Who we are ?

Providing solutions to charities and social businesses across Scotland enabling them to thrive and support challenging times

Who we are?

Third Sector Solutions Scotland is a coming together of like minds, a group of the most experienced leaders and managers from the third sector in Scotland, who share a belief in the power of humanity and the importance of the Third Sector in the development of fairer, kinder, more charitable communities across our country.

With many years of experience in leadership and management at senior level as CEO's and Directors, our team are committed to using their skills and experience to ensure a strong, financially robust, vibrant and above all, ethical third sector in Scotland. We do this as consultants, advisers and mentors, offering solutions to Third Sector organisations, enabling them to survive, adapt and thrive, even when the outlook may not seem positive.

We have been involved in leading charities and social businesses through times of crisis, recovery, change and growth; working collaboratively with stakeholders to plan strategically and facilitate operational changes that really have made a difference.

It is this experience that we now bring to any third sector organisation who needs help; an objective, independent view when the future looks uncertain, and a sensitive but pragmatic approach to solving issues which may have become overwhelming.

We are not about charging big fees, this is our time to put back into a sector we believe in and have dedicated much of our lives to. So our costs are always moderated by what an organisation can afford and we include a proportion of 'pro bono' work in all our assignments, as our donation to that charity or social business.

Our team brings together all the skills and experience that are required to successfully lead and manage third sector organisations: ensuring professional management standards; creating the best people practices; working with stakeholders; developing strong and resilient teams; managing within regulated environments: compliance, governance and legal frameworks; and creating sound financial processes to ensure future growth and stability.

So who we are not?

• We are not fundraisers, but we know what it takes to generate income.

• We are not recruiters, although we know the best in Scotland.

• We are not a profit driven organisation and led only by the need for help.

• We are not put off, even when you may have exhausted all options.

Our Approach

Third Sector Solutions came about as a result of many conversations with peers, colleagues and friends across the third sector articulating our mission & vision. They confirmed that a very different approach was needed to providing support to our Third Sector across Scotland, to work with organisational teams in navigating challenges and to identify potential solutions that may have alluded them, in the safe knowledge that such help is not unaffordable.

It is important to us that we can support any charity and/or social business anywhere in Scotland when they need solutions; remote, rural or urban. It is about enabling well intentioned organisations to survive, adapt and thrive in challenging, times, by providing focused solutions that will work. In doing so, we do not take a single specialism view or try to fit solutions into what we know best; we always look to ensure that we can find the right answers from the most experienced professionals in the sector.

As a third sector leader and manager we recognise that it is not easy to ask for help, even when you know that things are not working and you just cannot find the answers or solve the problems that exist. So let us reassure you that we completely understand, and our only objective to provide you with the advice and support to work through these challenges and to build the capacity and resilience of your organisation. We ensure that all our work with you will be confidential, we do not publish who we work with and never seek testimonials.

Our team have a unique blend of knowledge and experience covering every aspect of leading and managing a third sector organisation be it a charity or social enterprise and always with an emphasis on innovation and change. We have a significant understanding of third sector health & social care provision and can offer solutions to ensuring the best possible and compliant service delivery.

We have built our reputation on both flexibility and being able to quickly identify what needs to be done and will always identify the correct expertise from within our team that can expedite whatever the planned needs are, as part of a structured recovery or programme of change.

We will provide you with a very clear timeline and highlight what the significant achievements will be. If you have people within your teams to work with us and use the opportunity for personal learning and development, we will happily facilitate this.

We always take a no fee approach to any initial contact and are very happy for one of our team to meet with you (possibly more than once) to determine exactly how we can help and to understand the challenges you may be facing.

We will then produce a detailed proposal for you to consider at no cost, which will also show a fee structure for each stage, based upon what your organisation can afford and will always include our ‘pro bono’ commitment to your organisation.

We operate across the whole of Scotland from our offices in Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh, Highland and Aberdeenshire, and we are always willing to initially meet in person or virtually.

You can contact either of our two principal consultants by email or telephone:

Ian Rideout: ianrideout@thirdsectorsolutions.org.uk

tel: 07831 761055

Robert Walters: robertwalters@thirdsectorsolutions.org.uk

tel: 07710 434000

or by using the contact form below:

We want to help all third sector leaders to:

Create Proactive Relationships

We are happy to develop a relationship with an organisation which enables them to call on us when needed, to be a friend; understanding and supporting, objectively critical or a much needed confidant.

We place as much emphasis on being consultants as we do being advisers and mentors, to ensure that whatever the relationship; we can provide the right support, at the right time, directed at where it is needed most.

Avoid Burn Out

After our many years working tirelessly within the Third Sector in Scotland, we are aware of what ‘burn out’ or individual 'compassion fatigue’ feels like.

The fact that we are in this place now to be able to ‘put back’, is because we developed the proactive strategies to keep ‘the work’ in perspective, in line with our sense of purpose and life balance.

Promote Health & Well-Being

We acknowledge, as is often said, that working in this sector is 'more than your average job; but it is not less than a life'.

We are keen advocates of health & well-being strategies to keep the best people leading our third sector organisations into the future.

Our team works alongside some of the most experienced providers of health & well-being programmes to the third sector in Scotland

Manage talent and succession planning

We believe that learning is a life long journey of discovery and that we as leadership and management professionals must be able to share our knowledge and have a duty to do so.

That is why we also commit time to developing the leaders of the future through our 'Future Leaders' Programme; identifying talent and encouraging it to grow. This is as much about ensuring succession planning within organisations as building a national pool of Third Sector leaders for tomorrow.

Welcome

Who we are?

Our Approach

Contact Us

You can also use the form below to contact us and we will respond quickly.

We want to help all third sector leaders to:

Create Proactive Relationships

Avoid Burn Out

Promote Health & Well-Being

Manage talent and succession planning

We are members of:

Our Blog

Welcome

Who we are?

Our Approach

Contact Us

You can also use the form below to contact us and we will respond quickly.

We want to help all third sector leaders to:

Create Proactive Relationships

Avoid Burn Out

Promote Health & Well-Being

Manage talent and succession planning

Connect With Us

We are members of:

Our Blog

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