IFORS Pro Bono O.R. presentation 2014
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A member of the Pro Bono O.R. committee was invited to speak at the IFORS conference in Barcelona. The presentation looks at how Pro Bono O.R. is operated, some UK case studies and abroad.
IFORS Pro Bono O.R. presentation 2014
- 2. 2 Page 2 The ORS initiative In December 2012, the ORS Board agreed to (i) continue with an existing volunteer‐run Pro Bono initiative, and (ii) employ a paid coordinator. The Board had some doubts about the viability of the scheme (e.g. whether enough volunteers could be found). There were also issues around the ability of the ORS to fund this for the long term. Therefore, the initial appointment of a paid coordinator was for a fixed‐term of one year. The coordinator, Felicity McLeister, started in September 2013. As a result of the success of her work, her appointment has recently been extended. The aims of the ORS pro bono scheme are: 1. To help organisations in the 3rd sector (e.g. charities and social enterprises) to do a better job 2. To promote OR in the third sector 3. To give OR analysts an opportunity to practise in a wider arena and widen their skills
- 5. 5 Page 5 What has been achieved • 6 completed projects, • 10 active projects, • several others in the initial inquiry stage. Volunteer recruitment Felicity maintains the volunteer’s database and keeps in touch with volunteers regularly. She has recruited 94 new volunteers. Note: The reason for the fluctuation in numbers is linked to the timing of the members’ mail out and the months where Felicity has focused on increasing the volunteers. It is important to keep the balance between the numbers of volunteers and the number of projects so this is done on an ad hoc basis when required.
- 6. 6 Page 6 Here is what some of those who’ve received Pro Bono support have said: • Crimestoppers: ‘We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project. And from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity.’ (Performance Manager) • Participle: ‘I have just started to digest the work you did for us and wanted to say a huge thank you. This will be so critical to our growth and I am very grateful indeed for your time and expertise. The team have described you as “a joy to work with”.’ (Principal Partner) • The Cardinal Hume Centre ‘We valued the opportunity to work collaboratively and without doubt benefited from the analyst’s expertise and commitment to the project.’ (Operations Director) What are the wider results OR is understood, valued, demanded and used Pro Bono OR has appeared in newsletters of different charity umbrella bodies which between them have circulation of over 100,000, and presented a workshop at a voluntary organisation conference ORers are knowledgeable, well‐trained, in good supply Pro Bono OR gives opportunities to practise and develop skills in new settings. It offers structures for inexperienced analysts to be supported or led by a more senior analyst, providing opportunity for development and learning. It generates material for conference streams and SIG meetings, to support these learning and development activities. It provides opportunities for members who are not currently employed in OR roles to ‘keep their hand in’. By promoting OR in this field, the ORS may attract people into OR who would not otherwise have considered the profession.
- 7. 7 Page 7 Costs The cost to the ORS of running the scheme is currently around £30,000 p.a. The key questions are: • Can the costs be reduced? – not easily, because almost all cost is in the coordinator’s role and the steering group believes that the project would be damaged if we cut back on paid staff input. • Can the ORS cost be reduced through alternative sources of funding? ‐ not easily, there is no prospect of an alternative source of funding within the next two years at least. Case Study 1: Crimestoppers Help police solve and prevent crime In 2011/12: • Received 95,276 calls and online forms • with useful information • Resulted in: • 8,097 criminals arrested and charged • £22,340,328 worth of illegal drugs seized • £7,723,373 worth of stolen goods recovered Expecting 60% increase in business but no more funds available for staffing call centre
- 9. 9 Page 9 Implementation New shift patterns introduced Jan 2013 January performance compared to 2012 average • Service levels increased o From 90% to 94% • Abandoned calls decreased o From 12% to 6% • Average time to answer call decreased o From 28 secs to 13 secs “We are grinning like Cheshire cats and I wanted to share the good feeling with you both. Thank you for all your efforts – I feel now it really was worth it.” (Performance Manager) Case Study 2: Reach The client: Reach: an organisation matching skilled volunteers to charities that need them The problem: to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of matching processes, free up resource, develop more value adding activities The approach: we • interviewed staff • facilitated focus groups of matching staff and IT support • work shadowed a ‘matcher’ and the Foundation Services Co‐ordinator • discussed potential measures of impact with Research and Business Analysis Manager • examined available documentation, collated and distilled the information • discussed issues identified with a process improvement expert
