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“The Pilotlighters were such a friendly, interested, knowledgeable and generous bunch of people, who gave time and thought to Imara and were genuinely interested in hearing more about our service."

“Our Pilotlighters gave us a number of things to consider across different areas of the project, based on their experience. They helped us think about possible routes to market, and were particularly helpful in ensuring we maximised the commercial potential.”

"The whole process was very well organised and supported. Having access to a wealth of experience, although not directly linked to the charity sector, allowed outside-of-the-box thinking in a condensed short time, we all agreed that this was a very useful exercise."

It is hard to start a charity, but it is also hard to kill one. This is a resilience, characteristic of charities, that we have a purpose that moves people to act, and we have a culture that allows for different forms of participation. In this post, I want to look at three tips for financial resilience for charities.

Via the Pilotlight Direction programme, Lindsey and her team were matched with five Barclays Pilotlighters, who were tasked with the challenge: How does Advice Services Alliance (ASA) best scale it’s impact and establish a sustainable income stream?

At the end of the programme, the Pilotlighters presented Jade and Ben with a variety of considerations and recommendations for different growth models. This included a risk framework, financial growth model tool and suggestions for standardised governance documents.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, Pilotlight can continue to support and build important networks between charities and businesses right across the Midlands region."

A wave of informal volunteering helped charities and community groups to play a critical role for communities over the pandemic. Now that the cost of living crisis is hitting home, the role for the voluntary sector is once more key, but this time it is not clear that volunteering - or emergency funding - will be able to help.

Pilotlight is excited to be shortlisted for Charity of the Year: with an income of £1 million - £10 million at the 23rd Annual Charity Times Awards.

Last month our Programme Manager Jonas Fathy spoke at the annual general meeting of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on volunteering. Pilotlight had been one of many charities working with the NCVO to develop the Vision for Volunteering, and Jonas had been asked to share Pilotlight’s perspective on the Vision.

When we worked with Kathy Verges in 2010, she was CEO at Crossroads Care Havering, which had a turnover of around £600k. Kathy retired as Chief Officer in January 2022. After a series of mergers Kathy led the charity on to re-brand to create TuVida, which had national reach and a turnover of £14m. She reflects on her work with Pilotlight.

“This programme gave me the license to set some time aside and focus, I’m not sure if I would’ve done so otherwise. I’ve come to realise we have the seedling now and it’s time to figure out how big a pot we now need to repot it in.”