Providing professional expertise is something PwC has been assisting more and more of our charity partners with. Described by PwC as ‘capacity building’, it provides an opportunity for staff to utilise their skills and make a tangible impact.
Youth Off The Streets (YOTS) needed a business plan to develop a clear strategy, institute change, identify its challenges, and develop the leadership skills required to better support chronically homeless and drug-addicted young Australians.
PwC staff ran three workshops designed to identify the organisation’s mission statement and corporate values. The impacts have been profound. It has identified new core values; developed an overarching strategy to drive the charity’s focus; bolstered team spirit; created new cost efficiencies by making better use of its limited resources; and added further value in each business unit by revealing what other parts of the organisation do.
“The result is a team enthused about knowing where it is going and how it will get there," says YOTS Chief Operating Officer, Vittoria Borazio. “The strategic plan will drive the organisation’s direction for the next two years and has developed new cohesion among our staff."
For Mission Australia, the task was to improve the quality and efficiency of its community services by selecting a new information management system focused on clients and employees. PwC helped the organisation design a request for tender document for IT vendors. This involved a detailed definition of how Mission Australia could optimise and standardise its back office rocesses, including data capture, processing and reporting.
“By applying our team’s commercial expertise and discipline with Mission Australia, we have put them in a much stronger position when they go to market for a solution, and empowered them to make the right decisions," says PwC Senior Manager Glynn Austen-Brown.
Each project helped Youth Off The Streets and Mission Australia to build their internal business capacity, allowing them to enhance their work with disadvantaged young people. The engagements have also had a profound effect on PwC staff. “It was fantastic to work with people who were committed and passionate about the services they provide," says PwC Manager Stephanie Pogue. “Working with a team motivated by things other than salary, often working long hours but driven by what they want to achieve with young people, provided us with a whole different perspective."
