In a rapidly changing environment, shared understanding of your direction is essential.

 

And your strategy should provide just that.

 

I believe that a good strategy:

Connects everyone in the organisation.

Sure the decisions might happen at Leadership level if that’s how accountability works in your charity.

But those decisions should be based on the voices of the people you exist for and the insights of those who do the work on a day to day basis. And wherever possible through consensus and shared commitment.

Embraces the verb as well as the noun.

(reminder for those, like me, who need it. verb = doing word, noun = thing)

Strategy is a mindset and behaviours we should nurture for use in our charities everyday.

That isn’t to say that everyone should constantly be in strategy mode.

But encouraging people to think critically, to reflect, to share, and to innovate will make your non-profit far more effective at delivering impact.

Acknowledges context.

And the truth is that the tools we often use for strategy were created for businesses looking to make profit. To become market leaders, beat out the competition. They are the measures of success.

The context for Social Impact organisations is different. Success for us is about impact first.

So using tools that focus on USP and competition sets us off on the wrong foot.

 

This is why I created a framework specifically for charity strategy.

It is designed to surface the important conversations, identify where most work is required, and bring people together through the process.

We will still use familiar tools like SWOT and dual bottom line analysis.

But grounding your strategy in purpose, the people you exist for, and what is important about how you work will ensure that you are making decisions which will enable you to best deliver your charitable objectives.

 

How we can work together

I recognise that whilst every charity can benefit from external facilitation and eye on their strategy, not all can afford it.

That’s why I work flexibly, depending on your needs.

I can:

• Deliver bespoke training on strategy and strategic planning, so there is shared understanding of need and approach in your charity.
• Facilitate discussions with your team around key strategic questions.
• Act as a strategic sounding board for CEOs and Charity leaders, supporting you through the process and helping keep things on track.
• Be your Strategic Planning partner – providing a mix of facilitation, consultancy and capacity to analyse the current situation.

Get in touch if you want to find out more.

 

Testimonials

“Working with Ali has enabled us to shift into a more strategic way of thinking, and to spend dedicated and useful time laying the groundwork with our board for building towards a realistic organisational strategy. It has demystified strategy and helped us to break the work down into achievable and practical actions which are part of our everyday work rather than sitting separately.

Ali’s approach has been so thoughtful and reflective throughout, and has given us lots of useful honest analysis to work with. The workshop she ran for us felt really tailored to our situation, with a good dose of pragmatism about matching our ambitions to our capacity, and a thorough write-up at the end to make sure we can pin down our next steps really clearly.”

Sophie, Deputy CEO, Cambridge Women’s Aid

 

“After a short briefing prior to the workshop event, Ali had clearly understood our requirements and she delivered a very well organised, engaging and thought-provoking meeting, with clarity and with a pragmatic “down-to-earth” approach that was appreciated by all attendees who have diverse backgrounds and skill sets.  It was refreshing to attend a meeting that was not scripted in advance and at times we enjoyed her sense of humour too.

Ali did not let the grass grow under her feet when it came to writing up her report, including recommendations, which has helped our Trustees to explore our charity’s strategic vision and plan for the next 3 to 5 years.

I would not hesitate recommending Ali to other charities.”

Trustee, Huntingdonshire based small charity