Oaks

Who we are

We help socially-minded organisations raise their game. Formed back in 2008 – with roots in the business of sport – our journey has seen us work with organisations of all shapes and sizes right across the sport, voluntary and education sectors: growing to a team of 20 full-time staff and a network of over ten associates. In the last twelve months alone, we have secured just over £12m for our clients – empowering a group of socially-minded organisations to grow their work, reach more vulnerable people, and ultimately change lives across the UK. These organisations include sport-for-development focussed charities such as the School of Hard Knocks, Sported and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation; Premier League level club community organisations such as the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and Newcastle United Foundation; and national charities such as the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the Society of St James and Recruit for Spouses. Our work with these award-winning organisations has received its own plaudits too – with Oaks shortlisted as provider of the year at the Football Business Awards, Birmingham Business Awards, Charity Times Awards and the Midlands Business Awards in the last few months of 2017.

Broadly speaking, our work for these organisations can be split into three core areas:

Strategic planning: Every organisation we encounter is at a different stage of their business journey. Some come to us with a concept, others with a strategic problem, and some just need a review and refresh following an extensive period of organisational growth and change. We help these organisations to raise their game by undertaking strategic reviews that focus on areas such as purpose, vision, mission, values and outcomes: acting as an independent, challenging friend. We challenge our clients to think differently and use our experiences and expertise to help them articulate this through a variety of formats.

Business development: Over the last few years we have shaped our own business planning methodology that is tailored specifically for socially-minded organisations. Taking our clients through a series of workshops over a three-month period, we review all facets of their business challenge and explore every potential income opportunity available to them across six core areas. Underpinning this, we look at non-financial opportunities linked to governance, culture and staffing as well to build an organisation’s business development capacity and capability: feeding into the production of a three or five-year business development plan.

Income generation: Probably our largest area of work, we are often engaged by organisations on long-term retainer agreements whereby we ostensibly become their fundraising arm. Primarily focussed on grants from trusts, foundations and lottery sources, our market-leading bid-writing team specialises in securing income that underpins organisational growth and facilitates the creation (and/or maintenance) of community interventions, that address key social issues. We also actively offer similar support in attracting corporate investment (via sponsorship or CSR) too – helping our clients to realise the value in their community assets, build relationships with potential local, regional and national partners, and go to market with attractive propositions. 

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