Project
The charity had grown rapidly, stretching both their senior management and governance teams. While they strive to spend as much of their income as possible on their core beneficiaries, this growth and the need to further expand their fundraising base led NOAH to conclude that they needed to invest in core capacity, in order to ensure and sustain the robustness of the frontline services. The organisation’s finance and fundraising functions had previously been outsourced, and the time had come for them to develop full-time and in-house capacity. They asked Eastside People to recruit for two key senior roles:
- A Head of Finance
- A Head of Fundraising & Business Development
Solution
Eastside People consultant Paul Venning led a search for candidates for each of the required positions, starting by working with NOAH to understand as much as possible about the background and strategic ambitions of the organisation – this would inform the context and the challenges facing the new roles and enable the consultants to fully advocate for NOAH with prospective candidates. Communication skills, aptitude for teamwork and experience with building a fundraising strategy were key priorities. Eastside People’s Uimpact partner Julia Perry supplemented the interview process with behavioural assessments, in order to test the best fit soft skills (motivators, behaviours and emotional intelligence) of the candidates and ensure fair and inclusive judgements were made.
Read more about how Behavioural Assessment is used by Eastside People.
Number of candidates:
- Head of Finance: 22 applicants, 10 interviewed by our consultant, 7 placed on a client review longlist, then a final four on a client interview shortlist
- A Head of Fundraising & Business Development: 38 applicants, 13 interviewed by our consultant, 7 placed on a client review longlist, then a final three on a client interview shortlist.
Project Outcomes
NOAH has a full-time Head of Finance, making this central function and their accounting systems more sustainable, and a Head of Fundraising enabling pursuit of a capital fundraising strategy which includes raising £5m to refurbish their main centre in Luton.
The new strategic plan is also helping them to build firmer relationships with key funders and local political figures.
“Eastside People and their consultant Paul Venning helped us to appoint two staff to our senior management team. Paul took the time to thoroughly understand our organisation, and also got to know each candidate well. EP’s consultant Julia Perry then carried out psychometric testing for shortlisted candidates for two senior roles. Having these detailed reports challenged the panel’s gut instincts about candidates, which made the process more inclusive, and gave us a deep understanding of each person. I would thoroughly recommend this service to any organisation wishing to gain deeper insight into individuals or groups of people”. David Morris, Chief Executive Officer, NOAH.
