We know. Charities and social enterprises like yours work tirelessly to tackle disadvantage, and you and your team put heart and soul into your cause. But, with competing pressures and opportunities, sometimes it’s difficult to know which direction to take.
That’s where we come in. Our programmes see empathetic business experts share their expertise with charities, bringing new perspectives, diverse skills and vast experience to bear on the challenges they’re facing. Since 1996, we’ve helped more than 1,000 charities to amplify their impact, reach more people and contribute to a better world. We’ve seen it all, and we know how to make an intervention work.
This is no one-size-fits-all solution. We have a range of programmes depending on the type of organisation you are and the situation you find yourself in, and within each programme your dedicated team of mentors - we call them Pilotlighters - and our experienced staff make sure that you have focused, individualised support.
Our support is free of charge to charities and social enterprises.
We are currently open for applications to all our programmes. Take a look at the deadlines to apply here.
Our programmes
Pilotlight 360
Our most comprehensive programme. Over a 10 month period, four of our most senior and experienced Pilotlighters coach a charity leader and their board through the strategic challenges they face.
Pilotlight Direction
A programme that explores a specific strategic opportunity. Over eight weeks, six Pilotlighters assess its viability and establish how it can be reached.
Pilotlight Insight
A programme that provides insight on a specific business challenge. Over ten weeks, six Pilotlighters apply their analytical skills and expertise to explore an issue in depth and recommend solutions.
Pilotlight Impact Day
A one-day event designed to explore innovative and practical solutions to a specific operational challenge. Multiple teams of Pilotlighters apply their knowledge and experience to create ideas and impact.
Bespoke Programmes
Programmes designed to meet a specific need for either a Partner Charity or a Partner Business.
Brain Trust
Our latest initiative with our long-standing partner Barclays, distils the essence of our strategic development programmes into a single, 90-minute meeting to unlock fresh thinking on a strategic challenge.
Inclusive Leadership
A charity led by and/or supporting people from underrepresented communities, works with up to six Barclays Pilotlighters over ten weeks to assess an operational challenge and explore ways forward.
The Weston Charity Awards
Created in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation and Pilotlight, the Weston Charity Awards celebrate and support ambitious front-line charities working in the fields of Community, Welfare and Youth.
Open for applications each year in November, the Awards offer a package of support worth over £22,000 to up to 20 charities. Supporting small charities to thrive and not just survive, the Awards help charities to plan for sustainability, development and growth over ten months.
If you lead a charity based in the North or Midlands of England, or Wales, you could be eligible to apply.
Our Impact
Apply now
If you are an ambitious charity based in the UK, we can help you reach the next level. Take a look at our eligibility criteria and how to apply for support. Need to know more? Read the experiences of other charities just like yours below.
From the outset I remember thinking, 'What will make the Pilotlighters the right people to provide support? What are they going to be like?' I was hoping for an analytical, outside perspective, and that's what I got. I felt from the first meeting that everyone was on the same page.
Having only become the CEO of The Felix Project relatively recently, it's been invaluable to receive this input on a challenge the charity is currently facing. I am very grateful for the recommendations we have been given from the Morgan Stanley Pilotlighters.
Pilotlight 360 was invaluable for me as a leader. Not only do I now have a five-year business plan, a new mission, social objectives, business objectives and narrative, I'm more confident in my role.
Taking part in the Pilotlight Insight was incredibly useful for MumsAid. The Pilotlighters were really committed to ensure we had useful and useable outcomes. Thank you!
The input we have received from the Pilotlighters has been invaluable. It's helped guide our thinking at such a critical time for Volunteer It Yourself.
The process was very useful for me. I was led to question my assumptions around different possibilities for our future.
We now have the tools to create real growth which is so exciting.
Case Studies
Generation Success
"This has been one of the most life-changing experiences for my organisation and myself. The work conducted has helped us accelerate our growth and better define our objectives."
QPR in the Community Trust
"The programme gave us the time and space to think more strategically about our organisation. All the elements came together to form a robust three-year strategic plan."
Making a difference to six charities in just one day
"I enjoyed working with colleagues from other divisions, making networks, learning more about the charity sector and how charities function and having direct communication with people who work closely in the sector. Also, I could make a real difference and give input to the charity."
Volunteer It Yourself
Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) is a not-for-profit CIC (Community Interest Company) working with young people aged 14-24 who are not in education, emp
Rowan Alba
"The process was very useful for me. I was led to question my assumptions around different possibilities for our future."
The Super Power Agency
"The Pilotlight 360 programme was great in helping us focus more on what we wanted, and the extra brains to help us think through our plans were immensely helpful. If you need help thinking through a strategy, programme or course of action, the Pilotlight 360 programme is for you."
Croydon Mencap
Croydon Mencap was established in 1952 to support local people with learning disabilities and their carers. Croydon Mencap's team reached out to Pilotlight for help to define a development strategy and to develop the Board. In hindsight, what the team really needed was permission to trust themselves!
Mencap Liverpool & Sefton
Mencap Liverpool & Sefton (MLS) is a small charity working with adults who have mild to moderate learning disability in Liverpool and Sefton.