Life is change. Growth is optionalHow charities can succeed in a changing environment |
- August 2011
- 103 KB
Life is change. Growth is optional. (PDF)- Area: Charities and Not For Profit
Background
The challenges facing the charity and not for profit sector are putting organisations under pressure to do more with less and engage on public service delivery and deliver more for their partners and donors. Finding new ways of working with and benefitting from supporters, large and small, is therefore essential.
The donor landscape is changing and corporate partnerships which were typically based on the company simply raising cash for the charity now need to be richer, deeper and mutually beneficial relationships. Harnessing the expertise and insight of a business partner can have a more dramatic impact that traditional financial support.
Similarly, individual donors are becoming increasingly insistent on seeing tangible results for how their money is spent. Charities therefore need to give evidence of successful outcomes while driving down costs and communicating effectively with the public.
Key findings
The report discusses the challenges faced by the voluntary sector and indentifies key strategic areas for charities to focus on as they look to weather the current storms and change the way that they do business.
- Secure your core – Look at the portfolio of activities that your charity delivers and assess how central they are to the charity’s remit and culture.
- Look for new channels – Charities should be constantly looking for new ways of interacting with donors and partners.
- Collaborate – Look at organisations with a common interest that you can work with.
- Communicate effectively – Clear and smart communication with the market is essential.
- Cross-selling – Charities should look at making it easy to transfer donors between different fundraising areas.
- Empower your supporters – Paid staff should be focusing on how to get volunteers to do, and raise, more.
- Consider contracting – Some charities will need to look at how they can win new business through new mechanisms.
Change may require a fundamentally new way of working and new skill sets but the priorities Deloitte identifies and the questions we ask are crucial if charities are to adapt to the brave new world in which they will find themselves.
