Rescue and Restructure

The rescuing and restructuring of your charity or not-for-profit organisation is not an easy task. It is one which requires specialist skills, expertise and experience which may be lacking in most businesses.

Any rescue or restructure begins with a commercial reality check. It is necessary to think of the organisation as a business no matter its size or type; what are the incomings and outgoings and when are they occurring, are these numbers in growth or decline and what control do you have over them? Often, one aspect is rising whilst the other is in decline. It is a very rare occasion for an organisation to contact us when income is on the rise whilst costs are on the way down.

It is then important, once we have the basic reality check, to determine any legal or time pressures before ascertaining more detail about the organisation itself.

As will become apparent, the underlying numbers drive the reality of the handling the rescue or restructure. Failing to view the organisation as a business will surely cause it to die at some point along the line.

Once the basics are clear, the focus is drawn to the management and key staff. Hard work will be needed to achieve either a rescue or restructure. Will they be able or have the drive to do so?

The desire to succeed and overcome, we tend to find, is stronger in a not-for-profit organisation and charity than that in a traditional commercial business. It is heartening that individuals are less driven by financial reward than that of personal satisfaction, but this cannot come at the cost of the commercial reality brought by that of a person with no emotional connection. This is where our vast experience and expertise comes in and offers you the benefit of both understanding and realism.

A significant bearing on the opportunity to rescue or restructure can lie in the size of your organisation. A small organisation may not have developed the often unnecessary complexities and disproportionate costs of that of a larger one. However, a problem may arise from this simplicity as making quick fixes, such as cost savings, harder to achieve. Also, when everything is critical, the lack of size makes reorganisations very difficult. For the director or founder of any charity insolvency is a difficult situation. If you are indeed a small organisation, please do not be put off, because there is always a solution to every problem and we will work with you to find it. Never say never.