Lessons from RNIB
Making good money from providing commercial services isn’t easy for anyone, but it sounds like the folks at RNIB have made some fairly basic errors.
Tag Archives: Business Development
The IP opportunity
Your organisation’s knowledge is probably the biggest lever you have for increasing income and impact, but all too often it’s an invisible and untapped asset, because most of us are like Canada…
Next Generation Leaders 8th March
This event is now fully booked. If you would like to go onto the reserve list, please drop me a line. May’s CEO breakfast seminar on commercial capabilities, was clearly […]
CEO Breakfast Seminar January 2017
Income diversification, social enterprise, and business model development, are now integral to the strategies of most charities, but the twin challenges of culture and capability continue to hold back our progress. To understand how to overcome these challenges, I’d like to invite you to join us at our Charity CEO Breakfast…
The profit imperative
I’ve been challenged quite a lot about this in charity Boards and Executive sessions because, as we all know, “charities don’t make profit”. The word itself can be enough to make a lot of people in the sector feel uncomfortable. But it’s not a word I’m going to shy away from, or soften to “surplus”, and here’s why.
How to diversify income
One of the biggest issues faced by organisations in the sector is an over-reliance on a few sources of revenue. Hence one of the most frequent questions I’m asked is: “How can we diversify our income?”
It’s a legitimate question, but trying to diversify into lots of new things is not the answer.
The perils of commercialisation
Diversifying into more commercial income is not without its consequences. There are two in particular that you should be aware of, and plan for…
Sales is not a dirty word
Sharron McIndoe, Head of Training and Consultancy at the National Autistic Society, talks to Martyn Drake about how her team developed their ethical approach to “sales”, and how that change […]
Finding the diamonds
There’s an old story about a Persian farmer that a lot of struggling charities might find extremely relevant. It was popularised by the 19th century Baptist minister Russell Conwell and it goes like this…
Commerce, Ethics and Age UK
Following the press controversy on Age UK’s tie-up with utility providers, a recent report from the Charity Commission has asked questions about the ethics and appropriateness of charities entering into […]
