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The MENA Blogs Part 5 – The King’s Speech

This blog post is the Fifth in a series of posts from =mc’s Senior Associate Consultant Laurence Brady, who is currently undertaking an exciting piece of fundraising work in the Middle East and North Africa. During his time on the project, Laurence will be writing regular blog posts in a series called ‘The MENA Blogs’. […]

The MENA Blogs Part 6 – Instructions for the Crossing

This blog post is the sixth in a series of posts from =mc’s Senior Associate Consultant Laurence Brady, who is currently undertaking an exciting piece of fundraising work in the Middle East and North Africa. During his time on the project, Laurence will be writing regular blog posts in a series called ‘The MENA Blogs’. […]

How do I build a successful career journey?

In this blog, Senior Learning & Development Consultant Laura Slater shares three key ideas for creating a successful career path… How do I build a successful career journey? From Forest Ranger to Learning & Development Consultant in six years is quite a journey. It’s a journey that has taken me to exactly where I want […]

The MENA Blogs Part 9 – Marwan’s Story

This blog post is the ninth in a series of posts from =mc’s Senior Associate Consultant Laurence Brady, who is currently undertaking an exciting piece of fundraising work in the Middle East and North Africa. During his time on the project, Laurence will be writing regular blog posts in a series called ‘The MENA Blogs’. […]

Being productive – 5 ways of staying on track

Dealing with a seemingly never ending to-do list and constant interruptions can seem overwhelming at times – read on to discover ways of thriving in a busy environment with this blog by Yvette Gyles, Assistant Director at =mc: Being Productive – 5 ways of staying on track Staying productive is tricky. We all have moments […]

Beyond the Induction — 5 things you need to do to help your colleague

The latest post from our new Learning and Development consultant Yvette Gyles is around what you can do to help out a new colleague. Following on from the post I wrote last week, I’ve been thinking about the support I’ve been getting in my first few days here at =mc. I’ve had great support, and […]

National Arts Fundraising School Alumni – our greatest challenges

In this blog, =mc Senior Consultant Philly Graham writes about the recent reunion event held for 20 arts fundraising professionals who have been on the National Arts Fundraising School (a week long residential programme run by The Management Centre). There was a great gathering of minds last week, while some of the National Arts Fundraising School alumni […]

Don’t fundraise in India, train fundraisers in India

In this post, guest blogger John Godfrey shares his thoughts on fundraising in India. John is a fundraising consultant and trainer in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and India. As well he is a PhD candidate at Swinburne University, Melbourne researching HNWI philanthropists in India. He blogs and writes articles for fundraising publications including NPQuarterly Newswires. He […]

Why do projects fail?

In this blog =mc‘s Senior L&D consultant Philly Graham shares ideas on why certain projects fail and what you can do to avoid this. Why do projects fail? Depressing though it is, I think we can all say we have been involved in a project that has gone wrong in some shape or form. But […]

5 Lessons from the Battersea Arts Centre Phoenix Fund

In this blog, we look at Battersea Arts Centre’s Phoenix Fund campaign (born after the devastating fire in the Grand Hall) and discuss what worked well and how other organisations can learn from it. 5 Lessons from the Battersea Arts Centre Phoenix Fund The fire that devastated the Grand Hall at Battersea Arts Centre and […]

Emergency giving – a personal view

In this blog, Angela Cluff gives a personal perspective on fundraising appeals, and the impact of statistics versus individual stories on giving. It’s been a busy few days, so good to relax on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand, football on in the background and catching up on Twitter. This caught my eye. […]

Four ways to ensure learning transfer

In this blog, =mc’s Senior Learning & Development Consultant Charlotte Scott shares four ways of ensuring that the learning you’ve invested in is passed on and applied throughout your organisation. If you’ve spent time and money on training and development (or are thinking about doing so), this blog is a must-read! Four Ways to […]

7 things to think about when managing challenging people

In this blog =mc’s Assistant Director Yvette Gyles looks at 7 key questions to help you work out how best to manage challenging people. As a manager, one of the most difficult things to deal with is managing ‘challenging’ people, whether it’s because you don’t get on with them on a personal level, or they’re not […]

How can I engage people in my change?

