Business Plan

Background

New Horizons Mental Health is a mental health and emotional well-being charity
based in Wales. First established in 1990 by a small group of volunteers to support
family members/ friends who were leaving the local long-stay psychiatric hospital.
Since then, the charity has gone from strength to strength and is now offering a
range of support for adults experiencing mental health issues who live in the Cwm
Taf Morgannwg area.

Challenge

New Horizons contacted Cranfield Trust in need of a new business plan for the next 3-5 years. With their last business plan having been created 5+ years ago and many changes in the mental health sector since then, their plan was outdated and they wanted a plan that could help them grow their services and secure more funding.

Solution

After initial conversations with Regional Manager for Wales, Jayne Kendall, the charity was matched with a volunteer with the skills best suited to their needs. In this instance, that was Ben Butler Madden, a business architect with 10 years of experience working within the financial services sector. 

Fortunate enough to work for an organisation that actively supports volunteering by offering its employees two days a year to volunteer, Ben was in search of a local charity to support where he could offer his professional expertise in business planning and strategy, to benefit the charity sector. Ben was also keen to better understand the charity sector and the challenges it faces for his own development. 

After making initial contact with Jayne, Ben quickly became a volunteer and wasted
no time in getting stuck in on this, his first project with Cranfield Trust.

Once on board, Ben spent time working with New Horizons to fully understand where the charity is now, how they have got there, and where it would like to be in the future. After gaining an understanding of the charity’s position and goals, Ben was able to start discussing the steps needed to reach those goals and how those might look. From these discussions, Ben was able to work with the charity to form a business plan. With Ben’s support in drawing out their ideas and how to structure them strategically, the charity was able to write the business plan themselves, giving them complete ownership of it and its implementation.

“We have found the Cranfield Trust's support for our charity to be enthusiastic, flexible, and long-term, allowing us time to think through what we discuss during sessions with our volunteers and follow-up. We are now more confident about business plans, our choices of services/products, and how to select those that will best fulfill our objectives/mission, doing what we do well rather than trying to do too much, is expected to have a positive effect on our services and service-users. We are glad to know that Cranfield is there for us and that Jayne (Wales manager) and Ben (volunteer) have
been highly supportive."  -New Horizons Mental Health

Impact

By working with Ben, New Horizons were able to produce a strategic business plan with clear actions to take over the next three to five years, helping them to secure funding and expand their offering. Since creating the plan, the charity has been able to secure lottery funding of almost £300,000. With demand for their services continuing to rise, the business plan will allow New Horizons to expand and grow its offerings, enabling them to better support their beneficiaries and reach those most in need with their services.

Working with Cranfield Trust has enabled New Horizons to successfully evaluate their position within the sector and set out clear goals for the future. These goals have been formulated into a clear strategic business plan, giving the charity clear actions to take away and start implementing.

Off the back of this, the charity has been able to secure funding that they previously would not have been approved for and feel more confident that they can best achieve their mission and objectives.

"Working on this project has allowed me to understand a whole new sector and develop new skills that I wouldn’t have previously gained in the same way in the corporate world. Volunteering within the charity sector has allowed me to understand people better, it has challenged me to re-think how I communicate with others and what resonates with them. That is something I have been able to bring back with me into my day job, to ensure I am being as accessible and engaging for others as I can. The whole experience has just made me think differently about how I approach things and has been rewarding." - Ben Butler-Madden, Cranfield Trust Volunteer