How we work
A critical friend. Evidence first. Recommendations in order.
Most strategy reports get filed. Ours are built to be used: every statement labelled, every finding rated, and a decision sheet your board can minute.
The Strategic Insight Model™
Six steps, in this order, on every assignment. We don't challenge until we have listened, and we don't prioritise until we have challenged.
Discover
Read everything: accounts, minutes, contracts, bids, the risk register.
Listen
Trustees, staff, funders, partners and the people you serve, in their own words.
Interpret
Test what people say against what the documents show.
Challenge
Ask the hard why. Aim the challenge at systems, not people.
Prioritise
What to invest in first, what to stop, and what to defer.
Align
A decision sheet, a 90-day plan and a minute block, so the work gets used.
Six things you can expect from a Social Intent report
You always know what kind of statement you're reading
Evidence, stakeholder view, our interpretation, or a decision for the board. Each is labelled, so nothing is dressed up as more certain than it is.
Every finding carries a confidence rating
And a section on what the review could not establish. If we don't know, we say so.
Challenge is aimed at systems, not people
Said to the board as much as to the executive. The point is a better decision, not a scapegoat.
Our own interest is declared
If we think we could help with the next stage, it is written in the report, with advice to test the market before you decide.
It ends with decisions, not a list
A decision sheet, a 90-day plan and a draft minute block, so the work is used rather than filed.
It is honest about what is still emerging
A case that overclaims is worse than no case. Funders can tell.
Four ways to work with us
Day rates plus VAT and agreed travel, with a fixed number of days quoted for each piece of work so there are no surprises.
A fixed-scope review
One question, one price, six to twelve weeks. The most common starting point.
A project
A Theory of Change, an income strategy, an options appraisal or a piece of research, delivered as a defined package.
Interim or fractional
A chief executive, development or marketing director for two to three days a week, on site and remote, for a defined period.
A retained critical friend
A few days a quarter for a chair or chief executive who wants someone independent to think with.
Who you'll work with
Social Intent is led by Matthew Hickey, who has spent thirty years in and around charities as a chief executive, marketing director, fundraiser, trustee and adviser.
Where a piece of work needs more hands, we bring in trusted partners in research, design, PR and organisational development. You will always know who is doing what.
About Matthew and our partnersHe helped us step back and take a more analytical view of our current position, capacity, and growth potential.
Rachel Maynard CEO and Senior Forest School Leader
Not sure where to start? That's what the call is for.
Thirty minutes, no obligation. Tell us what you're working on and we'll say what we'd do next, and whether we're the right people to do it.
