Cranfield Trust

Who we are

Cranfield Trust is a national charity (England & Wales 800072, Scotland SC040299) and the leading provider of free management support and business advice to the UK voluntary sector. 

The Trust’s vision is that people in the UK, who are affected by poverty, disability and social exclusion, have access to high quality services from charities that are managed effectively. 

Our Mission is to ensure that charities receive the business support that they need in order to manage themselves effectively charities will be effectively managed and will support those experiencing poverty, disability and social exclusion. 

To this end, Cranfield Trust works with and provides free business support to charities addressing poverty, disability or social exclusion.  Our client charities are usually small to medium sized charities with incomes of less than £1 million per annum, which provide vital frontline services to their communities. 

Our core services are as follows:

·      Cranfield Trust uses a network of project managers and over 1000 highly skilled volunteer business professionals to deliver free consultancy projects for hundreds of small to medium-sized charities in eleven strategic regions of England, Wales and Scotland.  The purpose of this is to support charities to manage themselves and provide their services effectively to their beneficiaries. 

·      The Trust also runs HRNet, a free HR lifeline to charities and social enterprises. It offers specific advice on complex employment situations without expense, as well as regular briefings on employment issues, an information archive, and model documents.

·      And the Trust provides free Masterclasses for charity professionals and Trustees on topics as diverse as governance, change management, business planning and financial forecasting.

In 2019, the Trust is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a charity.  We are using our 30th anniversary year to help charities to be as prepared as possible for the political and economic challenges facing our sector.  Our anniversary serves as an important milestone in our history.  It also coincides with a period of great change for the Trust as we are in the first year of an ambitious three-year strategy to support more charities with the delivery of vital services. 

Cranfield Trust’s three-year strategy will enable us to help more charities in these and other ways by extending the reach of our existing consultancy and advice services.  In addition, we will launch new services, for example, a mentoring programme for charity managers, and a telephone advice service to provide access to critical and timely advice from external advisers on key management topics.