ORGANISATION REFERENCE: F

THE ORGANISATION
ORGANISATION DESCRIPTION:
The organisation was originally established in the 19th century to provide support for residents of
this northern city. It now provides a range of services targeted mainly, but not exclusively, at young
people. These include a school (registered with OFSTED), child care, community services delivered
from its modern building, and supported housing for young care leavers and others. Some of the
supported housing is owned outright and others leased, and the properties are managed in
partnership with a housing association, with the organisation providing the support and the Housing
Association the housing maintenance. The organisation has 31 staff and 16 volunteers.

WHY THE ORGANISATION APPLIED TO THE LSF

The Chief Executive was relatively new in post (just over 12 months) and had identified a number of
issues with internal systems and processes which were causing challenges for the organisation, and
which had been outlined, together with recommendations for actions in a Strategic Plan. These
included elderly computer hardware, out of date software, and different reporting systems for each
activity, each of which was paper heavy. In addition, the systems did not allow for effective
reporting except for basic outputs. The organisation needed to improve its communication and
marketing, and create an image that encompassed the breadth of its activities, including developing
new activities. Finally, the organisation had a culture of staff sharing the front desk / reception
function, including two senior managers, which was no longer appropriate, so the appointment of a
dedicated reception person supported by volunteers was an opportunity to change this practice.

THE LSF PROJECT

WHO WAS INVOLVED AND WHAT WERE THEIR DIFFERENT ROLES?

The project was led by the Chief Executive, but two of the three members of the Senior
Management team were also heavily involved; these included the person who manages the housing
function and the manager of the childcare service, who is also the finance manager.

The original advisor was chosen because the organisation had previous experience of working with
them and their organisation, which is a nationally known support organisation in the sector, and
trusted them and their work; and he had a specialism in an area in which they needed support (IT
systems). In addition, because the advisor is part of a larger organisation, different specialists could
potentially be brought in for different aspects of the project.

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The business volunteer (a High Street bank) was also chosen because of previous connections
between the Chief Executive and the bank.

WHAT WAS THE LSF FUNDED PROJECT AIMING TO DO?

The project funded a one year post to provide a reception function, which would then free up the
senior managers to develop their roles. In addition, the managers received bespoke training from
the business partner in LEAN management, (a process aimed at providing more value with fewer
resources). The project also provided support from advisors in terms of identifying the hardware
and software needed to monitor and evaluate the organisations activities, together with work with
the whole organisation on developing a core message which encapsulated their work. Finally, the
project aimed to add to the number of volunteer places offered by the organisation, providing
quality training and work experience, especially for those seeking employment.

ASPIRATIONS FOR THE LSF PROJECT WHAT SUCCESS WILL LOOK LIKE IN 6 MONTHS, 12 MONTHS
AND 5 YEARS

At the start of the project, the main aspiration for the LSF project was that the organisation would
be more effective in terms of managing its administrative functions, including payments, housing
costs etc. This would save time and also enable the organisation to pick up issues, such as late
payments, early on. The recruitment of volunteers was intended to add to the sustainability of the
organisation, and also provide training and work experience for local people. At that point, the
organisation found it difficult to be precise about their longer term aspirations as they had very
recently lost two major contracts, which had seriously affected their forward planning. However,
they hoped that LSF projects systems element would assist with providing evidence of their
effectiveness. The projects marketing element was intended to enable people, including those
with whom they were establishing contracts, to better understand the nature of the organisation.
At that time, they felt that the organisation could be seen as a housing organisation or a school,
depending on who the contact was.

