Make a Spectacular Financial Comeback
By focusing on strategy, systems and processes, as well as enhancing transparency and reporting, this charity achieved a spectacular financial comeback after having found itself at a crossroads when key leaders moved on.
The Challenge
The departure of essential staff had left this charity struggling.
Key staff turnover can profoundly affect a business, particularly when those employees are crucial to its operations and strategy. The retirement of two long-term staff members led to operational disruptions, a loss of institutional knowledge, and diminished morale among the remaining team.
As often happens when critical team members depart, the business faced several challenges:
- Loss of expertise: The departure of skilled individuals created gaps in execution and expertise.
- Operational inefficiencies: The absence of key personnel led to inefficiencies and delays, impacting service delivery as suitable replacements were not readily available.
- Cultural shift: The charity’s culture experienced destabilization, making it challenging to maintain consistency.
- Impacted relationships: Clients and donors began to lose trust due to frequent staff changes, a decline in service quality, and inconsistent reporting.
The lack of formal systems and structure was impeding growth and threatening the group’s long-term sustainability, leaving it vulnerable in a rapidly evolving environment.
The Bottom Line
I designed and implemented a comprehensive business remediation program that led to an spectacular financial comeback, as demonstrated by these result:
+ 12%
Increase in Funding
Donors started giving more once they had better transparency and could see the impact more clearly.
– 5%
Reduction in Staff Costs
Streamlined processes reduced double handling and brought down error rates.
– 17%
Reduction in Overheads
Secured better supplier deals and made sure to take advantage of available discounts.
The Process
After appointing a capable CEO who continued to face challenges, the Board quickly realized that new hires alone wouldn’t solve the issues. I was brought in to conduct an Issues Review, uncovering the root causes and pinpointing the areas of weakness. From this, I developed a project proposal, which was approved.
The journey was challenging and emotionally charged, with initial resistance to change from staff. However, in the end, they were delighted with the results and felt happier and more secure in their roles.
For more information on organisational readiness and change management – Harvard Business Review has this article on the 6 Key Levers of a Successful Organizational Transformation
Conclusion
Every staff member gained complete clarity on their responsibilities, what needed to be achieved, and what success looked like, leading to exceptional new hires who fitted perfectly.
With clear systems and procedures in place, the entire team thrived, enhancing overall performance and activating significant savings.
Once operations were running smoothly, we leveraged these systems to gather impact data and refreshed reports, boosting trust and engagement with donors and grant organisations.
From the brink of closure to a thriving donor base, this was a remarkable financial comeback.
Although it may sound like a simple process this transformation required significant effort, trust, and emotional investment to let go of old habits and embrace a cultural shift—change management was critical, and in the end the journey was absolutely worth it – the team empowered a spectacular financial comeback!
“Eve is a veteran at business turnarounds and she delights in making complicated easy to understand.
Our Charity is now in a really strong position to continue to work towards an Australia where everyone, staff and participants alike, can reach their full potential.”
Gerard Nassingar
CFO
