ymca watford opportunities and risks
TRANSCRIPT
YMCA Watford
Board session:
Opportunities and Risks
55A happy man!Charity adviser- Wide variety of clientsManager for over 30 yearsPreviously led on strategic
business development in YMCA EnglandVice Chair Governors Leyton 6th Form College(until recently) Chair of East London Community
FoundationPassionate about young people
Paul Whitnall
Opportunities and risks -the culmination of the session!
Reached by 10 bite-size sessions,
around 10 minutes each
Format
Style…
Rabbiting on…
Watership Down…
◦From known to unknown◦From familiar to unfamiliar◦From comfortable to uncomfortable
◦From safe to…
Journey
What’s it like here?
Where are we now as a business?
Where are we now as to income streams?
Where are we now?
spectrum
The NCVO income spectrum
What’s our mix?
A: not very – just a few pennies
B: a little bit – around 10%
C: around a third of our income
D: pretty important – maybe 50-60%
E: big big part of our income – over 75%
How important is Government funding to you?
Is that how you want it to
be?
Why and how have you
allowed it to become that
way?
Brink of change
How are we feeling about likely cuts in
income from Govt right now?
cool
bothered
concernedVery worried
Panic!
There is life after government funding
Not going to talk about sinking
Where does it come from?
What is it for?
Group exercise...
What government funding are we talking about?
a statutory function ◦– something government is required/
supposed to do We should not relieve the state of its responsibilities
Exercise – what might this include? Education; prison; physical and mental
health; etc etc But what if state provision is inadequate??
Govt gotta do what Govt gotta do
Are they appropriate for us? Or inappropriate? What’s the scale we’re measuring that on?
Other things matter
Are there Opportunities here…?
Multiple bottom lines
Money not the only measure?Vision & mission documentWhat are our real measures of success?
Multiple bottom lines…
And reported to the Board?
How are they counted
Re-shape
Replace
Sink
Responses to the challenge ahead…
Change the project
◦ But may have been defined by the funder – its their project, not yours!
We face the challenge to determine our own shape◦ What will we do◦ What will it look like
1: Re-shape
Easy ways◦Reduce◦Redundancy
Hard way◦Re-engineer
Reshape
Change the source of the project’s income
Different sources have different requirements
2: Replace
Changing income type may require changes ~ of attitudes, culture and skills required◦Different activity◦Different management skills◦Different governance attitudes and approaches
Different types demand different characteristics
Do you have the skills?
Do you have people - on staff or board- with the skills?
Skills to attract funds are different in each segment...
Gotta need the
money…!
By Way 1: First rule of fundraising
What should you do?
◦Oh!- You’re
disqualified!
◦Cash on hand £1,557,000
◦Total assets £3,688,000
◦Profit last year: £390,000
Who are you?What do you do?What do you want to do?What difference will it make (and to whom)?
What will it cost (and who will pay for it)?
A little further down the by-way: 5 key questions in fundraising
From consumption to participation
Power and wealth now come from involvement of many
By Way 2: Mega trend…
Opportunity:membership gives us a route to empowerment and participation
Blue ocean strategy, a quick intro…
A heavy summary of a summary…
Blue Ocean Go somewhere new
Find it intelligently
Bravery can lead to big success!
risk pic…
Risk assessments – participative identification and scoring
What can go wrong?
Excel grid
We have considered opportunities and risks
What changes do we have to contemplate, and which do
we have to pursue?
Who is your hunter, chasing down a re-shaped future?
So..
Strategy Mission Purpose
Outcomes Beneficiaries Evidenced improvements
Added value Value for money
Presentation Persuasion
Prepare to work hard