Partway through the At the end of the After 5 years Who for?
project funded project
Sourced and Time saved, more Robust systems kept The organisation, its
implemented new IT effective billing / debt up to date with service users
and software systems chasing. developments
Ease of payments for
service users
Recruitment of Trained and Volunteers secured The organisation,
additional volunteers motivated volunteers employments or individuals who
/ work placements remain volunteering volunteer

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 Partway through the At the end of the After 5 years Who for?
project funded project
supporting the
organisation in its
work
Begin a change to pull A new image and People will have a The organisation,
all the organisational vision will have been better understanding funders,
strands into one created, agreed and of the organisation. commissioners,
whole disseminated Benefits from shared service users
work, and shared
learning across the
distinct delivery fields
will be seen

PARTWAY THROUGH THE PROJECT

10 months into the delivery of the project, the organisation felt that that they had achieved the
following successes:
The new integrated financial management system was embedded across the organisation,
and was working well.
They had redefined the organisations purpose through a series of activities with staff and
Board, in order to create cohesion and a clear vision across the organisation.
They had developed an Impact Management Logic model.
They were considering how the information generated from the systems would allow them
to apply for the new quality mark in supported housing. As this is a new quality mark, they
wanted to wait a while to assess the value of this, as it would mean some additional work.
They secured Big Potential funding to look at the potential for developing a nursery.

They were particularly proud of how they had managed multiple challenges during this period, but
especially the opportunities offered by the new system.

They were also proud that they were tackling the challenge of impact assessment, something they
believed that many larger organisations were not yet considering.

In our view, the most significant difference the LSF project has made so far is that we have
introduced the new finance and recording system into two of our functions, and we are already
seeing improved delivery and monitoring of our services.

At this stage, their intention was to focus on completing the branding / marketing work, making
further use of the information that they could extract from the new system to inform service

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development and changes, and also continuing the cultural changes arising from the work on the
organisations purpose.

AT THE END OF THE LSF PROJECT

Having now come to the end of the LSF funded project, the organisations feels that they have
achieved the following successes:
They have robust internal finance systems in place, which has enabled more streamlined
billing, improved information and payment methods for service users, especially parents
using the childcare service.
They have an improved database, so can report better on impact across services.
The work on creating a new brand has been completed, and the new website, which is
the face of the new communications strategy, launched on July 8th.

The project lead considered what these successes have meant for different stakeholders at
different stages of the project.

For me For the organisation For clients For the sector

A SHORT TIME INTO THE PROJECT

Improved systems
means we can keep
track more easily, and
spot challenges early
on
Confidence that the Improved information
information we are capture and analysis
able to extract is means better
accurate, in terms of reporting and
planning and strategic planning
delivering services
Securing additional Some fundamental
funding (Big Potential) changes to delivery if
means we can new service happen
properly assess the
potential to develop
new services
Better service Looking to achieve the
regarding payments, quality mark in
improved housing, so would be
communications with seen as a recognised
parents leader / quality
deliverer
We may be able to
tailor our services
more accurately to
reflect clients needs
An additional service
for those in need
locally

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 For me For the organisation For clients For the sector

PARTWAY THROUGH THE PROJECT

We are on the way Use of the new Better information for
but not there yet technology continuing clients
to grow and be useful
Working on vision and
impact has been
positive for staff and
Board

AT THE END OF THE PROJECT

More confident in the Has a more coherent Better information for Because this
information I am vision of the future for clients, e..g. parents organisation works
receiving through the the organisation using the childcare across sectors
new database service housing / childcare /
education /
community services
this is difficult to
describe.
Is leaner, with lower
running costs with no
impact on service
delivery
In a better position to
make very challenging
decisions about the
organisations future
direction, which may
mean not continuing
with some services in
order to deliver others

Reflecting on their achievements, they think that there were some things that really helped them:
They noted that it was particularly helpful to be able to have some staff cover to free up managers
to work more strategically. The internal re-structure they undertook enabled them to employ a
book-keeper, so the managers role has been strengthened.

They felt that the work undertaken with Locality on impact was particularly powerful, and will be of
benefit in the future as they contract for other services. In order to become sustainable into the
future they are currently considering expanding one service (and taking on additional premises) and
withdrawing the provision altogether in another, which will be a massive change for the
organisation. Work on examining what the organisation is fundamentally for, and where it can have

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the greatest impact has enabled staff and Board members to make the cultural shift needed to
make this work, while the due diligence is being undertaken.

