Consultancy

Creating strategy

As 2020 taught us, strategy needs to be flexible and adaptable to meet emerging situations. To do that you need a clearly bounded theory of change – ideally through the strategy map and balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology.

=mc Consulting is the leading global expert on helping senior teams to develop strategy using the Strategy Map and BSC approach. Among the organisations they have worked with are Macmillan Cancer Support, UNICEF UK, The Children’s Society and The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Over a series of workshop-based sessions their consultants will help you develop a robust situational analysis, a set of key drivers to focus attention, a flexible and adaptable strategy map, a scorecard and action plan to check that action is taken and impact measured.

Commercial awareness and generating earned income

With increasing pressure on institutional subsidy, and private giving not growing as fast as we had hoped, earned income looks increasingly attractive. With this income any surpluses are your own and unrestricted. And of course, it provides you with sustainable funds to plan for the future.

The =mc Consulting team has unique experience in the UK helping organisations develop an income driven approach to commercial awareness for staff and managers. Over the last five years we’ve worked with organisations as diverse as RSPCA, Age Exchange, the British Film Institute, Plymouth City Council and the National Trust, exploring projects from selling animal protection to the film industry to arts-based dementia services to care homes.

In a rigorous, systematic process =mc Consulting can help: identify any potential intellectual property or assets; clarify key market opportunities and audiences; build a business model and business case; seek social investment; and engage staff and managers in an entrepreneurial way of thinking.

Fundraising Consultancy

The next 10 years will see a period of unprecedented change in the way fundraising is carried out – growth in digital, ageing baby boomers, the struggle to engage millennials, impact of legislation, and increasing numbers of causes seeking funds.

=mc Consulting has unrivalled experience and capacity, to help organisations improve and even transform their fundraising results. Their work covers all the key streams – individual, institutional, corporate, foundation, etc. They can support your fundraising through the following ways:

• Building capital campaigns: Capital campaigns, including funds for equipment, buildings, endowments or major projects, are becoming more common. =mc Consulting has been involved in the most exciting, innovative and challenging campaigns in recent years – US$30M for an environmental endowment in Tanzania; US$6M to secure the future of the world’s largest dinosaur in Argentina; £45M for a mediaeval cathedral in England; £30M for a hospital development; and £10M to support dementia research. =mc Consulting can help you establish what options might be available and the steps involved. 
• Engaging high value donors: We are experiencing the greatest ever global wealth disparity. The bad news is this is a source of social inequity; the good news is that there are more high net worth individuals and ultra-high net worth individuals than ever. And even better, many of these individuals have a commitment to philanthropy. =mc consulting can help you identify them and to develop propositions and cases to engage your prospects. They also offer training and coaching to help volunteers and staff make the ask. Finally, they ensure that you have a robust stewardship strategy to keep your supporters happy.
• Creating sustainable income: =mc Consulting can help you identify how to grow unrestricted income. The answer could be monthly pledges and regular giving from individuals; income from charged for services or even a separate trading business. Working with an =mc Consulting expert allows you to establish the potential for your organisation – and the vital risk and return ratio.
• Developing global campaigns: =mc Consulting has helped build global strategies for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF International, WWF International, and MSF International – as well as a number of smaller ambitious agencies like Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) and ADESO Somalian humanitarian organisation. This unique experience allows us to blend an understanding of international markets with strategic insight into how to ensure organisations working in multiple territories genuinely function globally.
• Developing an integrated strategy and supporter experience: The nature of fundraising means individual income streams often develop their own distinct approaches – each effective in its own way, but then missing out on the chance to build synergies between streams or across channels. So, the link between a high net worth individual, their foundations and their companies may be missed, or a long-term supporter may not be encouraged to offer a legacy or bequest. =mc Consulting has worked with almost every major UK charity on developing integrated strategies, including British Red Cross, Diabetes UK, Oxfam, BHF, Age UK, RNLI and more. If you need support or insight to build an integrated strategy they can help.