Shannon Trust Interim Leadership Case Study

It was an unusual start to an interim role. Far from the ordinary meet and greet with the team, I found myself travelling up to Leamington Spa on 19 March 2020 to have coffee with the Chair on my first …

Improving impact in the equalities sector

My job – in a nutshell – is to help make charities work better. I restructure staff teams to better enable productive and collaborative working. I help charities identify and achieve strategic targets to allow them to expand into new …

How to be a better funder

Grants and trusts funders vary enormously. Some are very large, giving vast amounts each year (sometimes with innovative and supportive systems and structure in place – I’m looking at you, National Lottery Community Fund and Comic Relief). Some are extremely …

How smaller charities can benefit from interim leadership

Interim CEO posts can be a high-impact and effective use of resources for small-to-medium charities, but the opportunities are sometimes disregarded by smaller organisations due to the higher costs of skilled interim leaders. It may come from a somewhat biased …

Managing your stress in a charity role

I was running a strategic planning course recently and invited everyone to introduce themselves. One attendee described the organisation she chaired, which was a place for relaxing, stress-free, simple holidays. The entire room of stressed-out, overworked and tired charity staff …

Setting your values as a charity – how and why it matters

It may be seen as just one step in the branding or strategic planning journey, but setting a charity’s values are of central importance and should be taken seriously. Why? Because a charity’s values set out what it prioritises. It …

In Celebration of Charity Chairs

No, I don’t really mean the thing you sit on. I mean the person who leads the Board and oversees and supports the CEO. I’ve worked with a number of Charity Chairs in my time – yes, a minority who …

Early warning signs of a failing Trustee Board

Working with many small-to-medium charities across the country, I meet many inspiring Trustees who are doing amazing work, often in challenging situations. I also come across many charities where things have gone badly wrong. This may be directly connected to …