In this blog, =mc‘s Principal Learning & Development Consultant Charlotte Scott shares insights on how to engage staff throughout a change process, by first analysing what’s driving the change. How can I engage people in my change? Question: From Charity CEO: We are a growing organisation, and our programme work has grown significantly in the […]

How do I find out what makes my staff tick?

In this blog, Principal Consultant Charlotte Scott shares practical advice on how to motivate your teams. I want my team to feel motivated in their roles – what can I do? It’s generally agreed that motivation is a Good Thing – and a topic all managers think about at some point. Motivated staff perform their […]

Behavioural Economics in fundraising: Time to get on board?

=mc director Bernard Ross and Omar Mahmoud Chief of Market Intelligence, UNICEF International presented a session at the National Fundraising Convention on behavioural economics. Below Omar Mahmoud suggests some of the issues they talked about. Based around their forthcoming book Change for Good, Using Behavioural Economics for a Better World. Behavioural economics – why it’s time for […]

Innovation in Action

In this blog, =mc‘s Assistant Director Yvette Gyles shares 5 ideas for improving innovation, and how these steps are already helping organisations such as ActionAid. We’re good at coming up with ideas in my organisation – the creative bit – but they never seem to get off the drawing board. Where are we going wrong with our […]

Creating a culture of individual giving in the Arts

In this blog =mc Fundraising Consultant David Burgess offers practical ways that Arts & Cultural organisations can introduce a culture of individual giving rather than relying on large (and increasingly fewer) grants, and why it’s necessary to adapt in the current climate. Creating a culture of individual giving in the Arts Sunday 26 April was […]

Once again charities are being accused of irresponsible behaviour towards vulnerable donors. What should we be doing to avoid this?

In this blog, =mc Fundraising expert Angela Cluff discusses the impact of the recent Olive Cooke story on charities and non-profits. Discover (or remind yourself) what works, what doesn’t, and what’s best for your donors… Whatever the truth of the circumstances behind the sad death of Olive Cooke it raises serious issues for leaders in fundraising […]

Social Investment and Social Enterprises in the arts

In this blog, =mc Fundraising consultant David Burgess shares his thoughts on Social Investment as a means of arts fundraising following Peter Bazalgette’s article in the Independent. Peter Bazalgette’s piece in The Independent (Wednesday 10 June 2015) about the Arts Impact Fund has got a lot of people talking about Social Investment, Social Enterprises and […]

5 Things I learnt from my New York trip

In this guest blog we’re delighted to introduce Beth Bate, a 2014/15 Clore Leadership Fellow and Director of Great North Run Culture in Newcastle upon Tyne. She’s also an Alumna of the National Arts Fundraising School run by =mc. Find out what she thought of the School in this NAFS video blog. 5 Things I learnt from my […]

1. Change Series: Why Change?

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” Niccolo Machiavelli – The Prince. Machiavelli’s words, written in the 15th century, have a resonance for us today. They tell us that […]

Check out our book on Breakthrough Thinking

Breakthrough Thinking for Non-profit Organizations is based on a simple but challenging idea: “Good performance” is no longer good enough for non-profits. In a world of increasing demands that must be met, non-profits must set and achieve breakthrough goals Bernard Ross and Clare Segal show non-profit managers and board members how to transform their thinking […]

Have you seen our latest book?

Clare Segal and I offer an alternative effective model for asking and influencing potential donors and peers, using the latest techniques developed in the neural and psychological sciences. In this groundbreaking book we show you how to: make a compelling ask to mid– and high–value donors win board members over to a new campaign strategy […]

Innovation Roles for Innovation Managers

So you want to help….Innovation Roles for Innovation Managers I’ve been doing lot of work lately for charities on innovation – which Philip Kotler calls “the only sustainable advantage.” The work covers big charities like UNICEF International and smaller ones like the RNIB, a UK disability charity. We’ve been doing a number of different things […]

‘They call me Naughty Lola’… credibility and charity

At Winnipeg airport on my way home… and having a think. I’ve just been working with an outstanding group of senior non-profit leaders here in Winnipeg on the issue of Personal Presence and Credibility – organised by AFP Manitoba. (BTW 5 stars to them for speaker care.) We talked in my session about cool ‘tricksy’ […]

