Something they can do tomorrow

So in the intro, I talked about obviously a project that you've been doing for Dorothy House.

And I should say, obviously, Clarissists are a member of Tech for Good Southwest.

And what we really focus on is how we can kind of activate skills based volunteering amongst and within our membership.

So what made skills based volunteering in particular appealing for Clarissists rather than sort of fundraising or donations which are seemingly quite a little bit simpler um yeah what was appealing and kind of what's drawn you to this particular challenge

yeah I guess there's a couple of different reasons and I also I also recognize as I talk about Clarice it sounds quite utopic um but where I opened up we're a group of really intelligent people that want to do good with our brains um Now, yes, we can go and do fundraising and all of those activities, but I guarantee you that my colleagues do that all on the side as well.

What we have is a group of people who can apply their mind to solve business problems.

And as we know, there's lots of charities and not-for-profits that are stuck on old tech sacks, old operating models, need some support and assistance, but can't necessarily afford the cost of a consultant.

Now, yes, we do not-for-profit pieces of work as paid pieces of work.

But in addition, it's really important that we

use

our time well and effectively.

And within that, Clarice is very kindly grant us 10 days of volunteering time as part of our contract with them.

So it's all about finding the work that we can do, but also being cognizant that we can't just land into a business.

and say that we can do all these things and change all these things because they might not have the resources, the capability, the capacity to do that.

And that's what you get from when you get bigger consulting projects.

So very much we need to think about what is the thinnest slice, the best possible thing that we can help a business with so that we can arrive on a day and walk away knowing that whatever we've come up with and what we've suggested and the activities that we've done means that they've got something suitable that they can do tomorrow without being dependent on us.

As a result of that, that starts to then naturally bring you to skills-based volunteering.

As I said, the things we've got are our brain and our time.

So searching for those opportunities where we can apply that skill set in that environment is really important.

Now, the thing that I said, it all sounds quite utopic because there is like a selfish side to it as well.

And I mean that in a really positive way.

So we can come and help not-for-profits and charities achieve.

But on the parallel, on the flip side, it is an opportunity for me to get my consultants some experience and also allow them to actually do some good outside of their project work.

And by experience, You know, we get a lot of cohorts, so we are just starting our associate consultant, so our junior pathways.

It's really difficult as a consultant to get your first experience on a project.