Finance/strategy: The Leprosy Mission 2013
The Leprosy Mission is a large and complex UK based charity, delivering most of its services overseas. It approached SEBCO to undertake a comprehensive review of its financial administrative systems as it had concerns about efficiency, effectiveness, cost and the ability to grow with the current systems in place.SEBCO undertook a comprehensive review of all functions, working closely with the CEO, the senior management team, the Honorary Treasurer and office users of financial systems.SEBCO’s detailed analysis allowed the charity to understand where systems could be developed and improved and provided detailed proposals for improvement. This also included an assessment of cost savings over the coming years as well as proposals as to how the charity could develop more opportunity for trading activity growth and efficiencies associated with that growth. Since SEBCO’s support, the charity has continued to grow income but also the amount it spends on charitable objects. Its profile has continued to develop and its activity reach more recipients than before, with funded projects around the world, tackling leprosy as a serious public health challenge.
The Institute has undertaken several reviews in recent years, supported by SEBCO and its partners. SEBCO’s finance team undertook a major review of the Institute’s needs and provided a comprehensive set of recommendations and solutions to an expensive and ineffective system. This included proposals as to how the Institute could practically implement changes and improvements, saving money and improving effectiveness. The Institute asked SEBCO’s team to provide a complete outsourced solution, delivering all the recommendations required, which has been completely effective in delivering the aims of the review.
However SEBCO has worked on several projects for the Institute. These include an audit and review of its IT infrastructure, analysing the current systems, weaknesses and strengths, as well as leading on criteria for competitive tendering. Meanwhile the HR function has been strengthened by external support from SEBCO partners, assisting with recruitment and on-going policy advice, all at a much lower cost than employing the same support in-house.
‘The range and quality of services provided by SEBCO and its partners has really made a difference’ says Alan Peacock, Acting Chief Executive of the Institute, ‘having the broad range of services all provided by consultants who regularly work together is something that I have not come across before. We have really seen the added value that SEBCO can bring and the improvements to the way we function as an organisation. I am confident that we will reduce overheads and improve effectiveness because of SEBCO’s support.’