Consultancy and support

My extensive experience as a senior manager in local authorities and the voluntary sector equip me for a wide range of consultancy work. 

Examples of recent consultancy work...

ORGANISATIONAL REVIEW FOR A LOCAL CHARITY

A local charity was successful in securing funding over a 3 year period. They asked me to carry out a review of their organisation to enable them to use this money to the best advantage of their clients. 

The review included talking to service users, staff, volunteers and trustees, as well as a desk top review of key documents. These were used to develop a report focusing on:

• The charity's track record to see where and how it had developed its strengths 
• Looking at the organisational structure to see how this would work and to consider if it would be fit for purpose in the future 
• A clear next steps action plan for the organisation

The charity trustees’ feedback was that, alongside the outside perspective, one of the most useful factor was the next steps action plan.

ACTION PLANNING WITH DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES

This involves taking an overview of organisational governance and identifying areas to work on.  These have included:

• Developing policies and procedures
• Staff structure reviews and restructures
•  Support with specific staffing issues
• Support with safeguarding 

SAFEGUARDING  

• I have extensive experience in the management of safeguarding.  This is supported by my experience in my role as lead volunteer for safeguarding for Girlguiding. 
• I have worked with several groups of  trustees to benchmark their practice against Charity Commissioner guidance and then develop a next steps action plan
• Alongside safeguarding, my specialist areas are audits of supervision files and processes, and recruitment and retention. As part of the audit, directors and/or trustees are offered full and comprehensive feedback and support with action planning.

FUNDING BIDS

I am experienced in writing funding bids and have successfully secured income from a variety of funders from £500 to a formal tender process for a £7 million contract. 

I am happy to help you look for suitable funders, write bids and develop project proposals.