Closefield Consultancy
specialist training and support service
helping your organisation grow
What we do
Project Management
Do you have a good idea for a new project? How will it ‘fit’ with the rest of your organisation? Once you have the funds, are you clear about how the project will be managed to ensure it has the right impact. We can help you to have a clear vision of how the project will progress, ensuring effective monitoring and evaluation. The importance of Social Value, and the impact that your project has on its community, would all be part of our support for your project as it develops. Working closely with Trustees, staff & volunteers we would look to ensure that all members of the project are equally committed to establishing the required outcomes.
Financial Management
We are able to help you set up basic financial systems to enable you to manage your finances. Whether this is using an excel spreadsheet, a specific accounting software or using a manual process, we can assist you to ensure that your accounts are accurate and that you are able to present accurate reports whenever required. For small organisations, we are able to offer year end, independent examination of your financial books and provide you with a set of end of year accounts suitable, for Trustees and the Charity Commission.
Volunteer Management
Do you use volunteers now but fail to retain them or is having volunteers a new idea for your organisation? We can use our many years’ experience to help you develop a positive view of what you want volunteers to do, ensure that they have appropriate support, supervision & training so that if / when the time comes to leave, they do so having had a very positive experience. This could involve the development of a volunteer policy, volunteer agreement, clear recruitment processes and ensure clarity about support, supervision & training. Develop clear volunteer roles to maximise the skill of your volunteers & enable your organisation to be clear about the volunteers it needs
Community Transport
Thinking of starting a community transport scheme, or expanding your existing service, we can help and guide you with setting up your scheme whether with cars, MPV’s and / or mini-buses, including advising on different scheduling programmes. We are able to assist and guide you with the purchasing of a vehicle for the service you wish to provide, ensuring that it meets the requirements of your service. With over 15 years’ experience of running a Community Transport service, which covered both urban and rural areas, we understand the legal & operational issues in operating a CT scheme whether you are working with paid staff or volunteers or a combination of both!
Policies & Procedures
Do you need to ensure that your policies are up to date and relevant to your organisation? Whether it’s Health & Safety, Vulnerable people protection, Use of social media or Confidentiality – we can help to develop policies / procedures so that your organisation can operate legally but with confidence that all of the policies / procedures are appropriate. Once the right policies are developed, it is vital that the importance of their implementation is supported and delivered by all Trustees, staff & volunteers and that they are just not ‘words in a file’!!
Governance
We can provide support to your Trustees to enable them to work more effectively as a team for the benefit of the organisation. We can support them to govern with vision and clarity to ensure they are clear about their roles and responsibilities. This could include specifically their need to ensure accountability to the community, their staff & their volunteers. We would seek to examine the relationship between Trustees and staff as this is vital to the development of an organisation. Explore how your Trustee board is recruited and trained to ensure effective performance.
HR,DBS checks & PAYE
We offer a full range of HR & personnel support from employment contracts, sickness & holiday pay, and redundancy to disciplinary & grievance issues & job descriptions and person specifications. Through our links with a local umbrella body, we can offer DBS checks for staff and volunteers who work with vulnerable people (adults and children). This is a vital protection for your organisation, your clients and your staff & volunteers. As a registered agent with HMRC, we can offer a full PAYE service, including monthly pay slips, RTI reporting to HMRC, end of year form completion (P60) and all paperwork throughout the year.
Equality & Diversity
Are you sure that your organisation is attracting staff and volunteers from across the community? Do you know how to make sure your organisation is seen as one that is culturally aware? We can offer to look at both your policies & procedures as well as your operational implementation – after all, policies are all very well but they need to be seen to being an active part of how an organisation works on a day to day basis!!! We will work with you to make sure this happens.
Funding & Fundraising
Do you have an agreed financial / funding strategy? Do you have a clear picture of what funding you require for the future. Starting with your strategy, we will work with you to look for funding opportunities and assist you to develop long term plans. We can help review your funding applications, assist with fund raising ideas and assist with looking at new opportunities including procurement portals, e-tendering, contracts and grants, whether with the statutory sector, Trusts, the NHS as well as look at private sector opportunities.
Sustainability
All organisations need to consider their long term sustainability by looking at diversifying their income streams, developing new services and / or establishing trading arms. We can help you explore the different options and consider what needs to change to ensure your sustainability. We can support the change process as well as consider the options for organisational development.
Partnership & Consortia
Partnerships can be a positive way of working, if established correctly with a shared vision and purpose. We have many years’ experience of working in partnership with both voluntary and statutory sector organisations. So, from the formation of your partnership, with good governance arrangements firmly in place, ensuring one starts with the right foundations, to managing risks and converting the hard work into new business, we can work with you, and your partners, to support a positive way of working.
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