Business and strategic planning/Cynllunio busnes a strategol
Daring to Dream
February 2026
Scroll down for Welsh translation/Sgroliwch i lawr am gyfieithiad Cymraeg
Summary
Daring to Dream, a Welsh charity supporting the emotional health of adults living with physical illness, partnered with Cranfield Trust to strengthen its long-term sustainability. With support from an experienced volunteer consultant, the charity developed a robust business plan and financial forecast to transition from founder-led delivery to a more resilient operational structure. The project has positioned Daring to Dream for sustainable growth, stronger governance and expanded impact across Wales.
Background
Daring to Dream is a Welsh charity supporting the emotional health of the 1.2 million adults in Wales living with physical illness. Founded in 2020 by Barbara Chidgey following her own experience of acute heart failure, the charity focuses on an often-overlooked gap in patient care: the emotional turmoil that accompanies serious illness.
The charity works in three ways: raising awareness about emotional health, creating comfortable non-clinical 'spaces to talk' in hospitals where patients and families can have difficult conversations, and delivering live music sessions to boost emotional wellbeing. Their flagship Lleswyl festival, a free livestreamed wellbeing event, reaches people across Wales who cannot attend live events due to illness or disability.
Challenge
By its fifth year, Daring to Dream had built a strong track record and established partnerships with health boards across Wales. However, as a volunteer-led charity with Barbara serving as founder, Chair, and CEO, the organisation faced a common challenge: how to transition from being dependent on one person to becoming a sustainable organisation with an operational team.
"What we were realising was that I was incredibly stretched to lead the charity and lead us into becoming resilient and sustainable," Barbara explained. "Unless you can transition me out and have an operational team with the income to support it, then you're not going to build a sustainable organisation."
The charity needed a robust business plan with clear financial forecasting to guide this transition, but the demands of day-to-day operations meant Barbara struggled to find time for strategic planning.
Solution
Nicola Russell-Brooks, Wales Manager at Cranfield Trust, matched Daring to Dream with Richard Eley, an experienced volunteer consultant. Richard brought extensive experience as a CFO in large NHS trusts, giving him valuable insight into both healthcare settings and organisational development.
"Barbara came to us asking for our help to develop a business plan because they'd been running for a while, but really felt now they needed to focus on how they were going to go through the next few years," said Nicola. "One of the most beneficial things for us was actually helping Barbara take time out from working in the business and work on it."
Richard worked closely with Barbara and the charity's treasurer over several months, developing financial forecasting models that distinguished between restricted and unrestricted funding, and helping the team think more about sustainable income sources.
"The business plan for me is very much about all this other stuff rather than necessarily just a written document," Richard explained. "It starts everybody thinking about what they're trying to do, how they're trying to do it. The document never finishes, you're constantly re-looking at it and adjusting it over time."
Richard attended one of the charity's strategy days, meeting the advisory network and trustees, and contributing to wider discussions about the organisation's future direction.
Impact
The project delivered a comprehensive business plan with clear strategies for marketing, income generation, stakeholder engagement, and a minimum three-year financial forecast. More importantly, it gave the charity clarity on two critical strands of development: growing the operational team to allow Barbara to step back from day-to-day delivery, and expanding the board to strengthen governance.
"We cracked it," said Barbara. "We have a business plan, we have our financial forecasting, we have various strategies and we have clear actions and timescales. It's not a plan that's on a shelf or lost in a laptop. It is actually a working plan."
The charity is now recruiting a Deputy Chair and additional trustees, with plans for a new board to meet in May 2026. The beginning of an operational team is also taking shape, with the charity moving towards freelance delivery rather than relying entirely on volunteer capacity.
"This project has really enabled this charity to move forward in big strides," said Nicola. "They've always been well run. They know where they need to go. They just needed support from us to actually structure that in a better way."
With clearer organisational foundations, Daring to Dream is better positioned to expand its reach across Wales. The charity plans to build community connections around local hospitals, engaging clinical staff, patients, and local businesses in creating more spaces to talk.
