Impetus asked corporate partner OC&C Strategy Consultants to undertake a strategic review of the funding streams of portfolio charity beat, which helps people beat eating disorders. The aim was to ensure that beat would be financially robust as it scaled up the number of people it helped and raised its national profile. Associate Partner Daire Taylor led the OC&C team working on the project.
What challenge were you working on with
beat?
We were working with the chief exec Susan and the
beat leadership team looking at how to make
beat more sustainable. They generated income from
donations which wasn't sufficient to meet their overall costs. Yet
they had assets they weren't monetising. We were helping them think
more commercially about their business, and to prioritise where
they were spending their money.
Why were you chosen to lead this team?
I specialise in media, and beat is, in a lot of
respects, like a media company, with income generated from
advertising / directories, conferences and training courses. The
areas we looked at for beat were directly relevant
to the work we usually do for corporate clients. We did a major
piece of work after the beat work where the
corporate client's revenue streams were almost exactly the same as
beat's.
Within OC&C [working on an Impetus project] is seen as a bit of a reward for people. Many of the same principles we use in our commercial work apply here. But in other ways it's quite different from what we do on a day-to-day basis and it's seen as a good opportunity to take more senior role than you would otherwise have done. It's also a chance to get involved in businesses where there is a more immediate and noticeable impact, which is very rewarding and different from our usual corporate work that is often for much larger organisations.
beat do great work, fantastic work - that was the thing that was really inspiring. But that was also frustrating because they weren't getting the money and they weren't getting the financial respect that they deserved for all the good work they were doing. Helping to turn that around is what makes [this project] so rewarding.
What surprised you?
The surprising thing was how fast they were to action what they
learned from our work together, and how grateful they were for the
help. They were so receptive and responsive and thankful to have
someone who was providing their experience and helping them to do
better as a charity, to be a better business in many respects.
Susan is an excellent advocate and such a lovely person. She feels very passionate about the work beat does, and it was great to help her. They do a phenomenal amount with the limited resources they have. But she was frustrated because she wants to do so much more. Being able to provide her with direction so she could really capture her resources in a more effective manner was very satisfying.
All of the organisations we work with are a lot bigger, so the jump that they have to make is probably less than beat. beat was really going from being a very small organisation to something that could be enormous. It was almost as if we were working for a venture capital firm or a start-up company - that's the scale of the opportunity. It was very exciting. We'll be able to see the differences in a few years, whereas with the larger companies, the changes may be more incremental.
What did OC&C gain from working on pro bono projects
like this?
It's great that we are able to contribute to society in this way,
and we also make this commitment because it is rewarding for the
staff. The job we do is financially rewarding for us and very
interesting because of the range of projects we get to work on. But
we work very hard and we don't necessarily have the opportunity to
do the voluntary work we would like to do. I think most of us enjoy
the opportunity to give something back.
What do you hope for, for beat?
beat has enormous potential and I'd like to see
it fulfilling that potential, to really be at the forefront of
people's minds when you think of eating disorders and anorexia. I'd
like them to have more brand recognition for the work they do, the
ability to get to scale to be able to do more than that. They have
the ability to become the leading authority on eating disorders.
I'd like to see them become as high profile as that.
Find out how corporate partner ISIS worked with Street League, and read more about Impetus corporate partners.
Philanthropic giving can be such a pleasure. I find that the more I give away, the richer I feel.
Dame Stephanie Shirley
UK Ambassador for Philanthropy 2009 - 2010