Achieving faster deployment of care, collaboration across 180 organisations and more support for 10,000+ volunteers.
Home-Start UK
Home-Start is a network of trained volunteers and professionals helping families with young children through challenging times. Since launching 50 years ago, Home-Start now supports 56,000 children in 27,000 families, in communities across the UK.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a profound impact on households in the UK. In response, Home-Start, a network of 180 independent charities across the country, swiftly adapted their approach to provide more support to families in need than ever before. This marked a significant shift in the way the charity operated, achieving remarkable success in its mission to assist those who were most vulnerable during these challenging times.
The strategic vision
Having realised the potential of their new Covid-driven approach, Home-Start sought to solidify this momentum. By implementing a strategic direction focused on more collaboration among its network of independent charities, and increased recognition for its dedicated community of over 10,000 volunteers, they were confident they could help more people, help more families, and demonstrate greater social impact.
"When an organisation faces social, economic, or political challenges that demand a shift in its approach, a strategic review becomes crucial," explains Katherine Rake, Director of Lucent Consultancy. "Home-Start was delivering critical services and had some big recent wins. To sustain this trajectory of growth, it was imperative that the organisation's internal dynamics evolved too."
“Lucent’s insights helped us move beyond anecdote to developing a clear strategy for the next stage of our journey.”
A strategy emphasising greater long-term social impact
Defining a new direction for an organisation can be a daunting and challenging process. Instead, by following a well-defined 5-Step Framework, Home-Start celebrated their recent achievements while identifying areas for further growth.
"Taking a fresh look at Home-Start’s operational model, we drew on the rich expertise of other federated charities, understanding the balance between functions held in the charity HQ and local autonomy and responsiveness", Katherine explains. "By mining charity data we discovered that Home-Start’s central functions were smaller than others and as a consequence Home-Start were missing out on some economies of scale.
"We heard more than 300 voices through workshops, surveys as well as an Advisory Group that steered the whole process. We gathered new evidence to ensure that Home-Start came to an informed view, rather than one driven by received wisdom."
Speaking of the process, Peter Grigg, CEO of Home-Start UK said, “The strategy process was a really important opportunity to hold a mirror up to ourselves and our current practice. Lucent expertly guided us through the process, facilitating input from across the network, through interviews from our partners and through surveys with families and volunteers.
"Their insights helped us move beyond anecdote to developing a clear strategy for the next stage of our journey.”
If you're a charity looking to enhance your social impact by understanding your current position and moving towards your future goals, let us know. We'd love to support you on your journey.
