Vanessa Swann
Organisational Strategy & Development Consultant / Executive Mentor
I am an experienced former CEO of a major arts / social enterprise charity, Cockpit Arts, and have a proven track record of successfully starting up, growing and expanding Arts, Charities & Social Enterprise organisations, including turnaround and enterprise development. I have been consulting for several years specialising in Organisational Development and Change Management including governance, strategic business planning, income generation, stakeholder engagement and communications. I am a qualified Social Enterprise adviser with coaching, mentoring and facilitator experience; an experienced Trustee in the visual arts and music sector and a Consultant Grant Assessor. As well as undertaking organisational briefs, I provide personal mentoring and coaching to CEOs and managers.
Examples of recent assignments for clients including Arts Council Wales, Nesta innovation foundation, CAF Global Alliance, SE Assist Brighton, School for Social Entrepreneurs and The Fore:
- Change management for a community arts organisation involving a new communication and political influencing strategy
- Strategic support involving an organisational restructure and repositioning of a regional arts centre with business planning ad HR advice
- 360-degree organisational review of a local authority-owned performing arts centre to achieve cost savings and improve operational effectiveness.
- Strategic support to align services offered by a regional crafts centre with local authority tourism strategies.
- Facilitation for a national social sector organisation helping managers working remotely to decide on new ways of working together to better support organisational goals.
- Research and brokering of introductions between UK and Russian organisations involved in social change and civil society development.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Strategic planning
Business planning
Social enterprise development
Fundraising and earned income/sustainable funding
Change management
Charity management and governance
Leadership development
Stakeholder engagement
Partnership working
Negotiation
Property development
Premises management
Hilary Barnard
Hilary Barnard is a strategy, change and organisational development consultant. He works across the third sector, and with statutory and private sector partners in the UK and internationally.
In today’s challenging conditions, with insight and creativity Hilary helps organisations to find strategies and sustainable solutions that ensure effective delivery of charites’ expertise, services and campaigns. He works with clients on rethinking and reinventing business models and approaches to ensure continued relevance and sustainability.
Relevant assignments include:
- Strategy reviews for Citizens Income Trust, Oxford Research Group, Anti Bullying Alliance, Play England, Macfarlane Trust, PLIAS Resettlement and IPSEA
- Governance reviews for National Governors Association, CISV International, Freud Museum, BTCV, Crohn’s & Colitis UK, and Article 19; and under the AIM Prospering Boards programme
- Leadership programmes for the Association of Independent Museums, Parkinson’s UK, Westminster City Council and NAPIMS (Nigeria)
- Facilitating Boards, teams and partnerships (International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, Blenheim/HAGA, BOND/Young Minds, Volunteering Matters, Bridge Mental Health)
- Supporting fifuteen merger processes and much partnership development
- Undertaking service reviews (NDCS Family Support Service) and organisational reviews (Friends of the Earth, Tilbury on the Thames Trust and Elfrida Society)
- Policy and project management of the Children’s Workforce Network (Sector Skills Councils, regulators, Central and Local Government)
- Advising successful 8 figure pfeg led funding bid to Government for financial competence training in schools
- Devising generic competency framework for permanent staff in Students Unions (NUS Charitable Services commission)
- Evaluations of the DCLG funded £1 million+ Talking Together programme (commissioned by TimeBank), the Skills for Care funded Hospice education and training project (commissioned by Hospice UK), and the income generation NSS workstream (commissioned by ACEVO)
- Action learning/change programme for Valuing People for local partnership implementation (commissioned by Department of Health)
- Product/service reviews for Living Streets and CABE
- Stream of ENHANCE organisational development projects for Lloyds Bank Foundation
Hilary is a a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a member of the Organisational Development and Innovation Network, and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. He has been a Senior Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School and the external examiner for the MSc in voluntary and community sector studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Hilary has written widely on leadership, strategy, governance and organisational development in the sector for Civil Society Finance, Civil Society Governance, Leader to Leader, Network, Governance & Compliance and Caritas. He is the author of Step Change (Cass CCE 2012), Improving Equality & Diversity: A guide to Third Sector Chief Executives (ACEVO 2011), Whose Localism? (Cass CCE 2011), Big Society, Cuts & Consequences (Cass CCE 2010), Really Intelligent Commissioning (ACEVO 2009), Vertical Integration (NCB/VCS-Engage 2007), Added Value, Changing Lives: a social capital study (VAW 2006), and Design For Health (Mind 2003). He is a regular book reviewer on strategy and governance for Governing Matters (NGA). Hilary’s evaluation report (2015) of the TimeBank Talking Together programme can be accessed on the TimeBank website. He is the co-author of Improving Equality & Diversity: a guide for third sector Chief Executives (ACEVO 2011) and Strategies for Success (NCVO 1994).
