Increasingly, every organisation whether it is small or large is having to spend more time considering how they engage with their stakeholders and how they can use partnerships to remain sustainable. It is no longer simply a matter of just staying connected with people. You need to plan deliberately and carefully how you will communicate with your stakeholders, the messages that you want to communicate to them, the channels you are going to use for that communication and how regularly and at which level you are going to stay connected with them. 

Many funders now want to have some record about how you keep in contact with your stakeholders, what methods you use and for the most important stakeholders, especially your client group, how you engage them at an early stage in terms of changes you make to your processes and your policy development.

Having a formal stakeholder engagement process, even a simple one, is a good start because it encourages particularly management teams and charity boards to review their stakeholder engagement regularly and consider whether it is effectively assisting your strategic development or alternatively is an area of weakness that needs to be addressed. It also helps to align your organisation with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which actively promote the use of partnerships and SDG17 “Partnerships for the Goals”. In addition, it can also provide robust evidence that your organisation is pro-actively aware of its obligations under equality legislation and the promotion of SDG 5 “ Gender Equality”.

Funders are also placing a much greater emphasis on encouraging organisations to either increase or start much greater collaborative working with other organisations. There are obvious benefits for funders and charities alike – successful collaborations can maximise efficiencies, share risks, add vital capacity to manage change, and most importantly, scale up the benefit to our communities. 

That is why your stakeholder engagement policy becomes even more important to consider when looking at how you put your organisation on the strongest footing, and it can also be used to identify or attract possible new collaborations. 

BTA has developed a cost effective and pragmatic solution through our new Sustainability Audit and Reporting service which is specifically targeted for the needs of small and medium sized charities and can help you identify gaps, manage risks, and consider potential new opportunities and collaborations. As part of our service, we also offer training and implementation support. Please get in touch to discuss how we can help you on your Sustainability journey. 

Ann McKechin is Senior Associate Consultant with BTA (Bruce Tait Associates), the leading Consultancy and Recruitment specialist for the Charity sector. BTA’s approach intertwines passion with professionalism, ensuring every organisation they partner with is poised to make a lasting impact.

Ann is a Policy and Communications specialist with a unique range of transferable skills gained from being a member of the senior management team in a multinational company, a charity director, a non-executive Board member, a former Government Minister and experienced parliamentarian and with a past legal career in the private sector.

For more information, please contact Alison Weir, Business Services Manager at BTA on [email protected]