisions to build a successful charity. To get a true reflection of development, we don’t just focus on the area of your project, we monitor other areas too, which helps to identify areas we can help you to develop in the future.
J2E helps us to measure our impact in working with you and was developed based on over 30 years’ experience of providing management support to non-profit organisations.
"Our Cranfield Trust consultant was brilliant, he provided lots of ideas that we were happy to try and we are glad we did! Our organisation is in a better position now, than 6 months ago."
Review of strategic objectives and development of delivery action plan for, Access Ambassadors CIC.
Who is it for?
Our free management consultancy can be accessed by any organisation that meets our eligibility criteria.
Next steps
To get started, contact us on 01794 830338 or email [email protected] and ask for a project application form.