The impact work, and looking at the organisation as a whole, is going well, but we recognise we
are only at the beginning of this work.

In terms of the process of LSF:

The ODT was useful and we secured additional funding from another source, based on what we
learnt from the ODT, which is building on the LSF funded work

And there were also some things that hindered what they could achieve:
They found the change of advisor was unhelpful; they had chosen the original advisor because of his
known expertise. The organisation provided them with another lead advisor, who had skills and
experience in some of the work they needed, particularly around impact assessment. The support
organisation also provided support from additional advisors for specific project elements. When
these advisors were London-based the support was less impactful than if they were locally-based.
The marketing strand of the project suffered initially with different understanding between the
charity and the support organisation as to the definition, and boundaries of support. This took a
while to work through causing some delays, as a rebalancing of the support days was negotiated.

THEIR ASPIRATIONS FOR LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY

The LSF programme is fundamentally about helping organisations to improve their long-term
sustainability. Having now completed their LSF project, the organisation is now more confident of
its long-term sustainability. However, they note that they face challenging decisions about
expanding one service and possibly closing another; the organisation credits the LSF project and
funding in part for being successful in receiving Big Potential funding to help with the decision-
making; this will take approximately another six months to complete before their Board of Trustees
makes a decision.

Just prior to receiving the LSF funding, the organisation had lost a significant contract; however, in
the interim and during the period of the LSF, they have secured the equivalent funding from other
sources. The CEO is currently concerned that the organisation may be too lean, in that their
capacity to deliver within the resources they have is at its maximum, with no opportunity for
expansion without new sources of revenue.

In future, the organisation will build on its revised vision. Its direction will rely on the forthcoming
key decision about service delivery, but they are happy that the LSF support for internal systems will
support whichever option is followed. Given the length of time the organisation has existed,
sustainability is about more than keeping going, they see it as being about re-positioning

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themselves to deliver the services the community needs, in the heart of the community. They
believe that they are now well placed to do this.

The organisation attributes some of their success to LSF, in particular because the new systems
have made them leaner and more cost-effective, as well as providing a better service (especially in
terms of payments) to their users. In addition, the work on impact has gone some way to
demonstrating the evidence they need about their effectiveness, especially for funders.

THEIR EXPERIENCE OF THE LSF PROGRAMME

GETTING STARTED WITH LSF

They started their work on April 1st, prior to receiving the LSF grant money, as they had recruited a
Volunteer Co-ordinator through another trust fund.

They liked the ODT and used it for another subsequent application for a Big Potential grant. In
relation to the ODT, one person commented that It was difficult not to try and second guess what
the right answer would be.

PARTWAY THROUGH THE LSF PROJECT

At this point, the project lead felt that delivery of our project had partly gone well. They had
implemented the system changes, and were are already seeing benefits.

However, they had experienced delays in the work on the branding. They identified several reasons:
They were not clear enough in their understanding of what they needed when they made
the original application to LSF.
They did not understand that the organisation they had identified to act as their advisor
would not be based locally, but in the organisations London office, which proved a
challenge.
The advisor team in London had a different understanding from their own about what
would be delivered.
They needed to complete the work on organisational vision before they were able to begin
the branding / marketing, as this needed to reflect the vision.

NOW AT THE END OF THE PROJECT

Looking back over the whole period of the LSF funding, the project lead reflected that delivery had
been alright, but not without its challenges. For example, they chose an advisor who worked for
Locality because they knew the individual and he had particular strengths in IT and systems that
they needed. However, very early on in the process, this individual left Locality and they were

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assigned another member of staff, which interrupted the process, as this staff member had a
different, although useful, skillset.

