Senior staff from Legacy 2014 partners Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland and sportscotland will join Schuh Chief Executive Colin Temple, former Scottish and Newcastle director Tom Ward and Billy Lyle, Managing Director of technology firm Redspire, to mentor six charities across Scotland.
The programme will offer intense business coaching designed to put the social enterprises on a steady footing for growth and development.
The partnership between the Scottish Government and Pilotlight in Scotland is part of the Legacy 2014 project to deliver a lasting legacy from the Commonwealth Games.
]]>Read the full article at City AM.
]]>“One of the biggest positives for me was getting to work in a diverse team. I learned so much about dealing with different types of people, building strong teams and motivating people. All the skills that I gained, I use at work every day.”
George Moore’s blog for Civil Society on why we should donate to charities close to our homes and offices.
Fellow RBS graduate Rachel Short’s blog for Civil Society reflecting on her stint as a Pilotlighter which gave her her first real experience of the charity sector.
Tasks included developing and launching a new numeracy app to help children aged five to nine who are struggling with maths, a new marketing campaign to attract funders and scoping out a new social enterprise.
Pilotlight’s chief executive Fiona Halton says: “The graduates I speak with tell me this completely changes the way they think about charities. As well as developing the graduates’ business skills we hope this unique programme will help transform the way corporates engage with charities and lead to a lifetime of philanthropy for these young people.”
One of the RBS graduates, George Moore, says: “When you work for a big organisation it’s easy to take a lot of things for granted, but when you see the daily battles small charities face it makes you really appreciate what you have. It’s also made me understand how hard small charities work and how much they manage to achieve with very little resources.”
Read the full press release (PDF)
Pilotlight’s recent survey of philanthropists and business leaders found that in giving money or time, impact mattered to them almost as much as cause. Pilotlight’s chief executive Fiona Halton explains to Alliance magazine why charities should not fear measuring their impact and how donors can play their part by being more vocal about the information they want from charities
We believe that all charities, however small, need to measure the difference they are making. Measurement can be quite simple and appropriate to size – no labyrinthine studies on return on investment necessary. By doing this charities can strengthen their relationship with funders. With impact measurement in place, charities can make the best use of ever more constrained resources and make the biggest difference to their beneficiaries.
Read the full article at Alliance Magazine.
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'What comes across,' says Halton, 'is a great hunger not just to learn more about the sector but to know about how charities and social enterprises work,' part of which is taught in seminars and education sessions. Pilotlighters don't start with baseline ignorance, however: executives need to understand how - if - a charity works before they'll get involved.
Read the full article at Spear's.
]]>The survey of over 160 business leaders and philanthropists across England and Scotland revealed that 3 in 10 people have been motivated to give because of the funding crisis facing charities, although just over a quarter (27%) said fundraising campaigns influenced their decision.
]]>Evidence of the impact donations make, along with a personal connection to a cause, are the biggest influences in giving to charity, new research has shown.
Fiona Halton, chief executive of Pilotlight, believes the research reinforces the need for charities to measure the impact of campaigns and be more business-like.
She said: "Clearly donors now want more evidence of the impact a charity is having on the communities they serve. It's also important that they are told how their donation contributes to the charity. With donations falling, charities need to be actively measuring their impact and talking about it if they want to attract donations of both time and money."
Read the full article at The Guardian.
]]>We began working with Pilotlight, a capacity-building charity offering free, strategic planning support to charities and social enterprises in the UK. This meant we had a really sharp, talented team of senior executives from the private sector who worked with us for over a year. They analysed and challenged our approach and suggested potential solutions. This enabled us to develop a robust strategy that focused on maximising the positives as we prepared for the rollout of personal budgets.
Read the full article at The Guardian.
]]>So, what are the key lessons we have learnt about effective philanthropy? Four in particular stand out: the philanthropist, as well as the charity, longs to develop their skills; philanthropists need to be clear about the difference they will make; and their giving needs to be effectively managed to achieve this difference. Finally, philanthropists help everyone by speaking out about their giving.
Read the full article at Alliance.
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