YoungMinds: A charity PMO perspective of the pandemic Wednesday 28 September 2022 APM PMO Specific Interest Group Presented by: Patrick Scott The link to the write up page and resources of this webinar: https://www.apm.org.uk/news/youngminds-a-charity-pmo-perspective-of-the-pandemic-webinar/ Content description: The covid-19 pandemic provided a significant challenge to the charity sector, but also in facing that challenge, opportunities to grow and strengthen practice. This webinar presented on Wednesday 28 September provides a perspective on what charities have been doing and can do now to prepare for the future. Over 60% of charities have dipped into their reserves since the covid-19 pandemic started. The YoungMinds PMO has risen to the challenge, building a broader, strategic programme management office that is able to deliver significant value to the organisation and offer a broad range of services. YoungMinds is the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people's mental health. They strive towards a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health, and all young people get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.

1. Name of Presenter
YoungMinds: A Charity PMO
Perspective of the Pandemic

2. Welcome
• YoungMinds work
• The PMO was established in
May 2018
• The PMO journey…
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Patrick Scott, Head of Programme
Management Office (PMO) at
YoungMinds

3. Overview
1. The state of the charity sector before the pandemic
2. The challenge of Covid to the sector and impact
3. Meeting the challenge – a journey at YoungMinds
4. Closing thoughts and reflections
5. Q&A
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4. 1.The state of the charity sector before the
pandemic
According to the NCVO, UK Civil Society Almanac 2020:
• 166,592 charity organisations in the UK
• 0.03% have budgets over £100 million and are responsible for 30% of the sector’s grant making
• Sector’s income had increased by £1.2billion to 53.5billion, with 47% coming from public donations
• Income from government at £15.7billion has fallen almost every year since NCVO began monitoring
data
• Charity sector employs 900,000 people or 3% of the UK workforce
• 1 in 5 working people volunteer once a month or more and 9 in 10 households have accessed services
provided by charitable organisations at some point
• In summary, a diverse, vibrant sector making important contributions to society but not without
challenges…
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5. Challenges to the sector before
the pandemic
Charities Aid Foundation 2019 study of the sector showed:
• 59% of charity leaders said fundraising was their top concern,
followed by 33% sighting demand for services and reductions in
public/government funding at 32%
• 83% reported increased demand for services in past 12 months
• 14% of charity leaders reported their charity was struggling to
survive, rising to 21% amongst smaller charities with an income
less than £1million
• And the UK charity sector was already vulnerable financially –
see next slide
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6. Financial vulnerability of the
sector
• A fifth of charities had less than one month of reserves
• A third had less than two months
• 10% of charities with less than £100 million had only a few days
worth of reserves
• In addition, the study excluded charities with less than £500k –
the long tail of many grassroots organisations are likely to be
operating with close to zero reserves
The sector, then, went into the pandemic already in a financially
vulnerable position…
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7. 2. The challenge of Covid to the sector –
Rising Demand
• As millions were furloughed, made redundant, and isolated from
their usual family, friendship and social support networks, there
was an increased need for help from charities. Mental health
services, food banks and domestic abuse services, for example,
were all on the sharp end of the pandemic.
• According to the Pro-Bono Economics Foundation during Covid,
63% of charities reported increased demand.
• At the same time, charities in order to survive had to employ
measures such as furlough and redundancy themselves –
meaning having to meet increased demand with less staff…
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8. So a challenge on multiple
fronts
1) Furloughed and staff made redundant
2) Staff still working
Leading to hyper productivity, burn out, stress, capacity challenges
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9. The financial impact
According to research by the Charity Commission:
• Over 90% of charities said that they have experienced some negative
impact from Covid-19, whether on their service delivery, finances,
staff, or indeed on staff morale, resulting from the months of
frustration and uncertainty.
• The majority (60%) saw a loss of income, and a third (32%) said they
experienced a shortage of volunteers.
• 40% dipped into reserves
• 1 in 100 charities reported that they had folded as a result of Covid-
19, with another 1% saying they had merged with another organisation
or were in the process of doing so.
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10. But, some positives….
• The charity sector has proved remarkably resilient…
• The pandemic has seen positive shifts to new hybrid forms of
working
• The challenge of the pandemic has reminded everyone of the
vital role the charitable sector has to play
• Responding to the pandemic has created a number of
enhancements to working practices and achievements that stand
the sector in good stead – I share 7 of these on the following
slides, around the YoungMinds and the PMO journey during the
pandemic and its aftermath.
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11. Coronavirus Response Groups
• Quick decision making
• Transitioned most work online
• Continued delivering
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12. An Impressive Fundraising
drive
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Strengthened financial position considerably
Relevance of mental health
The fundraising and organisational response to
the pandemic

13. Do more for less – PMO becomes
whole of business
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14. Position the PMO more
strategically
• Strategy review meetings
• Integration of PMO with formation of 3 year operational plans
and ongoing progress tracking and review
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15. Elevate reporting to Senior
Leadership and Senior
Management team level
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16. Create a more dynamic approach
to risk management
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Top line risk register and
controls
Strategic risks
Project risks
Oversight Trustees,
(A&R committee),
led by SLT, controls
& positive reporting
allocated to SMT
Led by SMT and leads
across YoungMinds
Led by Project
Teams
Risk = an event that
poses a threat to the
organisation, and if not
managed, could
damage the
organisation.

17. Our three categories of risk
defined…
The three levels ensure risk is effectively managed at YoungMinds, with interplay as appropriate between them – for example , a project risk could be
escalated to the strategic delivery register, and changes in strategic delivery register risk could also lead to updates to the controls on the top line
register.
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• Top Line Risks:
• Will always be present due to the nature of our work. We are aware of, and manage these risks, but they cannot be eliminated.
• Fundamental to charity – key focus of trustees.
• Example Top Line Risk: ‘We cause or fail to prevent harm to a young person connected with our work.’
• Strategic Delivery Risks:
• Have the potential to significantly impact the delivery of our strategy and, as a result, may impact the entire organisation.
• Proactive mitigating actions take place, as they happen and reviewed also at quarterly intervals.
• Example Strategic Delivery Risk: ‘We fail to increase our reach and relevance to marginalised young people, including young people of colour’.
• Project Risks:
• There is a little to no likelihood that the risk will impact the delivery of our strategy.
• Proactive mitigating actions can be managed without help from SLT and/or significant assistance from other teams.
• Example Project Risk: We cannot recruit sufficient numbers of young people to sign up to Movement for Change.

18. A more detailed approach to resource
management in response to capacity
challenges
• All work broken down into ‘projects’ – key activities flowing from
our three strategic programmes and two cross organisational
enablers
• All staff needed on a project listed and days estimated for all key
activities
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19. Closing Thoughts and
Reflections
1) In an age of the permanent crisis, swift adaptability is essential.
2) Despite the challenges thrown up by the pandemic and very real
suffering, responding to it created stronger, more adaptable services
and increased fundraising has led to extending services, reach and
impact – although recognise this bucks the trend.
3) Risk management has grown in importance and should continue to
do so for the sector.
4) Although the trend is towards getting more done with less and
hectic schedules across sectors, I’ve found the charity sector to be a
leader in making time for people, inclusivity and engaging a wide
range of people. Tough times call for us all to do more of this.
5) The importance of being kind.
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20. Name of Presenter