We support organisations - Management Consultancy
Management consultancy is our longest standing service, we have been providing this type of support for more than 35 years.
Tailored to each individual charity, our consultancy offers free, one to one support to help charities with strategic challenges and organisation development.
Our charity clients are small to medium size voluntary organisations, experts in the services they deliver but operating with limited resources, which makes it difficult
to develop their organisations.
Cranfield Trust consultancy helps by bringing skills and knowledge to complement their own expertise, and the external views of our Regional Managers and volunteers, to help strengthen organisations and support staff and trustees.
Our volunteers act as advisors and partners to charity leaders, working alongside them to resolve challenges and develop future plans. During the year, pressures on leaders and managers have been high, with fundraising/income generation a permanent anxiety for most. Changing structures in local government with the planned Local Government
Reorganisation, and in the NHS, mean that charities are facing considerable change in their service relationships and funding, at a time when high demand for their services is putting them under pressure. Around 40% of our client charities have a local remit and are often working with, and have funding from, local government.
High demand for charities’ support often means that individuals seeking help are under extreme pressure in their own lives – and we are very conscious that working to help address their challenges can be stressful for charity staff and volunteers.
At such a challenging time, we are proud that so many charity leaders place their trust in us and set aside valuable time to work together. We are always impressed by the skills, expertise and determination of our charity clients in supporting their beneficiaries.
How we work together
Our Operations team have initial conversations with charities that contact Cranfield Trust, followed by Regional Managers’ in-depth discussions to understand charities’ needs for support, and determine how we can work together most effectively. Once a Regional Manager and client charity have agreed a project scope and objectives, the Regional Manager searches for a volunteer with appropriate skills, ideally located close to the client organisation, to enable people from local communities to work together. If specialist skills are needed or local volunteers are not available, we match clients and volunteers remotely, to reach charities across the UK.
We work to our clients’ timetables in the year, the average time to complete a consultancy project was 11 months.
We use an impact framework, ‘Journey to Excellence’ (J2E), based on guidance from the Charity Commission and the Charity Governance Code, to help scope our consultancy projects, and to measure the progress of each project.
“As a small charity delivering significant impact with limited capacity, the support we received from Cranfield Trust has been nothing short of transformative. Working with the Regional Manager and volunteer was a pleasure—both demonstrated a deep understanding of our needs and the realities of a small team juggling multiple priorities. They were flexible, thoughtful, and respectful of our pace, offering encouragement without pressure. Their expert guidance, together with our brilliant volunteer Claire, helped us to stay on track and complete a piece of work that will shape our future.
“We now have a clear three-year strategy, a focused 12-month action plan, and meaningful indicators to track progress. This clarity will enable us to target key areas of need, align our resources, and adapt with confidence. Cranfield Trust’s pro bono support has had a profound impact and we are incredibly grateful — thank you!”
United Way UK, London
Find out more
Discover more about our pro bono management consultancy services for charities on our Management Consultancy page
Management Consultancy - charity story
Read our Management Consultancy charity story about our project with Pembrokeshire Action for the Homeless
