Informing future strategy and planning 

So many of our debates in the sector are around perennial issues, hardy perennials at that.  With simple, inexpensive and well-planned research studies these debates can be effectively pruned to flower into successful strategies.  Don’t waste time debating the same old issues, get evidence instead – particularly if you need to make a case for a budget.

Key case study: Save the Children

Save the Children fights for children in the UK and around the world who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence. The organisation works with children to find lifelong answers to the problems they face. While it conducts this work in the UK and overseas, Save the Children is primarily known for its international work.

This challenge is similar to that experienced by many charities. For example, Greenpeace are well-known for their practical action and less widely known for its sustainability work. It is well-known that Guide Dogs for the Blind Association supports the provision of guide dogs but less widely understood that the organisation also conducts significant research into eye health.

With the challenge of creating a more accurate understanding of the breadth of its work, particularly in the UK, Save the Children commissioned nfpSynergy to conduct a policy and communication review of the work in the UK, how it is perceived by a range of key stakeholders, how coherent the work is between the four ‘markets’ within the UK and how it should be communicated to key audiences. In essence, Save the Children was interested in how to create greater public understanding and higher perceptions of value for its work in these islands.

This project consisted entirely of original in-depth qualitative interviews among government, children’s charities, other UK charities, researchers and other contractors for Save the Children, key staff members and trustees and some key relevant opinion formers in this area. In total, almost 80 such interviews were conducted.

The output of the project consisted of several presentations to key audiences, workshops with key staff, briefing of the CEO and senior director and a final report containing tangible recommendations for overall policy and both internal and external communications.