An insight into the project management charity sector

For the last year I have immersed myself in the world of charities and CICs. It started out as a simple longing to help, but it quickly grew into a strong passion. I found there was so much that could be done, so much still to do and all of it owing to the greater good.  

From planning events, to fundraising, to managing volunteers, project management strategies are incredibly vital to the success of many voluntary organisations. There is a lot of hard work and time put into running these organisations without financial get-back. So why do we do it? It’s simple – if you can help, then do. 

Usual project management strategies such as planning, budgeting, communication, monitoring, resource management, risk management, team management and of course, evaluation, all come into play with the charity sector. Here’s my experience of these: 

One of the CICs (aspiring to become a charity) I volunteer for is called Ecliptic Group. When I was first approached to join, I was confused. A non-profit marketing agency, what? Never had I heard of such a thing, so my interest was piqued. After joining I thought this was actually one of the most ingenious ideas! Why wouldn’t I want to help small businesses, charities and CICs with super low-cost (sometimes free) marketing strategies? That’s what we do, and expanding to more, like business formation and maintenance support.  

Ecliptic Group required all the project management skills I had learned and an open mind to use these skills flexibly and interchangeably. It showed me new ways to use my skills while finding solutions and developing strategies. A real thinking-out-the-box experience. I love the challenge and the opportunities to grow my understanding and ideas. 

Planning, in the form of client growth strategies, implementation and execution. How can we help, presenting the plan, putting it into action.  

Budgeting was harder to get my head around as we didn’t have one. Non-profit means just that; there’s no money as profit. So how do we deliver our services? Figuring out that cost covering was the only necessity but as we could keep our prices very low, it meant we could break the economic barrier that most low-income small businesses face. So budgeting meant planning for cost coverage – it was a new world to learn and definitely a new way of thinking was required. 

Communication both internally for all our staff who are all unpaid volunteers, and externally for our clients is always my favourite. Building relationships with the volunteers and keeping up the morale, ensuring we uphold the inclusion and diversity policies we champion. Corporate communication style does not fit in here. Respect and trust is the lifeline, and communication means working together. After all, no one is financially benefitting by staying. They choose to stay because they want to help, because they feel heard, validated and included. The same goes for our clients. At first, they don’t believe such a good thing exists, waiting for the catch, but there is none. Communication here is equally based on respect and trust, and a whole lot of transparency.  

Coming on to monitoring... Another new for me, no Gant Charts or any of the typical monitoring platforms. Measurement of success is purely ensuring the strategies are set, delivered and put into action. You watch the client take them and run with them. Offer the support they need, guidance and advice. But essentially, you measure how many people you can help, how your services are impacting their growth and development. On the marketing side that looks like monitoring their insights and analytics for social media engagement. Applying thoughts and ideas for improvement and offering design support, tweaking and refining the strategies for flexibility and the chance to see what’s working, what’s not, and what we haven’t yet tried.  

Resource management and team management for us is one in the same. Our team is our greatest resource. Without them, we would not be able to deliver the services we do. Ensuring our team is happy, comfortable, have the flexible time they need, feel heard and validated, have the space to contribute in decision making, have the autonomy to use their skills and upskill as they want to – these are our aims. Skill sharing, co-operative working on strategies, support for each other and jumping in when help is needed – this is how we grow our resources. Keeping on top of mental health and personal growth and wellbeing for all our volunteers is a necessity. This is why we value recognition for all the hard work that gets done. 

Our risks are relatively low, but not non-existent. It’s our duty to ensure our clients’ data is safe and secure, so having strong and tight GDPR policies are key. Security on their accounts and information, that’s the main risk management we undertake. Of course, naturally other aspects like service delivery and technology we use comes under that too. Another aspect is ensuring all our policies are adhered to and followed well. Building and maintaining a good brand reputation is important, and we review risks to this with the work we do – do the clients we support uphold our values, do our volunteers carry our values and promote them? 

Evaluation is where we focus our efforts on maintaining good relationships with both our volunteers and clients. We ask them what helps you, what can we do to improve your experience, what support do you need now or in the future? It’s the continuous support that we aim to deliver. You’ll often find the hashtag “#wegotyou” in our posts because we mean it. If our clients are succeeding in their organisations, if our volunteers are motivated and engaged, we have done our job properly.  

Working within the non-profit sector means the profit is holistic rather than financial. Your profit looks like people succeeding in their own lives, their own growing profit incomes, their booming engagement, their rise. That’s why we do what we do. Providing the essential hand-up that most small businesses and non-profit organisations need to boost themselves so they can do what they need to do to help others. Sounds soppy I know, but that’s the reality. 

 

You may also be interested in:

• What is project communication?
• Introduction to Project Planning