I've been providing pro bono support to Third Sector organisations since 2007. This is a presentation I made to the OR Society's Third Sector Special Interest Group on 17th October 2013, sharing some of my lessons learnt.

1. Pro Bono support in the
Third Sector
A consultant’s perspective
Ian Seath
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

2. Background
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

3. Why pro bono?




Put something back
Make a difference
Work with people who
need and want help
Work with people who
are truly grateful
Projects
Outputs
Uses
Benefits
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

4. Range of pro bono experience

Coaching individuals


Designing and Facilitating
events



Strategy away-days
Project meetings
Service & process re-design
“Help-desk”

Project management
Process improvement
Facilitating improvement
projects


Directors, Trustees, Staff
Strategic and operational
planning
Performance management
of teams & individuals
Knowledge management
Phone a friend
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

5. Third Sector Diversity
Reach
Role
Funding
Status
International
Lobbying
Government
Charity
National
Capacitybuilding
Foundations
& HNW
donors
Social
Enterprise
Regional
Direct
interventions
Individual
donors
Informal
Local
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

6. Using consultants

The major charities are
likely to have experience
of using consultants
Half-empty
Optimist

Half-full
Twice as
big as is
needed
Pessimist
Consultant
The small ones probably
won’t


They may have all sorts of
negative images of
Management Consultants
The idea of “free consulting”
might just be a bit too scary
for some
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

7. Some lessons learnt


Pro bono is not “free consulting”
or something to “fit into” your
(busy) workload
Light-touch on “methodology”



Sticking to deadlines (or not!)


Formal vs. informal project management
Planning, controlling, reporting
Client and consultant
Be clear about the client’s expectations of your
consultancy role

Expert; Pair of hands; Collaborative
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

8. Consulting role
Consultant responds to
request for
help by proposing
“Let’s work together”
Collaborative
Pair of
hands
Consultant plays pair-of
hands role in response to
a request for help
Expert
How would
you like us
to work
together?
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.
Consultant plays expert
role in response to a
request for help

9. Remember…

Help is never really
help unless, and until,
it is perceived as
“helpful” by the
person on the
receiving end,
regardless of the
good intentions of the
consultant
© 2013 Copyright ISC Ltd.

10. Contact details
•
ian.seath@improvement-skills.co.uk
•
•
07850 728506
@ianjseath
•
www.improvement-skills.co.uk