Family Compass is a charity that offers therapies and support services to young people and families. Reaching a crucial phase in their development, they asked South West Growth Service to help them develop a detailed strategy for sustainable growth.
General, Strategy
Helping a Family Charity Grow With Confidence
Posted on 20th April, 2022 in General, Strategy
Family Compass is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation that offers therapies and support services to young people and families. The support they offer is typically aimed at improving wellbeing and helping young people to overcome anxiety and other barriers to education and inclusion. The team also provides dedicated post-adoption support.
Having received funding from the Enterprise Development Programme, Operations Director Lucy Capron and Development Director Keda Johnstone decided to engage the South West Growth Service to run a strategy planning event.
“We thought it would be a good opportunity to evaluate where we were, and where we should focus our energy for the future,”explained Lucy.
“Chris Lorimer initially engaged the whole team in the process to get a really good understanding of how we work. This helped to make the subsequent strategy day really productive,” said Lucy.
The strategic review examined the overall offer and how traded services were priced. The first step was to clarify how Family Compass makes money, before looking at how to achieve greater financial sustainability and how to fund growth.
“The big advantage of working with SWGS is that they bring a wealth of business experience and also empathise with the aims and ethos of charitable organisations like ours,” added Keda. “Having got to grips with our aims, ambitions and sources of income, Chris was able to offer straightforward, considered and welcome advice about how we should move forward.”
So what was the impact of this work?
Lucy and Keda realised that traded services and, in particular the KiT Boxes of wellbeing activities that are sold through the website were critical.
“We understand where we’re going and that marketing and commercial activities need much more of our attention. We hadn’t appreciated the full significance of the KiT Boxes in terms of providing an income stream and helping to enhance our profile and reputation. We now have a clear plan including looking for larger premises to expand our offer.
Without the impartial and objective view that Chris brought to our strategic planning I don’t think we’d have such a clear sense of direction or confidence about what we’re doing.“