"As we move forward and put more operational people in place, we will have more feet on the ground in different communities," Barbara explained. "More people will support us. We will get interwoven with the public and the business community for whom a large local hospital looks after their family, their neighbours, their friends, their employees."
Barbara highlighted the value of having Cranfield Trust's support throughout a challenging transition:
"There's something very important about being believed in, being supported, and this walking alongside and saying 'we're not going to let you give up."
Cefndir
Mae Daring to Dream yn elusen Gymreig sy'n cefnogi iechyd emosiynol yr 1.2 miliwn o oedolion yng Nghymru sy'n byw gyda salwch corfforol. Fe'i sefydlwyd yn 2020 gan Barbara Chidgey yn dilyn ei phrofiad ei hun o fethiant acíwt y galon, ac mae'r elusen yn canolbwyntio ar fwlch sy'n cael ei anwybyddu'n aml yng ngofal cleifion: y cythrwfl emosiynol sy'n dod law yn llaw â salwch difrifol.
Mae'r elusen yn gweithio mewn tair ffordd: codi ymwybyddiaeth am iechyd emosiynol, creu 'mannau i siarad' cyfforddus anghlinigol mewn ysbytai lle gall cleifion a theuluoedd gael sgyrsiau anodd, a chyflwyno sesiynau cerddoriaeth fyw i hybu llesiant emosiynol. Mae eu gŵyl flaenllaw Lleswyl, digwyddiad llesiant am ddim sy'n cael ei ffrydio'n fyw, yn cyrraedd pobl ledled Cymru na allant fynychu digwyddiadau byw oherwydd salwch neu anabledd.
Her
Erbyn ei bumed flwyddyn, roedd Daring to Dream wedi adeiladu hanes cryf a sefydlu partneriaethau gyda byrddau iechyd ledled Cymru. Fodd bynnag, fel elusen a arweinir gan wirfoddolwyr gyda Barbara yn gwasanaethu fel sylfaenydd, Cadeirydd, a Phrif Weithredwr, roedd y sefydliad yn wynebu her gyffredin: sut i drawsnewid o fod yn ddibynnol ar un person i ddod yn sefydliad cynaliadwy gyda thîm gweithredol.
"Yr hyn roedden ni'n ei sylweddoli oedd fy mod i'n cael fy ymestyn yn aruthrol i arwain yr elusen a'n harwain ni i ddod yn wydn a chynaliadwy," eglurodd Barbara. "Oni bai eich bod chi'n gallu fy nhrawsnewid i allan a chael tîm gweithredol gyda'r incwm i'w gefnogi, yna dydych chi ddim yn mynd i adeiladu sefydliad cynaliadwy."
Roedd angen cynllun busnes cadarn ar yr elusen gyda rhagolygon ariannol clir i arwain y trawsnewidiad hwn, ond roedd gofynion gweithrediadau o ddydd i ddydd yn golygu bod Barbara'n ei chael hi'n anodd dod o hyd i amser ar gyfer cynllunio strategol.
Ateb
Fe wnaeth Nicola Russell-Brooks, Rheolwr Cymru yn Ymddiriedolaeth Cranfield, baru Daring to Dream â Richard Eley, ymgynghorydd gwirfoddol profiadol. Daeth Richard â phrofiad helaeth fel Prif Swyddog Cyllid mewn ymddiriedolaethau GIG mawr, gan roi cipolwg gwerthfawr iddo ar leoliadau gofal iechyd a datblygiad sefydliadol.
"Daeth Barbara atom yn gofyn am ein cymorth i ddatblygu cynllun busnes oherwydd roedden nhw wedi bod yn rhedeg ers tro, ond roedden nhw'n teimlo nawr bod angen iddyn nhw ganolbwyntio ar sut roedden nhw'n mynd i fynd drwy'r blynyddoedd nesaf," meddai Nicola. "Un o'r pethau mwyaf buddiol i ni oedd helpu Barbara i gymryd amser allan o weithio yn y busnes a gweithio arno."
Bu Richard yn gweithio'n agos gyda Barbara a thrysorydd yr elusen dros sawl mis, gan ddatblygu modelau rhagweld ariannol a oedd yn gwahaniaethu rhwng cyllid cyfyngedig a chyllid heb gyfyngiadau, a helpu'r tîm i feddwl mwy am ffynonellau incwm cynaliadwy.
