Organisational Transformation+Interim Leadership

Organisation: Play for Progress

The project: As Interim Director, my role was at its heart one of organisational transformation as the Co-Founders put in place their plans to transition out of the organisation. The role called for a highly relational approach to individuals and teams across a small, creative, highly committed group of humans as we together navigated the uncertainty of the transition process. My role was to support this transition in a practical sense whilst also holding space for change to take place in ways that felt safe and secure for PfP’s community of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum, using trauma-informed approaches to ensure a smooth transition as well as navigating pathways towards greater involvement of young people in shaping the strategic direction of the organisation.

Impact:

• I identified a loss of momentum in fundraising (against a backdrop of an expenditure budget that had almost doubled in size) and was able to transformed the funding outlook and financial viability of the charity by reviving warm leads, generating relationships with new funders as well as quickly on-boarding a bid writer. Together we created a funding pipeline worth almost £1 million. During the initial fundraising drive during March-September 23, we raised £250,000 to re-build reserves and secure organisational viability into the year(s) ahead with a further £250,000 still pending as I transitioned out of the role.
• I undertook a review of the organisation’s governance, and ran an open recruitment process to expand and strengthen the Board of Trustees, adding 5 new members bringing extensive  governance expertise as well as lived experience of the immigration system
• I reviewed all team role descriptions and co-created a new organisational structure through which existing team members were invited to step into new roles and responsibilities
• With direct input from the PfP community of young people as a starting point, I worked with the team to design a Theory of Change and an innovative, trauma-informed Impact Framework which builds on the organisation’s creative strengths to collect and analyse diverse forms of data and evidence (music, video, story, art) to demonstrate impact
• Building on this work, I co-developed a bridging strategy for 2023-25 focused on consolidation of programme delivery as well as identifying future opportunities to deepen and scale impact, whilst building accountability of the organisation to its community of young people
• I facilitated the process of defining what is needed for the next generation of PfP leadership, designed an inclusive recruitment process (including sourcing application and interview support for people with lived experience of seeking asylum in the UK), designed a robust scenario-based assessment process for the next Executive Director and guided Co-Founders and Trustees through the process.

“We are so grateful to have worked with Julia through this transitional period for the charity with our Co-Founders stepping back, appointing a new Director and expanding the Board of Trustees. Julia led with compassion, sensitivity and clarity throughout, always putting the young people first and leaving the organisation stronger, with clear strategic direction and a robust finance and fundraising structure. She was always a joy to work with both personally and professionally, we couldn’t recommend her more highly.” – Naomi Webb, Trustee