We’re pretty chuffed with all the expertise we’ve been able to provide our partners in our first three years. Telling you about it all would take three years. Here are a few examples…
- SKILLS
- INVESTMENT
STRATEGY
CONSULTANCY
We’re passionate about our partner’s vision. So we can help them to figure out where they want to go and how to get there.
MICHAEL AND PRODUCT OF PRISON
Forward Foundation Director, Michael is working with our Ugandan partner Product of Prison on their strategy. He is helping them shape their future. Every month Founder, Celesta and Michael get together over the phone, skype or in-person to explore the direction Product of Prison are heading.No one else asks me the questions that Michael asks. And as a leader, I can sometimes feel a little isolated so it’s really helpful to have someone to discuss the future direction of Product of Prison. Celesta, Product of Prison Founder
LEADERSHIP
DISCOVERY
We run a one-week development programme that enables leaders to gain new perspectives on their leadership and organisations.
LEADERSHIP COACHING
We organise for our leaders to have regular sessions with a professional executive coach to explore the way they see the world and open themselves up to shifts and changes that will improve their leadership and wellbeing.
DISCOVERY 2013
We brought together a small group of leaders to spend one week together in Uganda. Co-created by participants and facilitated by a professional leadership coach, the group fed on experiences from exceptional organisations, were inspired by talented young Ugandans, shared insights between each other and had lots of time to reflect. There was also an element or two of surprise along the way! (Everyone’s lips are sealed)So what’s the main lesson I’ve taken from Discovery? I suppose it boils down to making decisions based on the things in life that are important to me and my sense of wellbeing. Once you get this right, other distractions seem to just fall into the background. Doug, Balloon Kenya
MODEL
PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
We draw on our experience of working with lots of organisations working in different contexts to support our partners in developing their model for supporting young people.
M&E; SUPPORT
We help social start-ups figure out the best way to measure and demonstrate their impact. And then we support them in making that happen. (Otherwise known as M&E; ‘monitoring and evaluation’, which sounds a little too much like a school report).
ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANCY
It can be tough to get young people on board, to engage them with a programme in a genuine way. Enter specialists, Kaizen. They provide in-depth, tailored advice to our partners on how to get young people interested and how to keep them interested.
THE KAIZEN WORKSHOP
SKILLS
The team from Kaizen, specialists in engagement, ran a workshop for six partners on ‘meaningful engagement’. Through the exploration of engagement, from why it’s so important to various strategies and processes, the workshop provided each partner with a deeper understanding of what engagement meant for their work. (Did we just break the record for how many times you can say engagement in one paragraph?)It was great to focus specifically on the engagement issue and be forced to think more deeply about what engagement is, why it’s important and how to do it better. I found the frameworks around the engagement journey, and different types of motivators particularly useful. Jess, Franklin Scholars
TECH CONSULTANCY
Through our tech network and our own tech team, Studio we offer advice on how to best harness tech to help our social our partners to achieve their mission.
DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANCY
We’re good friends with leading global Digital Marketing Agency, Forward3D. They help our partners with; PPC, SEO, Analytics and Social Media. This could be helping them to make the most of Google Grants for example.
HR CONSULTANCY
The all-important “People Stuff”. We connect social our partners to friendly experts for pointers on all things team and culture. They might cringe when we refer to them as HR gurus, but they really are. They can provide support around policies or how to build effective team.
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANCY
We provide social start-ups with advice on brand, storytelling and managing communications channels, supporting them to approach their digital communication in fresh and engaging ways.
DIGITAL MARKETING UGANDA
Mike and Matt from global Digital Marketing Agency Forward3D recently spent time with partners’ KampaBits and Women in Technology to design from scratch a digital marketing module, focusing on SEO and PPC that will be rolled out to young Ugandans. The process was kick-started with a workshop; Matt and Mike introduced the two new skillsets that will give the young generation a real edge in their future careers. The training session taught us so much – we look forward to Mike and Matt’s support in guiding us Forward. Alex, KampaBits
INVESTMENT
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
We are serious about our partners’ futures. So, we provide experts to support them to develop their strategy for generating funds, helping them figure out the best way to secure their financial future and to scale their work.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
In two years online video will make up 86% of Internet traffic, making visual storytelling pretty powerful. We produce videos for our partners, to help them share their stories and promote their work in the most compelling way possible.
STORY PRODUCTION
Another way we help our partners to communicate their work is to produce online scrapbook pages for them. These are webpages that showcase inspirational young people and leaders in a very visual and creative way.
HELEN AND THE BIG HOUSE
Forward Foundation Communications Manager, Helen worked closely with The Big House to help them share their magic with a little more of the world! She produced a number of communications: a short video (a trailer) to excite potential supporters, two online scrapbook pages (case studies) sharing the stories of The Big House members and Founder, Maggie and most recently she advised on a document targeted at future donors, around impact. And she loved every minute. As an emerging organisation it is important for us to spread the word about the impact of our work to as many people as possible, from donors to volunteers. Video is a brilliant way of doing this, but producing content that is insightful and sharable is a difficult task for a small organisation with limited time and money. The videos Forward Foundation created for The Big House are not only informative but manage to capture the spirit of The Big House. Bryony Hope, The Big House