Consultancy projects
Examples of consultancy projects include:
Project management for the Association of Charitable Foundations focusing on the early development of the Funders' Collaborative Hub.
Desk research and horizon scanning to review service provision and support for young refugees and asylum seekers for a national children's charity.
An insight report on funding for systems change and innovation to inform the development of a national charity's fundraising strategy.
Marketing, business development and continuing professional development workshops for the Guild of Tourist Guides, delivered face-to-face and online.
Case Studies
Foundation management and grant making
As executive lead of the Bupa UK Foundation, I supported Bupa UK’s Executive Team and the Foundation's newly-appointed Board of Trustees to set the charity’s strategic direction, approach to funding and programme priorities. I also developed and delivered funding programmes focusing on mental health, caring for carers, and support for young adults living with health challenges, distributing £3m in grants to more than 110 charities.
I was responsible for setting up the governance and operational infrastructure needed to support grant giving from end to end. This included building a grant management system; developing application and assessment criteria, the due diligence process and the monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework; creating an application portal; and undertaking regular programme reviews with grant holders and Trustees.
I have also reviewed and assessed grant applications for Women Side by Side, a programme run by Mind and Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk, to improve women’s mental health through peer support. The programme distributed £1.8m made available through the Tampon Tax.
I have experience of grant-making in the following areas:
- Carers
- Older people
- Children and young people
- Women and girls
- Refugees and migrants
- Long-term conditions
- Physical activity
- Mental health
- Peer support
- Social prescribing
- Digital projects
- Community projects
- Homelessness
- Arts and culture
- Heritage and tourism
Communications
I have experience of creating a wide range of communications materials and activities. At the Bupa UK Foundation I worked with charities to deliver communications, including case studies, videos, highlight reports, health blogs, podcasts and social media activity. I also have extensive experience of building websites, contact management systems and microsites to support internal and external engagement and collaborative working. Below are a few examples of materials I produced at the Bupa UK Foundation.
Case study and video: Deafblind Scotland, Raising Expectations
Case study: Groundswell's Mental Health Peer Support Advocacy Programme
Case Study: Asthma UK, WhatsApp with Asthma
Blog: Funding digital projects
Strategy and governance
Governance can be fun! I firmly believe that strong working relationships, underpinned by good governance, result in lively discussions that inform and shape strategy and effective decision-making.
At the Bupa UK Foundation I worked with internal and external legal advisers to draft all governance documents and steered the fledgling foundation through registration with the Charity Commission. I also worked with the Chair to deliver Trustee recruitment, induction and regular governance reviews.
In 2018/19 I was a member of a working group reviewing and identifying good practice in strategy and governance, as part of the Association of Charitable Foundation’s Stronger Foundations project, and contributed to the Charity Commission's development of new guidance for charities with a relationship with non-charitable organisations.
Engagement, consultation and co-production
As Head of External Relations for the General Medical Council I developed the organisation's strategy for relationship management and engagement with key interest groups across the UK, including doctors, policy makers and parliamentarians, statutory bodies, professional bodies, NHS and private providers, medical schools, charities and the public.
I also planned and led the delivery of a complex annual programme of consultations and communications campaigns covering a wide range of ethical and practice issues, such as child protection, good medical practice and end of life care. Engagement activity included surveys, focus groups, 121 interviews, roundtable discussions, debates and events.
Within the NHS I have led internal consultation to support the merger of UK Transplant, the National Blood Service and the Bioproducts Laboratory to create NHS Blood & Transplant; provided strategic advice and practical support for communications to support the transformation of community mental health services across three London boroughs; and developed a marketing and communications plan for the rollout of a national training programme delivered by West London NHS Trust to improve the treatment and experience of people with complex mental health needs, commissioned by NHSE/I, HMPPS and HEE.
Developing effective partnerships
In 2017 I established a partnership with oral health charity Dentaid, securing funding from Bupa to pilot a volunteering programme delivering dental care to refugees in Greece.
This funding enabled two teams of dentists and dental nurses to provide dental care to more than 150 refugees in and around Thessoloniki over a week. The programme received internal recognition with the Chairman's Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in 2017.
The partnership between Dentaid and Bupa has been developed further and now focuses on providing dental care to the homeless and hard-to-reach in the UK.
