18 February 2010 - Business school expertise helps third sector rise to a commercial challenge
A pioneering Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between a top business school and a leading social exclusion charity is paying off for both organisations.
Bradford University School of Management is working with Foundation to help the charity win new contracts and reach its target turnover of £14.5m by 2012.
The school has undertaken successful KTPs with several businesses, but this is the first time the school has worked with a third sector organisation in this way. Fewer than nine per cent of KTP projects across the UK are with third sector organisations.
Dr Nigel Lockett, Director of the school's Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation said: "Many of the disciplines of the commercial world can be used to great effect in social enterprises and charities like Foundation without compromising their core values. By the end of the two years we would expect Foundation to be in a better position to show value for money, win more contracts and therefore help more people."
KTP associate Sara Hajnassiri, who is doing a PhD at the school, is working with Foundation to increase its competiveness and encourage cultural change among its 340 employees across 17 offices.
Foundation works with the most socially excluded groups throughout the North of England, including offenders, homeless people and young people at risk.
Chief executive Steve Woodford helped to found the charity 25 years ago and has seen it double in size in the last five years.
"A key challenge for us is the considerable change in the way funding is now awarded for the services we offer. It's not enough to be the best and well thought of in the sector if you're not competitive and can demonstrate value for money," he explained.
"Sara is helping us to embrace the best of the private sector and to rise to the challenge of taking colleagues with us now that we have to be more commercial. She will also be looking at how we can best tailor our offer for individual local authority contracts.
"Bringing in the school of management's expertise is stimulating and invaluable. The third sector is usually good at finding resources but I think KTPs have been a closely guarded secret and more universities should be forging close links with our sector."
Foundation has been successful at winning a number of new contracts to deliver housing support services. These include services for offenders in Durham, Darlington and Teesside and Leeds Temporary Emergency Accommodation and Resettlement Services - the first time Foundation has taken over a service from a local authority. In Scarborough and North Yorkshire the charity is part of a multi-agency strategy to tackle domestic violence. The charity works in partnership with Calico Housing in East Lancashire and runs a cross county service in Lancashire for high risk offenders.
Sara, who spent eight years in manufacturing and telecommunications in her native Iran, had no previous experience of charities and the third sector. She says: "It's a very different culture but I have been impressed with people's friendliness and sense of ownership here. I'm encouraging them to think about efficiencies too and what works for the business. My biggest challenge is changing organisation culture, and helping people to adapt to more flexible work patterns. If Foundation loses a contract then the consequences potentially are increases in homelessness, crime and anti social behaviour."
For further information about KTPs at Bradford University School of Management go to http://tiny.cc/RIYCN or email business partnerships' manager Melanie Powell on M.J.Powell1@Bradford.ac.uk For more information about Foundation go to http://www.foundationuk.org/ or contact chief executive Steve Woodford on 0113 303 0152 or email steve.woodford@foundationuk.org
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Notes to editors
Bradford University School of Management
Bradford University School of Management is one of Europe's leading business schools. Its post-graduate programmes are ranked by the Financial Times in the UK's top 10, top 20 in Europe and top 55 globally. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks its distance learning MBA in the top 10 worldwide.
It is one of the UK's longest established university-based management schools and was one of the first in the UK to achieve EQUIS accreditation, the 'gold standard' for business schools, achieved by around 100 schools worldwide. The School is truly international - running management programmes across half the globe, and with academics and students on its Bradford site from over 40 nations.
Bradford is known for its engagement with business, based on addressing real business problems by the application of world-class academic research. The school provides comprehensive and innovative programmes at all levels including undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral. Executive education is a core part of the School's activities, designing and delivering tailored management development programmes for every level of management in private and public sector organizations.
The School has its own campus, with heritage buildings housing world-class facilities in parklands on the edge of Bradford city. The University's Law School is also located within the School of Management.