Goodlabs helps organisations on their journey to create impact, from end-to-end. Our work begins with the formulation of impact strategy and follows through to the management of impact data.
We facilitate problem-solving processes that increase operational effectiveness, provide upskilling in the important tools of the trade, and use data to give greater credibility to the organisation’s value creation message.
Matt Wilson, Managing Director
Matt has broad academic interests holding an MA from the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King’s College London and an MSc from the Business School at the University of Salford. When Matt isn’t working he can generally be found running up and down the coast with his club mates.
Goodlabs’ founder and MD is Matt Wilson. He has over 20 years experience working for and with charitable organisations. Serving as a senior charity executive he has delivered successful interventions in the arena of children, youth, family, education, social enterprise and employability.
Over the years Matt saw many organisations seemingly doing fantastic work and yet struggling to evidence the difference they were making in a way that would convince key funders and stakeholders. In 2017 he established Goodlabs in order to offer targeted support in this critical area. In the last five years Goodlabs has provided support to dozens of organisations including charities, social enterprises, for-profit businesses and public sector bodies. Key areas of support include:
Writing new Strategic Plans with impact as their guiding star
Producing Theory of Change models that illustrate how impact is being made
Developing Outcome Frameworks that enable evidence of impact to be coherently categorised and reported on
Supporting organisations to transition to managing their impact using a CRM system. In 2022 we were proud to launch our own CRM product, Cimpl, powered by Salesforce.
Abi Green, CRM Specialist
Abigail is a 5x certified Salesforce professional with a 10 year background rooted in education and training. With a First Class Honours Degree plus bags of experience she has real depth of understanding of the nonprofit sector and its data needs. As a former teacher turned Salesforce Administrator, Business Analyst and Platform App Builder she brings a range of transferable skills and a passion for learning. Her areas of specialisation include:
Customization and configuration of Salesforce platforms to align with organizational needs.
Implementing and managing Salesforce automation processes and AI functionality
Developing user training materials and conducting hands-on training sessions.
Data management and analysis, providing actionable insights for strategic decision-making.
Integration of third-party applications to extend Salesforce functionality.
Key partners
Matt is a longstanding external consultancy provider with the Lloyds Bank Foundation delivering impact management assignments for charities receiving support from the LBF ‘Enhance’ programme. Our Cimpl CRM application is one of only a small number of charity-specific systems endorsed and supported by LBF.
Zucitech support the technical development of Cimpl
Gruslabs support the technical development of Cimpl
Providing SMS/WhatsApp services to Cimpl
Sectors served
Nonprofits
“We engaged Goodlabs to help us develop new competencies in impact management. With Matt’s help we successfully secured £50,000 of funding, and began a process of frontline service improvements. I found Matt to be an excellent partner in our journey of change, with insight into the strategic as well as tactical decisions we need to take. I have no hesitation in recommending Goodlabs.”
In order to stay relevant Charities and Social Enterprises often require external consultancy support to keep pace with changing expectations around social impact and social value. Funders, commissioners and investors frequently require detailed monitoring to be in place.
A strategic impact review from Goodlabs can typically be undertaken in around 3-5 days depending on the scale of the organisation. Our multi-dimensional diagnostic tool is used to identifying areas of competency with recommendations around development potential. The review process can be augmented with development workshops for the staff and board, plus ongoing coaching for senior executives if required.
Corporates
“We were introduced to Matt and engaged him to review our CSR activities and to report on how we might develop our work. His sector knowledge, the depth of his analysis and thought and his overall report were really quite exceptional. It has been of immeasurable benefit to us and I am hugely grateful to him for a remarkable piece of work.””
Many businesses are rightly concerned to ensure that as well as creating profit they also benefit the communities they serve. Support from Goodlabs ensures these efforts are meaningful and successful for all parties involved.
We’re particularly interested in helping business clients to figure out the ‘S’ of CSR – the social dimensions of being a responsible business. In recent years there has been a growing sense of dissatisfaction with a ‘box ticking’ approach to charity support and employee volunteering. If you’re serious about making a positive contribution to society we’d be delighted to help you deliver on that ambition.
Public Sector
“Matt’s support has been invaluable in helping us develop an Impact Framework for our Health Inequalities Fund which will enable our VCS grant recipients to monitor their projects and evidence the impact / value added.
Matt is also an excellent facilitator, adept at engaging large groups of people in meaningful discussions and using creative group exercises to ensure everyone’s voice in the room is heard. His sessions were professionally delivered, interesting and fun.”
Our relationship with the Public Sector typically involves acting in the role of Independent Evaluation and/or Learning Partner. Given the considerable pressures on budgets, combined with the high level of fiscal scrutiny partners such as Local Authorities and NHS Trusts need to know that their work, whether directly delivered or externally procured, is achieving its intended aims.
Beginning with the drafting of evaluation frameworks and progressing to design and deliver fieldwork Goodlabs, along with our associates, has the research skills to ensure that results are reliably reported and learning effectively captured.
The programmes we support are commonly longitudinal in nature, extending over multi-year time frames. Our input if often provided in the form of design support in the preparation stage of a new programme of work, ongoing monitoring during its period of being live, and final evaluation at the conclusion of the work.