Wild West and Change

Next week I’m running, with colleagues, the =mc consultancy skills programme. It’s full of cool stuff on innovation, strategy, financial analysis etc. All the cool stuff is …cool. But the most important sessions in the programme, I think are on change. And the more I help in change settings with NGOs the more I feel […]

Leadership Lessons from the Titanic for Charities

It’s today- April 14th. The date the Titanic sank. In case you’ve been living on another planet for the last 100 years you should know that today, on her maiden voyage, the pride of the White Star Line hit an iceberg 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Within two hours and 40 minutes the […]

2. Change Series: The 8-Step Approach to Change

In my last blog I wrote about the key drivers for change. This blog focuses on a well-established model for change. The most commonly used, and easy to adapt, model is that developed by US management consultant and Harvard Professor John Kotter. Originally developed for business, we have found it useful for charities and other […]

3. Change Series: Applying the 8-Step Approach

The 8-step model seems very straightforward when you explain it as in my second blog. But it’s less easy to implement. Let’s go through each step in a little more detail. Step 1: Create Urgency “Orchestrating pain messages throughout the institution is the first step in developing organizational commitment to (major) change.” Rosabeth Moss Kantor […]

The next big thing?

Maybe it’s just ‘end of the year’ fever. But there seems to be a lot of interweb chatter about the Next Big Thing. Usually the answer seems to be very general like ‘social media’ or sometimes as simple as ‘twitter’. (Try #nonprofit2010 and see the flood.) I’m not sure. As a consultant who writes book […]

Is your strategy ‘hot’ or not? And does it matter?

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt” Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist, and author of The Art of War I’ve written lots about change in earlier blogs, so thought it might be interesting to think a bit about strategy in this one. Let’s first […]

Change management: the 5Cs of change response

Over the years =mc has carried out a significant body of research and change work with a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. And we’ve found there are five core reactions to change, that we call the 5Cs. To be an effective change manager you need to understand these five reactions in your colleagues and adopt […]

The Learning Leader

The Learning Leader- what do you in a crisis? Challenging times- especially crises- are a great reality check for ‘learning leadership’- whether you model an adaptive and flexible approach under pressure. The premise is simple when things go wrong and are at least partly out of their control then great leaders can show how quickly […]

The Rubik’s Cube of leadership

I’ve just finished another coaching session with a depressed CEO. I do lot of coaching for depressed CEOs and other leaders. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good business for my company (https://www.managementcentre.co.uk)- and for Kleenex. But I feel like an ambulance chaser, surviving on the misery of others. Misery’s a strong word. But many leaders, […]

Scroogenomics: why reindeer jumpers, singing fish and novelty clocks shouldn’t be under our Christmas trees

Had a wonderful day yesterday at London’s Royal Society of Arts (RSA). And met the engaging and urbane Joel Waldfogel, Ehrenkranz Family Professor of Business and Public Policy at the Wharton School in Pennysylvania. Joel is a serious scholar and mostly works on ‘proper’ academic issues – dammit he’s at Wharton. These issues range all […]

Sisyphus Syndrome

As a consultant I sometimes feel like a morbid ambulance chaser. I make a career from working with organizations with serious problems. Now some problems I don’t mind- we all make mistakes. But some organisations seem trapped in a Sysiphian cycle of not just making mistakes, but repeating the same mistakes again and again. they […]

So you’re good but could you be great…?

You may be Good but are you Great? Good to Great (G2G) is one of a series of influential books by US management guru Jim Collins which describes how commercial companies grow from being merely good to great. It has a great and profound line at the start which argues (merely) “good is the enemy […]

An introduction to Management Centre’s services for ethical organisations

These are challenging times if you’re responsible for running an ethical organisation such as a charity, public body, INGO or cultural organisation. Simply, there’s greater demand than ever for your services and greater competition for resources. To meet those twin challenges you may need help and advice from a management consultancy that specialises in the […]

The Fast and Furious – how heuristics can help

In an increasingly complex world we need more simplicity or more time. The challenge is time is scarce and inelastic. And according to some recent research by Boston Consulting Group managers can spend 40% of their time writing reports and 30% in meetings. The implication is they only have, at best, 30% of their time […]

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