He collaborates regularly with Ruth Lesirge, also a member of the Experience Network, under the umbrella of HBRL Consulting.
Marcus Ward
Marcus is a highly experienced and accredited management consultant and former charity CEO, with well-developed strategic, income-generating, financial and operational management skills. He is a creative and innovative thinker who originally studied law, and worked as a Director in the commercial sector, prior to spending the last 20+ years working for and with charities and social enterprises as CEO and then consultant.
Marcus is a partner in Peach Consultancy, which has undertaken work in almost every discrete area of the voluntary sector, and conservatively raised over £50 million for civil society organisations. Peach Consultancy works with many funders, and is probably the most widely accredited voluntary sector consultanty in the UK.
We specialise in:
- capacity building, organisational development and governance audits
- strategic reviews and business planning
- income generation, fund-raising and social enterprise development
- options appraisals and feasibility studies
- tendering applications and commissioning
- partnership development and collaborative working
- social research, monitoring and evaluation
Previous larger national clients include:
- The Alzheimer’s Society
- Down’s Syndrome Association
- Age UK England
- Electoral Reform Society
- Comic Relief, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Young Foundation
- Breast Cancer Care
- MIND UK
- ACEVO (4-year ‘FCR national training’ programme and ‘Costing Personalised Budgets’ programme)
- NAVCA (‘Stronger Fitter Consortiums’ and the ‘Tendering Support’ programmes)
- British Deaf Association
- Spinal Injuries Association
- Music in Detention
- Bail for Immigration Detainees
Previous SME clients include:
- 170 Community Project, Bonnington Centre and Chalkhill Community Facility
- CVSs and volunteer bureaux in Croydon, Cumbria, Wakefield, Lambeth, Cornwall, Lewisham, Oxford, Sutton, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow and Hounslow
- Disability Croydon and Choice in Hackney
- Eaves Housing for Women and Agenda for Change
- Age UKs in Enfield, Croydon, Redbridge, Haringey
- MIND Cumbria and MIND Dartford
- CAB Epson and Ewell
- Headway Basingstoke
We are, or have previously been approved/recommended consultants for:
- ACEVO
- NAVCA
- Community Development Foundation
- Adventure Capital Fund
- Lloyds Bank Foundation
- Rape Crisis (England & Wales)
- MIND UK
- Age UK
- Evelyn Oldfield Unit
- Several local infrastructure organisations and CVSs
In addition to direct work with many civil society organisations, Marcus has also undertaken a wide range of organisational development and capacity building projects for representative and umbrella groups, and public sector agencies including Local Authorities, and Health Agencies.
Nigel Siederer
Operates as Good Foundations Consultancy
- Governance / constitutions / Charity and Company registration
- Assessing grant applications
- Post award assistance and evaluation
- Grant-making principles/practice
- Training trustees
- Sector strategy
- Designing and taking off results of surveys
- Working with networks and infrastructure
- Writing / editing
Recent clients include:
Amanah Awqaf Charitable Trust (helping constitute and register new charitable company)
Association of Charitable Foundations (confidential member salary survey)
Burdett Trust for Nursing (assessing grant applications and monitoring outcomes)
Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust (assessing grant applications and post-award assistance)
East-West Management Institute (contributing to international philanthropy project)
Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (governance advice)
Post Adoption Centre UK (helping to prepare a contract tender and training staff in the skills needed)
Romney Tweed (helping to constitute and register new community interest company)
Wild Team Conservation (helping constitute and register new charitable company)