Our mission
‘To enable small, ambitious charities, working to alleviate disadvantage
to help a greater number of people, more effectively’
Pilotlight does this by managing teams of senior business people to coach charities through the process of building measurably more sustainable and efficient organisations. We call this process Pilotlighting.
If you are a successful business professional, click here to find out how you can contribute.
Charity or social enterprise? Click here to find out about our application process.
To read our latest evaluation summary, click here.
The Need
Pilotlight is set up to address the needs of small charities and social enterprises who have the expertise to support their beneficiaries but do not have, and could not afford to buy, the time and skills to develop their own infrastructure.
In a survey of small charities, Pilotlight found that only four per cent said they received effective professional help. Pilotlight then surveyed leading business people and found various barriers, such as being time-poor, which prevented them from offering their professional help. Pilotlight then trialled several models of professional skills-giving and arrived at one that overcame those barriers.
History
Pilotlight was founded in 1996 by Jane Tewson. Initially, the charity focused on generating ideas for projects to tackle social injustice.
Since 2001, Pilotlight has been led by Fiona Halton. In 2003, Fiona Halton and the trustees relaunched Pilotlight, completely changing the way the charity delivered its vision. They created the concept of ‘Pilotlighting’ – bringing together business people with charities and managing the relationship to coach charities through the process of becoming more sustainable and efficient.