With the benefit of hindsight, they feel that the LSF process was not clear enough to them at the
beginning there was more flexibility built into the programme than they probably realised, as an
organisation used to other funders and tighter contracts. They would have preferred to spend
more of the grant to commission their own services / advisors as their needs became clearer. In a
period of fast moving change their needs also changed over the period of the grant; however,
having signed an agreement to receive services early on from one provider, they felt locked in to
this, even though the reason they had chosen that provider was due to a particular individual, who
subsequently left. If there had been a review built into this contract (or a break clause) this would
have helped. The fact that none of the consultants were eventually located in their own city was a
challenge, as they felt there was a lack of understanding about their particular local context.
Understanding from the start about the flexibility they had over choosing their advisor would have
been helpful. The CEO described the relationship as unequal and feels that had they been allocated
funding to commission a range of advisors, to support a lead advisor, it might have felt more of a
partnership.

They hope that the programmes targets will be flexible, because having lost significant amounts of
funding (the housing funding has been cut by 20K and the school has lost a contract worth 100K),
the organisation has not been able to work with the same volume of clients over the LSF period as
anticipated, although they are already working to gain additional contracts, and have secured
additional funding from other sources.

IN TERMS OF HOW LSF WORKS, THE ORGANISATION REALLY LIKE

The organic nature of the grant. The Chief Executive had been part of a CVS which undertook a
similar process, but it was felt that that process had had hidden objectives (to encourage mergers
where appropriate), whereas this felt straightforward and therefore more helpful. Also, the grants
officer was mentioned as being helpful.

BUT THEY THINK IT WOULD BE BETTER IF

There could be more flexibility built in to the programme, as well as clarity about how prescriptive
the agreed spend needed to be. They noted that when an organisation is buying a new service /
product, it may not be clear what is actually needed until some work has already begun. This may
mean that the people who were originally commissioned to do the work are not best placed to
deliver, and this happened with the marketing strategy, which meant it took longer than expected
(although they believe that there will be a better product in the end). The organisation would have
preferred to have been allocated a cash sum with which to commission a range of advisors /
consultants directly, as this would have also created a more empowered relationship.

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The timing was not as good as it could have been as it didnt start on the original advertised start
date, and there were delays in payments. They noted that they were in a position to be able to
manage, but it could have been critical for a smaller organisation. They would have preferred a
longer period for implementing the project, as they found it very challenging to do the work
required within just one year.

They also found that the LSF End of Grant report was somewhat challenging to complete. Some
aspects were pre-populated but because these had changed (with agreement) over the period of
the grant, the responses did not equate easily to the pre-populated information.

IN ONE SHORT PHRASE, THEIR EXPERIENCE OF LSF IS

It is fairly flexible and appropriate for our needs at this point in time, and is backed up by good
communication from the Grants Officer.

AND NOW THAT WEVE REACHED THE END, WED SUM UP OUR EXPERIENCE OF LSF AS
Parts of it have been really useful, especially the new hardware and systems, but the period of time
of only one year was insufficient to see the outcomes we hoped for, and some of the work, e.g.
looking at impact could not be achieved fully within a year.

LEARNING

LEARNING FROM THE EARLY DAYS

At this stage in the project, the organisation project lead noted several different lessons:
Even as we started we faced different challenges because we lost a major contract
between applying for, and receiving the funding so we need to be flexible;
We are not able to work with the original advisor we chose and so we might think more
deeply about choosing advisors in the future.

LEARNING FROM PARTWAY THROUGH THE PROJECT

When we have better hardware and software we can be significantly more efficient;
We need to agree our vision before thinking about a communications strategy.

KEY LESSONS REFLECTING BACK FROM THE END OF THE PROJECT

We have achieved a lot in a short space of time, but we needed a longer period to meet our
original aspirations;
Getting the relationship with the advisor right is key to making this work smoothly.

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THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON THAT THEY WOULD LIKE OTHER ORGANISATIONS IN A SIMILAR
POSITION TO THINK ABOUT IS
If your organisation is looking to bring about significant change within a tight timescale, it needs
massive commitment from the key personnel in the organisation to drive it forward.

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