"Mae'r cynllun busnes i mi yn ymwneud â'r holl bethau eraill hyn yn hytrach na dim ond dogfen ysgrifenedig o reidrwydd," eglurodd Richard. "Mae'n cychwyn pawb i feddwl am beth maen nhw'n ceisio'i wneud, sut maen nhw'n ceisio'i wneud. Dydy'r ddogfen byth yn gorffen, rydych chi'n edrych arno'n gyson ac yn ei addasu dros amser."
Mynychodd Richard un o ddiwrnodau strategaeth yr elusen, gan gyfarfod â'r rhwydwaith cynghori ac ymddiriedolwyr, a chyfrannu at drafodaethau ehangach am gyfeiriad y sefydliad yn y dyfodol.
Effaith
Cyflwynodd y prosiect gynllun busnes cynhwysfawr gyda strategaethau clir ar gyfer marchnata, cynhyrchu incwm, ymgysylltu â rhanddeiliaid, a rhagolwg ariannol o dair blynedd o leiaf. Yn bwysicach fyth, rhoddodd eglurder i'r elusen ar ddwy ffrwd ddatblygu hanfodol: tyfu'r tîm gweithredol i ganiatáu i Barbara gamu'n ôl o ddarpariaeth o ddydd i ddydd, ac ehangu'r bwrdd i gryfhau llywodraethiant.
"Fe wnaethon ni ei chraclo," meddai Barbara. "Mae gennym ni gynllun busnes, mae gennym ni ein rhagolygon ariannol, mae gennym ni strategaethau amrywiol ac mae gennym ni gamau gweithredu ac amserlenni clir. Dydy e ddim yn gynllun sy'n eistedd ar silff neu'n cael ei golli mewn gliniadur. Mae'n gynllun gweithredol mewn gwirionedd."
Mae'r elusen nawr yn recriwtio Dirprwy Gadeirydd ac ymddiriedolwyr ychwanegol, gyda chynlluniau i fwrdd newydd gyfarfod ym Mai 2026. Mae dechrau tîm gweithredol hefyd yn cymryd siâp, gyda'r elusen yn symud tuag at ddarpariaeth llawrydd yn hytrach na dibynnu'n gyfan gwbl ar gapasiti gwirfoddolwyr.
"Mae'r prosiect hwn wedi galluogi'r elusen hon i symud ymlaen mewn camau mawr," meddai Nicola. "Maen nhw bob amser wedi'u rhedeg yn dda. Maen nhw'n gwybod ble mae angen iddyn nhw fynd. Roedden nhw ond angen cefnogaeth gennym ni i strwythuro hynny mewn ffordd well."
Gyda sylfeini sefydliadol mwy clir, mae Daring to Dream mewn sefyllfa well i ehangu ei gyrhaeddiad ledled Cymru. Mae'r elusen yn bwriadu adeiladu cysylltiadau cymunedol o amgylch ysbytai lleol, gan ymgysylltu â staff clinigol, cleifion, a busnesau lleol wrth greu mwy o fannau i siarad.
"Wrth i ni symud ymlaen a rhoi mwy o bobl weithredol yn eu lle, bydd gennym ni fwy o draed ar y ddaear mewn gwahanol gymunedau," eglurodd Barbara. "Bydd mwy o bobl yn ein cefnogi. Byddwn yn cael ein gwau i mewn gyda'r cyhoedd a'r gymuned fusnes y mae ysbyty lleol mawr yn gofalu am eu teulu, eu cymdogion, eu ffrindiau, eu gweithwyr."
Amlygodd Barbara werth cael cefnogaeth Ymddiriedolaeth Cranfield drwy gydol trawsnewidiad heriol:
"Mae rhywbeth pwysig iawn am gael eich credu ynoch, cael eich cefnogi, a'r cerdded ochr yn ochr hwn a dweud 'dydyn ni ddim yn mynd i adael i chi roi'r gorau iddi.'"
