Our Chief Executive Dan Francis has responded to colleagues at NCVO, ACEVO, NAVCA and CFG, following their call for independent enquiry with his support and welcomes the opportunity to share Cranfield Trust's insight. Read his response below.
"I really welcome your call for an independent inquiry of charity infrastructure. Thank you for taking leadership on enabling this important work. The recent experiences of Reach Volunteering and the Directory of Social Change, alongside closures elsewhere, make it particularly timely. I agree that the starting point should be what charities need, then how that support is funded. This is a question I explored in my recent blog.
At Cranfield Trust, we’d welcome the chance to contribute by sharing what we’re learning from our volunteers and smaller charities across the UK. With our funders’ backing and the commitment of our volunteers, we offer free specialist help ranging from a single conversation to several months of consultancy or mentoring. We also bring leaders together through peer groups, training and webinars. Around half the organisations we work with each year are new to the Trust, almost all are small charities and demand exceeds what we can offer.
Below I highlight some insight which may be of use to the inquiry and which we’d be happy to contribute.
Right support, tight time research
Earlier this year, we worked with nfpResearch to understand what support charities need. The findings informed our new strategy. We heard from 368 respondents, including 209 charities and not-for-profit organisations and 37 funders. Unsurprisingly, around two-thirds of charities put income generation among their three biggest challenges. Alongside that financial pressure, a quarter identified succession planning and 24% highlighted leadership capacity and wellbeing.
We found it revealing that charities and funders saw some of these pressures differently. Leadership capacity and wellbeing stood out for 46% of funders, almost twice the proportion of charities. Funders also placed greater emphasis on in-depth consultancy and mentoring. Charities wanted those options too but alongside shorter, practical help. Leaders valued an independent person or a peer who could help them think through a difficult decision. As AI makes guidance easier to find, having someone they trust to help embed change still matters.
The clearest message on access was that 63% of charities chose keeping support free at the point of access as a priority for our future services, making it the most popular choice. In our earlier Charity Management Matters research, 93% of respondents identified cost as a barrier to external management or leadership training.
Key lessons from Journey to Excellence data
Our Journey to Excellence (J2E) framework could offer the inquiry longitudinal data on the challenges facing small charities. Before and after consultancy, our regional managers talk with charity leaders about leadership and strategy, people management, financial sustainability, and performance and impact. Our 2025 five-year report drew on more than 1,000 J2E’s, we have now delivered over 2000. These give us a detailed picture of where smaller charities need help, which support makes the biggest difference and what changes as a result.
Some of our headline observations are that around a third of charities came to us without a cashflow forecast and four in ten without an active risk register. After receiving support Charities reported the strongest gains in leadership and strategic direction. Before support just 34% felt they planned effectively for succession, rising to 48% afterwards.
One finding feels particularly relevant to the review. Charities with incomes below £500,000 tended to report the greatest improvements after consultancy, especially in agreeing priorities and planning ahead. Yet these are clearly the organisations least able to pay for that support.
The potential for growth in skilled volunteering
Finaly given our model of delivery and the commitment we see every day from our volunteers we see real scope for skilled volunteering to play a bigger role in infrastructure. At Cranfield Trust our network of almost 1200 volunteers provides over 26,000 hours of support each year. We conservatively calculate the multiplier value of this support to the sector as being £2.9million. Many volunteers who took part in our recent research said they would welcome more ways to contribute to supporting charities beyond their current assignments.
Through the Pro Bono Association, we see how providers with different strengths can help charities find the expertise they need. The evidence is clear that skills-based volunteering, when carefully matched to a charity’s needs and well supported, can be a highly cost-effective way to strengthen charities and their leaders. It can deliver a significant multiplier effect. The skills a charity gains stay with its team, and the volunteer carries what they’ve learned forward into future work with the sector and beyond.
Skilled volunteering already plays a key role in charity support. The question for the review is how we scale it so that many more charities can benefit. That means looking at how employers can give staff time to volunteer and how technology and funding can help those who make those connections work.
We’d value being involved as the inquiry takes shape and would be very happy to share our insight to support this important work."