- 10. 10 Page 10 The Solution • Identified short term efficiency improvements • Recommended additional value adding activities • Identified ways of measuring impact • Recommended a roadmap for moving to a new service delivery model The benefits • A new perspective on processes, helping develop, challenge and validate internal thinking • Skilled staff freed up to deliver more value • Reach services better targeted and marketed, through improved impact measurement Case Study 3: Fundraising ‐ getting the evidence, telling the story The client: a small international ‘umbrella’ charity for street children The client’s problem: the new fundraising manager wanted to improve the arguments and evidence for why the group’s work should be funded The approach began with a scoping study of the group’s work programmes, past and present, to propose options for how the work should proceed. Two strands of work were agreed: firstly, to draw together and analyse existing information held within the organisation about past projects that could be used as supporting evidence to arguments for funding the organisation’s different work programmes; and, secondly, to review, and propose a redesign to, the operational processes of the group’s small grants scheme, with the aim of giving these a much greater focus on impact. This required, in both cases, a systematic analysis of a large quantity of unstructured written material, followed by a consultative approach with the group’s staff and relevant trustees to agree new processes for the grants
- 11. 11 Page 11 The benefits • the fundraising manager has been assisted in reformulating the fundamental arguments for the funding of the group’s work, increasing its chances of securing funding • the organisation has improved evidence on what its has done and what it has funded others to do in the past and on what may have been achieved, plus clearer appreciation of where its evidence is limited and why, enabling it to improve the effectiveness of its future planning and fundraising • the organisation has been enabled to improve the effectiveness of its grants scheme The solution • construct logical and graphical descriptions for how the group achieves its impacts • provide systematic analysis, of extensive unstructured written material, about group’s past work and its actual and possible impacts • develop new logic‐based impact‐focussed processes for the grants scheme, and then test and refine via analysis using past grants applications and consultation Case Study 4: Controlling costs and spending in a non‐cash economy The client: an NGO and social enterprise running a health centre in rural Uganda The client’s problem: the NGO had run into severe problems with keeping on top of its financial position and short‐term planning, partly as a result of the complexities of the local reliance on non‐cash transactions. The approach began with conversations with different staff, plus analysis of files, to understand the state of play in the organisation. It was clear that it was not on top of its recent financial performance and current position, but it required detailed analysis of the various (incomplete) bookkeeping records from recent years to understand why. The main problems had arisen because financial recording processes and financial management overall were not dealing adequately with a wide variety of debts and credits that arose normally because of the frequent lack of cash in this local rural subsistence economy. Analytical and facilitation work were required to overcome this, including technical fixes to record‐keeping guidance, coaching of the new finance manager, use of home‐made blackboards as spreadsheets for recording budgets, and, crucially, monthly participative financial review, budgeting and short‐term planning sessions. The latter also provided a useful forum for starting longer‐term planning.
- 12. 12 Page 12 The benefits • the organisation is now in much better control of its use of resources, and is better able to manage the variety of financial complexities and risks that have caused problems in the past, improving its current effectiveness • the organisation understands better what it needs from its local manager, and also is looking beyond short‐term problems to start more strategic planning, enabling it to improve its future effectiveness • the local finance manager has increased personal capacity, for current and future jobs The solution • provide one‐to‐one guidance and support to finance manager on technical solutions to financial processes • set‐up and facilitate participative short‐term budget planning sessions • develop locally suitable technology to support this, e.g. using of home‐made blackboards as ‘spreadsheets’ to record and display the agreed budgets • evolve use of participative planning sessions For more information please see Felicity’s blog, webpage, Twitter or LinkedIn page. Webpage: www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx Blog: http://probonoOR.blogspot.co.uk/ @FMcLeister Felicity McLeister She will be pleased to hear from you. For more information Email felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com