What We Offer
It was the first time someone not involved in the charity looked at how we worked….they challenged us to think outside the box. We’ve now secured funding for the next three years.
Shaminder Ubhi,
Ashiana Network
Does your charity face core challenges around how to become sustainable?
Pilotlight matches and manages the skills of senior business people with the needs of charities like yours.
Some of the most innovative solutions to help disadvantaged people in our communities come from the UK’s 160,000+ charities. The majority of these charities are small - 87% of the charities in the UK receive just 7% of the total income to the sector (NCVO, 2007).
At Pilotlight, we recognise that smaller charities often face two core challenges:
- How to become sustainable in the long-term
- How to reach more people, more effectively
We believe we can help charities address these challenges by matching the skills and expertise of our ‘Pilotlighters’ – senior business people – with the skills and vision of our charity partners.
We are currently working with over 40 charities, and have helped over 100 charities since we invented ‘Pilotlighting’ in 2003.
How do we help?
We offer capacity building assistance based on a coaching model. We take a holistic approach, and look at capacity across the organisation - financial resources, staffing, governance, services and planning.
A Project Manager from Pilotlight facilitates a relationship between our charity partners and a team of four ‘Pilotlighters’. Typically, we work through a strategic planning process in order to produce, or revise, a 3-5 year business plan.
Once the business plan is completed, we can offer other types of support aligned with it eg. Marketing, Fundraising or Communications strategies.
Key points:
- Pilotlight is completely free to charities
- Our service differs to traditional consultancy because it is ‘hands-off’
- We do not offer funding to charities
- Our relationships with charities typically last for 18-24 months
- Typically you will have one meeting per month with your Pilotlight team
“When people go into charity work they go in with their heart not their head….Pilotlight brings in a business like head.”
Julie Wright,
Unlock
To have a closer look at the ‘Pilotlight Process’ please click here.
Click here to read Pilotlight Scotland's helpful criteria and benefits information for charities and social enterprises.