Written by Ian Seath, Pro Bono OR Steering Group
In January, NCVO launched their “The Road Ahead 2022” report. It’s their annual analysis of the biggest trends, opportunities and events that will impact on charities and volunteering in the year ahead. This latest report identifies areas of stability as well as trends that go beyond the pandemic.
The report uses the well-known PESTEL framework to identify the key factors affecting the third sector. (PESTEL = Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal)
In this article, we build on the Road Ahead Report and highlight how Pro Bono OR (PBOR) can support charities and enable them to capitalise on 2022’s opportunities.
Political stability
The Road Ahead report suggests we’re in for a period of political stability with a General Election not expected before 2023. However, that was written before “party-gate” and the recent reshuffling of deckchairs at No. 10 Downing Street.
Despite all this apparent division and polarisation within society, charities often play an important role in bringing people together. Many of our PBOR strategy projects with charities adopt collaborative approaches for engaging with a range of stakeholders to bring about a whole-systems view of how best to make an impact. We’re also currently facilitating a project with a charity to improve their approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. And, it’s important to state that the OR Society is committed to EDI in all its activities. As far as our volunteers are concerned, we want to ensure that our project opportunities are accessible to our diverse pool of talent.
Economic situation
It’s already becoming obvious that, as we come out of pandemic restrictions, people are going to be faced with a tougher economic climate. Energy bills are going up significantly, inflation is rising, and a Bank of England spokesperson said people should not expect pay rises. That all suggests there will be even more demand for the work of charities that help address deprivation and poverty. The so-called Levelling-up Agenda may also require charities to step up their services in some areas of the UK or seek new sources of funding as the government places more emphasis on infrastructure investment.
PBOR projects can, for example, help charities improve the logistics of distribution (food, clothes), with analyses to optimise stock levels, distribution routes and the location of shops or storage facilities. Charities may need to be looking at how they can cope with more clients/demands for their services and PBOR projects can help with this too.
With charities also facing a tougher economic outlook, many will also want to look at their internal efficiency and costs of delivering services to their beneficiaries. Process analysis, activity costing and process redesign projects are regularly undertaken by our volunteers, leading to cost savings or capacity increases.
Social drivers
Over the past 2 years the UK has seen a change in the pattern of volunteering and, given a likely hybrid model of working, it is likely this will continue. Formal volunteering through charities has declined but many people are engaged in volunteering by way of social support for vulnerable people and mutual aid within their local community.
PBOR has a pool of around 1000 volunteers so one of our challenges is to generate enough projects to make use of this resource. We would be keen to hear from charities that work in local communities who might benefit from support from an OR person to help with their strategy, operational delivery or evaluating impact.
Technology
Over the past 2 years, virtually all of us have made the move to online working, using a range of cheap and accessible technology. Digital transformation has happened much more quickly than anyone would have anticipated. For some charities during lockdowns, IT tools have enabled them to reach new beneficiary groups who might have previously been hard to reach. There is much talk of AI and machine learning but many of the charities we have worked with have benefitted from our volunteers’ ability to develop measurement, analysis and reporting tools using readily available software such as Excel. While we are not usually able to advise on specific software solutions that might help address a charity’s problems, our volunteers have carried out process definition and improvement projects in preparation for automation.
We’ve also helped charities with contact centres with modelling tools to improve call-handling response times and to optimise shift patterns to match demand more effectively.
The environment
We have experienced massive changes in work and travel patterns over the past 2 years with associated (albeit temporary) reductions in emissions, for example. Most of the focus of environmental advocacy and sustainability has, hitherto, been in the private and public sectors. Much of the third sector is playing catch-up, but, with its values-driven culture it is well placed to take on the challenge.
Legal factors
The Road Ahead Report says one of the key things for charities to look out for in 2022 and further ahead is the number of changes to charity law arising from the Charities Bill that is currently progressing through parliament. Proposed revisions to the Human Rights Act may also be of concern to some in the sector.
PBOR projects with charities who want to re-examine their strategy and delivery models continue to be a recurring theme for us and our volunteers have designed and facilitated a wide range of strategy review processes. These range from relatively simple Trustee Awaydays to more extensive SWOT analyses and Rich Picture models of stakeholders and beneficiaries.
The Road Ahead with PBOR
As we move out of Winter and continue to see declining Covid-19 hospitalisation levels, it looks like 2022 is going to be a very different year to 2021. PBOR is well-placed to support a diverse range of charities across the UK. Our pool of volunteers is skilled at carrying out research and analytical projects, either wholly from home, or in-person, depending on what works best for their charity partner.
Get in touch…
Information about Pro Bono OR
For further information about the Pro Bono OR scheme, please visit: www.theorsociety.com/Probono or email ProBonoOR@theorsociety.com
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