Navigating uncertainty - revitalising a charity at a crossroads
My colleague, Julie Close and I have been reflecting on a recent commission we worked on together. We worked with a small group of trustees who were leading an organisation that was considering closing. Their founder had recently died, their work (mainly as a grant maker) paused during covid and hadn’t really restarted. They had no digital systems, online presence or current policies. They were feeling that they had no clear way forward and felt a little trapped in the past. All of the trustees were ready to step down.
They appointed us, with the support of their local infrastructure organisation, to help them decide what to do next.
So, what did we do?
We listened to what they had achieved, what they were proud of and what they were concerned about.
We spent time getting to know the people and organisations who were potential beneficiaries – a wide range of people from professionals in health, through to homeless centres, faith groups, and social prescribers. We would have loved to engage GPs but couldn’t get an appointment.
We explored what similar charities were doing, and opportunities for working together.
We created an “ideas list”, a menu of what the charity could be doing, and helped them decide what was important to them.
So, what did they decide?
They decided to continue, while still wanting to step down as trustees in the near future
They realised the need to recruit a new team and to have an online presence.
Next steps
Engagement Solutions worked with them to:
Launch a trustee recruitment campaign, taking the lead on everything from drafting role descriptions to arranging interviews. We used all of our networks, and those of the existing trustees, along with the local infrastructures volunteer platform and the national REACH platform.
Create a Communications Plan including a new website.
Develop a suite of appropriate and up to date policies.
The results
5 new trustees recruited and inducted, including a qualified Treasurer, a Digital Trustee, a local and experienced Chair, a person with lived experience and a health professional.
A series of away days that built relationships between the trustees, developing and agreeing a shared set of values and an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of trustees and how to work as an effective team.
An emerging strategy
Our learning
Our skills were complementary, with Martha able to use her extensive engagement and policy knowledge, and Julie with her community development, theory of change and governance experience.
The importance of working at the pace of trustees, all busy people. We produced brief reports and recommendations monthly, backed up by more in-depth papers for those that had time to read them.
The importance of the Better Way behaviours, that we used to underpin this work. We spent time building relationships, really listening to each other, working together with other organisations and importantly having sometimes tricky and challenging conversations about sharing power. For new trustees, they needed to be clear about their responsibilities and influence.
We love this type of work, helping organisations grapple with difficulties and come up with solutions. If you are interested in working with us, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
