Paying it forward with NGO Skåne Stadsmission
Paying it forward with NGO Skåne Stadsmission
Katarina Ausenius shares how Alumni is giving support to this NGO so that in turn it can improve its ability to support the vulnerable in Sweden and provide outreach to more people in need in an increasingly polarised society.
Skåne Stadsmission offers both short-term and long-term support to people in need. They help the hungry, the homeless, refugees, people with addictions and vulnerable children across Sweden. The support they offer is wide and varied, from drop-in centre to accommodation, from food parcels and health care check-ups to administrative help to deal with government agencies. Heavily reliant on donations, Skåne Stadsmission’s 100 employees and a wide network of volunteers operate in multiple centres across Sweden delivering their vision of creating a more humane society.
The Objectives
Create a small working party of skilled executive leaders from leading organisations.
To increase the Charity’s ability to support the vulnerable.
Optimise and make best use of limited resources.
Create strategic relationships with suitable partners.
Gain best practice advice on business models and strategy.
Increase donations.
“We are very grateful and excited about the commitment that Lars Naveus and Alumni have entered into in our collaboration to establish a value-creating Business Council. The expertise and experience that the parties bring will mean a lot for our opportunity to help and support more individuals and families in need and to prevent exclusion.”
In practice
“It feels really good, and more important than ever, to be able to share the expertise of our exclusive network of high-calibre individuals and combine it with our exceptional skills in leadership development, to create exciting opportunities for this charity that does so much to deliver tangible benefits to Swedish society.”
The project to create a Business Council of executive business leaders was kickstarted through close dialogue between Lars Navéus, Partner at Alumni, and the Chair of this vital charity, Carina Brorman. The goal was to invite specialist individuals from Alumni’s exclusive network to join the Business Council to give their high-value advice and support to Skåne Stadsmission. Alumni specifically targeted leaders within their network from sectors who aligned closely with the way Skåne Stadsmission operates. They directly focussed on leaders with the skill and ability to further the charities goals by increasing the support they are able to offer, create strategic partnerships and of course to raise the level of donations that they are able to generate.
The resulting Business Council has representatives who are among the most respected in their individual fields. As a result of this work the members of the Business Council include highly regarded leaders from Finance, Law, Construction, Real-Estate and FMCG amongst others. They are asked to commit their support to the charity for a minimum of two years and they do so on a voluntary pro-bono basis.
The Business Council was finalised in January 2021 and in late March it met for the first time to kick-start the creation of a strategic plan to move forward. All members are fully committed and delighted to be able to use their expertise to give back to society in this way. There are plans for the council members to meet at least three times a year and possibly more as the strategy moves towards tactical plans later this summer.
“I am pleased to be able to contribute to increased humanity in Skåne, both on behalf of myself and Inwido. I mainly hope to be able to provide ideas and input into even more flexible financing and business models in order to increase the total resources at Skåne Stadsmission’s disposal. I hope this will enable Skåne Stadsmission to continue to increase its valuable efforts for people in vulnerable situations around Skåne.”
To learn more about pro-bono and charitable works undertaken by the us at Alumni please get in touch.