Free IMPACT magazine. Issue 4 includes how Operational Research is being used to help not-for-profit organisations

IMPACT magazine is a free bi-annual publication produced by The OR Society.  It is packed with real-world examples of how to use analysis to make better decisions. It‘s full of thought-provoking articles and it‘s FREE.

The fourth issue contains the usual eclectic mix of stories of analytical work making an impact in a variety of organisations, including how Operational Research being used to help

not-for-profit organisations. In South Africa, Shout-it-Now, which is involved in

HIV counselling and testing, used simulation to help them contribute significantly

to reducing the rate of new HIV infections. In the UK, Bloodwise, a specialist blood

cancer charity, took advantage of the OR Society’s Pro Bono scheme, which provided

a volunteer analyst to help it understand better the various audiences with which it

seeks to engage. Details of the scheme are found in the article.

If you missed the first three issues, electronic copies are available at https://issuu.com/orsimpact

For future issues of this free magazine, please subscribe at

http://www.getimpactmagazine.co.uk/

NCVO promotes Operational Research and Pro Bono O.R.

Pro Bono O.R. has forged good relationship with NCVO and as a result were invited to write a blog post and write a case study for their website.

The blog post gives an introduction to Operational Research and can be read here

The case study focus' on a project which two volunteer undertook with Crimestoppers Trust looking at ways to increase capacity in their call centre whilst minimising staff costs. Read the case study here

For more information about the scheme, to see who we've worked with, read example case studies and to request support please visit:

www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx

You can connect with me via twitter (@FMcLeister) or LinkedIn

Pro Bono O.R. case study published in IFORS news #ORblog

Many thanks to IFORS News who are supporting the Pro Bono O.R. scheme by publishing case studies of projects the scheme has worked on over the last 12 months.

This is the third case study to be published (previous examples can be found in the December 2014 and March 2015 editions).

Thank you to Sarah Culkin who carried out this Pro Bono O.R. project for HARCVS (Harrogate and Rippon Centre for Voluntary Services) which was looking how to provide as much benefit as possible from a new service they had just taken over.  Sarah was able to leave the organisation with a clear strategic view of its roles and activities, something it had never done before.

Click here for the full article which starts on page 11.

Click here for further information on Pro Bono O.R.

Still wondering if Pro Bono O.R. could help your organisation? Check out all the projects we've completed so far

This PowerPoint presentation provides a one page case study slide for each project Pro Bono O.R. has worked on so far: Pro Bono O.R. Case Studies 

The variety of the projects shows just how widely O.R. can be applied whether you want to: 
Review your strategy; 
Reduce costs; 
Improve processes; 
Improve utilisation of limited resources; 
Demonstrate impact; 
and much more, O.R. can offer the flexibility and adaptability to provide objective help.

Don't just take my work for it, here is what some of the organsations we've work with have to say:

'The work is already supporting our planning and development for next year and allowing us to focus our thoughts and decisions on the places of most importance for our organisation. It has helped us to come up with new solutions already.'

'We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project, and from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity.'

'Brilliant – it makes the predictions of risk visible. This will be so useful.'

'I’m really pleased with the report and it will be very useful indeed for forward planning and to support our Big Lottery bid.'

For more information please visit Pro Bono O.R. or contact me via email, twitter or LinkedIn 

Food bank case study: See how O.R. is helping the hungry by improving processes

The rise in the number of people using food banks has increased dramatically in 2014. David McAuley the chief executive of the Trussell Trust says that in reality half a million people are struggling to feed their families.   

In an article in the Guardian, David McAuley said 'Going to a food bank is a last resort when all else has failed'  See the full article here.

Last year two Pro Bono O.R. volunteers were asked to help the Welcome Centre food bank. The centre was expecting a big increase in demand and needed to know how the operation could be improved both in the short term and for the future.  Following questionnaires and a series of workshops the Chair of trustees said 'with your input we feel we are more equipped to deal with the expansion of the organisation'.

For further details of the case study please see the slide below:

For further case studies please visit: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx or for futher information please email me at felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com

IFORS (International Federation of OR Societies) promotes Pro Bono O.R. who are leading the way with skilled O.R. volunteering

The UK O.R. Society are the first to launch such a scheme (Pro Bono O.R.) and as such want to share their experience and good practice to encourage other Societies to set up similar schemes.

This month IFORS have promoted the scheme in their newsletter (page 18):  http://ifors.org/newsletter/ifors-dec-2014.pdf and plan to publish summaries of several volunteer projects in the next few issues to show the benefit of such schemes.  IFORS also have a section on their website as well as on-line resources where further information about Pro Bono O.R. can be found.

The article covers how the scheme works, benefits for the organisations and the volunteers, spreading the word and a summary of a recent project with the Dachshunds Breed Council: Developing a tool to help dog breeders predict genetic risks.

For further information please either contact me directly on felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com or visit the webpage.

Another successful project and positive outcomes all round!

The latest triumph for Pro Bono O.R. is with a small charity that supports families and individuals facing a wide range of trauma or tragedy.

The Charity was two years into planned expansion of its services and were seeking advice on a particular element of it.  The case study slide below gives more detail:

The feedback from the Charity was fantastic.  Here's what the CEO had to say about the volunteer: 
'He was absolutely brilliant. He was able to review complex issues and get straight to the heart of what was going wrong. He was then really flexible and agreed to work with the Chair and myself to resolve our roles and move forward together.'

When asked what difference this work would make to the organisation this was her response: 
'We are taking his advice forward to create a detailed business plan as well as to guide the work of the Board. This is going to make the organisation move forward professionally and will ensure sustainability.'

