Business and Strategic Planning

Founded in 1979, OSARCC is the only organisation offering  specialist support services to survivors of sexual violence in Oxfordshire.  It offers free services to support women survivors of sexual violence, promote and advocate for their needs, and work towards the
elimination of sexual violence.

In the financial year 21-22, 579 individuals were referred, or self-referred, to OSARCC  - an increase of 45% on the previous year. The charity currently has a waiting list of around 300 survivors for counselling services, with the average wait time for counselling support from OSARCC is around 18 months. It has a shorter waiting list for its community ISVA support, which is around three months.

The issue

Through the Organisational Resilience Support Programme for RASASF grantees, OSARCC
took the opportunity to get free consultancy support from Cranfield Trust to develop a strategic plan. This was critical to achieve continued stabilisation of the charity and increase funding to continue delivering current services in the short term.

In the longer term, the charity wanted to achieve diversification of funding streams to enable it to expand its service delivery, with a with a particular focus on supporting children (and their families) that have experienced sexual violence.

The solution

Working one to one with the Cranfield Trust volunteer to a timeline that the CEO agreed and felt comfortable with, OSARCC developed a strategy that has helped it to plan out the next three years. This has provided the foundations the charity needed to put it on a firmer footing to focus on increasing income. The strategy focussed on key priorities:

• Providing firm foundations to increase funding to enable continuation of current services 
• Diversifying income streams to expand its service delivery to support children and their families.

The consultancy project took just six months, starting in October 2023, with the launch of OSARCC's new strategy in April 2024. 

OSARCC's Journey to Excellence diagnostic, pre and post project 

“Support from the Cranfield Trust has been incredibly helpful, and hugely appreciated. A huge impact!

"We now have a workable and well thought out strategy that has helped us plan and map for the next three years.

"Many varied impacts, depending on which type of service user, but all very positive.” Lauren Kendall CEO