“Trust was something I had to learn”, says Sophie. “It wasn’t easy to adjust to hostel life, but gradually I began to appreciate the necessity for structure. For the first time, in a long time, I took on a more disciplined approach and my time at the hostel saved my life and my sanity. It has allowed me to make positive choices about where I want my life to go.”
Every year the hostel run by Keymoves helps over 70 women in need. It approached Pilotlight after realising it needed to review its services, strengthen its trustee board and plan for the future. Rose Turnbull, Chief Executive of Keymoves, says they knew it was the right time for some strategic support.
"As a charity we are constantly battling to secure continuous funding so that we can survive and be sustainable. So, coming to Pilotlight enabled us to step outside our day-to-day work and have the time to look at the bigger picture. We also realised that we are a business, as well as a charity, so we wanted to be able to plan for the future and look at how we might develop our services."
The Pilotlight team included business members from Devro, RBS, Lloyds and Alliance Trust. Elaine Maddison from Alliance Trust says it soon became clear that working with the trustee board and improving governance was an important part of the project.
“The Board of the charity was in a state of flux with the current Chair looking to step down, a new one not yet recruited and a considerable number of Board members having only recently joined. This meant that there was an over reliance on Rose to not only run Keymoves, on a day to day basis, but to also shape the future. We spent time with the Board helping them to focus on their vision for Keymoves and to build a business plan that would take them forward to the next phase of their journey. In doing so, hopefully we initiated a greater support structure for Rose.”
The charity now has a five-year business plan and stronger governance practices in place. Outgoing chair of trustees, Gordon Berry says:
“I think the journey has been very rewarding for everyone and Rose and our board members have learnt a lot.”
Rose adds:
"The Pilotlight team challenged us to really think about what we'd done in the past and where we were going in the future. We valued their expertise and it was a great learning experience. It has made us feel more confident about what we are doing."
Elaine Maddison from Alliance Trust says she also learnt a lot from working with a charity in this way.
“As someone who struggles with ‘switching off’ from work, I found it energising to have some focused time every month doing something completely different – often allowing me to come back to my day to day job with a clear head and fresh perspective.”
* Not her real name