In October 2008 Impetus asked OC&C Strategy Consultants to undertake a strategic review of portfolio charity IntoUniversity, and specifically to look at a number of issues relating to the sustainability of IntoUniversity's growth in the medium-term. Vicky Walton, then a OC&C Strategy Consultant, was a member of the team working on the project.
OC&C concluded that IntoUniversity (IU) has a strong position with good growth prospects especially in inner London, a well-developed centre model and an excellent reputation.
OC&C identified a number of operational changes that may be helpful as IU scales up. These include widening the funding base, and increasing the operational management and head office capacity.
How did you get involved?
I started at OC&C in January 07, and this was my first project
of this kind. Impetus projects are highly sought after, so I was
really pleased to be chosen for one. They are completely different,
and give everyone a chance to put the principles we apply all the
time in our corporate work, to use in a charity. It's really
exciting because there, it's not about how to make money, but how
to use what you've got most effectively, which is quite a different
way of looking at things.
What was the challenge you were working
on?
IntoUniversity have this enormous growth plan,
and what we were there to do was to help them think through what
they needed to put in place, both internally and externally, as
they expand from 3 to 12 centres by 2013.
What surprised you?
Every single person I met was so passionate, so
completely sold on the idea of what they were doing and how they
were doing it and that this was the best way of doing it. They are
all very dedicated, and much more emotionally involved than we
usually find with other clients. People [at
IntoUniversity] aren't doing this because they
want to be high powered. They do it because they want to see the
impact they're having on people, every day. It's a completely
different incentive system to corporate life. It was awesome to
see!
How was the experience for you?
I loved working on this project. It's nice to think
you're putting something back rather than helping someone else get
a bit richer. It's very rewarding, to help a charity keep doing the
things they're doing and hopefully do even better things in the
future.
This project allowed us to explore all different aspects of the charity and think about things in a different way. Which is really valuable because that's really what you do strategy for, to have detailed discussions, apply the right principles and look for new solutions.
What will you remember most?
IU's mission is to educate children who wouldn't necessarily go to
university to think about university from a very young age so they
have something to aspire to. One of the programmes IU runs is a
week-long workshop for primary school children, and one day we went
to one of sessions at IU's Lambeth Centre. We sat in on a primary
school class where only one student in the whole class knew what
exams you do at age 16. They had no idea about secondary school or
university. It shocked me, because I was always brought up with
this goal of going to university. Here were all these kids who just
hadn't heard about it and it was amazing seeing what they were
being exposed to. That little week has actually opened their minds
up to what the possibilities are. It's all about people's
aspirations and what they believe they can achieve.
What do you hope for, from the work you did?
That IntoUniversity achieves its goal.
I'd love to keep in touch, to know how things are going. As part of
our work with IntoUniversity, we connected with
another Impetus charity, Speaking Up, which OC&C had worked
with before. It was great to talk to the chief executive and
understand from him how we'd helped, what he'd been through and
where he'd got to, which is growing an awesome charity. It would be
fantastic to talk to IntoUniversity in a couple of
years' time, and to know we've made a real difference.
Would you do it again?
Yes, I'd love to!! I'm doing my best now talking to the
person in charge of staffing, to try to get another Impetus
project.
Read about OC&C employee Daire Taylor's experience working with beat, and find out about how our individual pro bono experts have worked with Impetus charities and social enterprises.
I decided to support Impetus because I want to get the most for my money. The charities they select will have a high potential to make a difference and with support from Impetus they increase their chances of being real winners.
Ian Armitage
HgCapital, Impetus donor