Experience

The Cranfield Trust

• Chief Executive

  • Jan 2000 - Present

  Cranfield Trust is the leading pro bono management consultancy for the voluntary sector in the UK. We work with welfare charities, addressing issues of poverty, disability and social exclusion. Every year we work with over 550 front-line charities on management projects. Our consultancy is delivered by volunteers from the commercial sector, who give their time freely, and managed by our staff team of Project Managers, based in different regions around the country. Our projects cover a wide range of management issues and challenges: over half our projects in the last year have been working with trustees and charity leaders to confirm strategy and to develop business plans, as charities work to set their own agendas in a challenging operating environment. We also offer projects in financial management, marketing, HR, IT and governance, and around challenges such as starting new activities, mergers, and restructuring. Our volunteers will work on any project where commercial sector skills transfer well to the voluntary sector. We also place volunteers as mentors to charity leaders and managers and find that this is particularly valuable at present. Having a senior management professional to discuss a range of problems and challenges with is a great benefit in a very difficult climate – many charity Chief Executives need support across a range of issues. As well as consultancy and mentoring, we also provide information and advice on employment through our online service HRNet (charities receive regular newsletters and can ask their own questions on employment problems), and run a series of management masterclasses, delivered by expert practitioners. We are developing new services to meet the needs of charities, working with our volunteer group - over 1,200 commercial sector professionals who give their time, free, to deliver our services. Cranfield Trust is a charity itself, we are grateful for the support of funders and donors who make our work possible.