We are delighted to hear Pro Bono O.R. is having such a positive impact.  
To find out more about Pro Bono O.R., to recieve support or to sign up to volunteer please visit: Pro Bono O.R.
 

Pro Bono O.R. making an impact

I was thrilled to receive an email yesterday from Mary Dawson, CEO of Springboard, saying what an impact Pro Bono O.R. had made. Springboard is one of the charities Pro Bono O.R. has worked with. Springboard works through skilled tutors, trained volunteers and secondary school peers, to improve literacy in challenged schools and communities.

The slide below outlines the work a Pro Bono O.R. volunteer carried out with the charity.

Mary got in touch to share their latest impact report (covering 13/14 academic year). In her words 'Thank you again for the support we received through The OR Society which made this work possible.'

I am so pleased to see how Pro Bono O.R. is making a difference not only to Springbaord but all the other third sector organisations that Pro Bono O.R. is working with.

To find out more about Pro Bono O.R. please visit our webpage or email felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com

Pro Bono O.R. making a difference

It's so rewarding to get such great feedback from the organisations Pro Bono O.R. works with.

Here is some feedback from two projects we've recently completed:

Fly2help

Fly2help is a small charity supporting families and individuals facing a wide range of trauma or tragedy and encouraging aerospace careers. 

The charity was about to embark on an expansion of its services and wanted reassurance about their plans.

When talking about their Pro Bono volunteer they said this: 'He was absolutely brilliant. He was able to review complex issues and get straight to the heart of what was going wrong. He was then really flexible and agreed to work with the Chair and myself to resolve our roles and move forward together.'

The Dachshund Breed Council

DBC is a community group that works with breed clubs and breeders to improve dogs’ health and welfare.  

The problem they faced was that some Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds suffer from a form of epilepsy called Lafora Disease.  2 DNA tests are available, but are not yet used by all breeders. The DBC wanted a tool to help predict the probability of breeding puppies with Lafora Disease.

They said about their volunteer 'she clearly understood the problem we were trying to solve and came up with a tool (in Excel) which is easy for us to update each quarter as we get new test result data. She also kept the solution “simple” while keeping the options open should we manage to collect more sophisticated data in the future.' 

Could Pro Bono O.R. help you? Find out here

Helping AYME (Association of Young People with ME) focus on the future

After hearing about the project Pro Bono O.R. carried out for 'Work for Us' and the very positive feedback, Vanessa (Deputy Chair) at AYME got in touch.  AYME needed to revise its 3-5 year strategy in the light of changing circumstances and several new trustees.   Pro Bono O.R. provided an external facilitator who ran a half day strategic planning workshop. The slide below provides a summary of the project.  

In order to receive Pro Bono O.R. support please send an email to felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com
For more information please visit the webpage which has details of how to get involved, all the case studies and latest news.

New Pro Bono O.R. Case Study: A tool to help dog breeders identify genetic risks

The Dachshund Breed Council (DBC): A tool to help dog

 breeders identify genetic risks

Two of our Pro Bono O.R. volunteers, Dr. Sophie Carr (Bays Consulting Ltd.) and Ian Seath (Chairman of the DBC) undertook a project with the DBC. 


Some Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds suffer from a form of epilepsy called Lafora Disease. 2 DNA tests are available, but are not yet used by all breeders. The DBC wanted a tool to help predict the probability of breeding puppies with Lafora Disease.

To see the case study please click here


The feedback from DBC 'Brilliant-it makes the predictions of risk visible.  This will be so useful' 

The value of LinkedIn for Third Sector organisations

Having recently read Alex Swallow's post on 'How LinkedIn changed my life' it really struck me how valuable LinkedIn has been for Pro Bono O.R. (Operational Research). It has helped me build up connections with people I would never have been able to otherwise and has enabled me to explain what O.R. is and how it is and can really benefit Third Sector organisations in the UK.

To then back this up I then received an email yesterday from Karen Weaver (CEO of HARCVS) who has written an article on how LinkedIn offers opportunities for charities:

Linking In offers opportunities for charities

'Volunteers find their way to charities via many routes and of course take on a wide
variety of roles. In recent years social media has become a valuable additional channel and HARCVS has just benefited from excellent support from a volunteer which commenced with LinkedIn.'

To find out how Karen discovered Pro Bono O.R. and how the project went please read the following article on pages 6-7: Care in Action Newsletter

Pro Bono O.R. is making a difference

One of our volunteers recently ran a workshop for AYME (Association of Young People with ME).   Here's what the Chair of AYME  had to say: 'I wanted to officially thank you on behalf of myself and my fellow trustees for the very helpful and enlightening session. I very much believe it was exactly the kind of help/input that we needed to help us focus on the future. The follow up work that you have so far provided to help us make sense of and prioritise the results of the session is also proving to be invaluable and we very much look forward to meeting you again for a follow up session at a future board meeting.'

To find out more please visit: Pro Bono web page

Our latest success story with Harrogate and Ripon CVS (Quotes, photo's and case study slide)

Here are a few photo's of our volunteer analyst, Sarah Culkin, in action at Harrogate and Ripon CVS.  The project has just finished and has been a resounding success on both sides.

Karen Weaver (CEO): 'The findings will help inform forward planning for this service and also help to support funding bids.  The project has also played a part in assisting with the integration of this service into the wider organisation.'

Sarah Culkin: 'This project really opened my eyes to the challenges of the third sector, which I will bear in mind in my day job.  I also appreciated seeing the direct impact of my work and using OR skills in a new environment.'

Please click on the following link to see the case study slide: HARCVS case study slide