Like everyone else, we’re busy planning the year ahead. There are some very exciting opportunities in prospect, including continuing to explore the major theme of 2014: how organisations, projects and outcomes become more sustainable. Growing numbers of people are realising it’s not just about the money: you can have all the income you want, but if you don’t have the right staff, board, culture, strategies, relationships, evidence…
We are continuing to develop our specialist understanding of what makes for more sustainable organisations. Watch this space for more information or join us in exploring the most important topic facing ethical and not-for-profit organisations today.
Practising what we preach, it’s great to be able to report another year of sustained growth for the company. Repeat business continues to be our main source of work (we tend not to tender or advertise) so it’s pleasing that 20 clients were new to Wren and Greyhound this year. In total we worked with 35 main clients in 2014, developing organisational learning, outcomes and strategies to sustain them into the future. Work with funders and intermediary bodies helped us engage a further 300 voluntary and public sector organisations. We ran 25 workshops, conferences and training sessions and produced 15 publications. Most of these are internal reviews and evaluation reports, but some are in the public domain including these interesting examples:
Equalities Fund_Outcome framework An overview of the outcomes being progressed by projects funded through the VAF/Scottish Government Equalities Fund. This summary attempts to find a creative way to demonstrate the links between project-level outcomes, funder priorities and government strategy.
Shared Care Scotland Consultation Toolkit A simple and creative set of tools for involving people in planning and reviewing services. Designed for carers, but suitable for most settings.
In Control Scotland review of Highlands-ISF-pilot Self-Directed Support continues to be a major area of development for many of our clients. This report captures some useful and hopefully transferable learning from a two-year pilot of Individual Service Funds in the Highland area.
Voluntary Action Fund outcome framework and toolkit for anti-sectarian work This framework provides a comprehensive grounding for projects, helping them to focus their activities, evidence outcomes and contribute learning to this fascinating field of work.
Name badge collection 2014