Charity Strategy and Business Planning
Cranfield Trust works with hundreds of charities a year on developing strategy and business planning consultancy projects.
PRO BONO MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY
Help with charity business planning, charity business strategy, and charity business plan template.
Free management consultancy for charities
Cranfield Trust provides free, tailored management consultancy support to welfare charities.
Free charity telephone advice
Advice on immediate questions and management challenges is available via Cranfield Trust On Call, our telephone advice service.
Working with a management consultant
Before you start work with an external consultant, Stella Smith gives some useful pointers.
Is management consultancy right for your charity?
CHARITY BUSINESS STRATEGY AND PLANNING
Having a good charity business plan in place will not only help you to have a clear focus, it will position you to attract new funders, volunteers and supporters.
Thinking about and aligning your charitable activities also gives you time to think about potential risks and opportunities. A well thought out business plan is vital part of building a robust and successful charity.
Webinar: How to create a business plan for your charity
The below webinar was delivered by Cranfield Trust Volunteer Stephen Cahill, as part of the ongoing Essentials to Excellence webinar series. The style of the webinar is a mix of presenter input and lively case studies with as much input as possible. You will leave the session equipped with simple practical steps you can take to translate your thoughts into action quickly.
You will learn how to:
- Be successful at business planning – what has changed forever and why you need to revisit your business planning approach.
- Make your business plan robust and avoid being ‘blindsided’.
- Use your business plan as a focus for funders.
- Do business planning with half the effort for twice the result!
Stephen Cahill Bio:
Stephen Cahill BSc MPA (Warwick) is a semi-retired executive with extensive senior experience across the public, private and charity sectors. He has over 30 years of experience in helping organisations improve their governance, strategy, and operations. He specialises in helping organisations to achieve rapid results by focusing on,"the things that really matter". He has been an active Cranfield Trust volunteer for nearly a decade.
Reworking your strategy
Six steps to reworking your charity’s strategy in the ‘new normal’ by Cranfield Trust Volunteer, Stephen Cahill.
Build your charity business plan
Questions to ask to help you build your charity's business plan.
Business Planning - questions to build your plan
Charity business plan template
A template for a straightforward business plan, in Word and PDF versions.
Word template for three year business plan
PDF template for three year business plan
LEAN Management
In reviewing your activities and writing your business plan you may wish to consider your processes to ensure that they are efficient and contributing to a high quality of activity. This article on LEAN management provides some guidance.
Is merger right for your charity?
Volunteer Matthew Wilkley, Director of Income Generation at Independent Age, considers merger as a strategic option, with particular reference to fundraising.
Blog: To merge or not to merge
