Working with charities

 

Carrying out an organisational review

Sue Ryder is an ambitious charity, providing palliative, home and long-term neurological care. In 2011, the charity approached NPC to carry out an organisational review, to show where it was doing well, and where there was room for improvement.

NPC visited several Sue Ryder projects to observe the charity’s work. With an annual turnover of £75m, Sue Ryder is complex, and has several core programmes. During our research we visited a hospice, a residential home for neurological cases—including numerous activities for residents and the community—and shared accommodation for those living independently. We interviewed the senior leadership team and several trustees, and talked about the charity’s plans for the future.

We found Sue Ryder to be a well-run, progressive charity, not afraid to take difficult decisions. We presented our findings to chief executive Paul Woodward, who described our report as ‘agenda-setting’, and ‘a fair representation of the charity, accurate, [which] gave the senior management and trustees lots to think about, including some specific “things to go for”.’

Sue Ryder plans to use NPC’s report in several ways, including in its fundraising. Woodward told us, ‘Funders won’t have to take our word for it. When we are asking donors for big ticket donations they want a decent independent report with meaningful depth. We also see great value in using the report as part of the “due diligence” process when negotiating with strategic partners.’

The charity found the analysis so useful that the chief executive wants ‘a regular bi-annual update to keep the score’.

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