Durham County Carers Support is a fantastic charity that we’ve had the pleasure of working with on a number of projects over the past few years.
Supporting charities to create new strategic plans is one of the “bread and butter” things we do at Goodlabs. Every new strategic plan is unique and interesting in its own way. What made this project particularly enjoyable was the commitment of Durham Carers to involve its service users in the strategic planning process. There was a real determination to design a method of engagement that would be both meaningful for the Carers participating as well as insightful for the charity.
Goodlabs designed and facilitated the process which involved live events in the four corners of County Durham. A lot of miles were covered that week but it was absolutely worth it! Whilst the same process was followed in each location it was fascinating to see emergence of some key local differences along with common themes. All the content generated was written up in headline format and fed into an Away Day for Trustees and key staff. Equipped with fresh insights from the frontline a range of strategic priorities for the future could be devised.
CEO Jenni Wood commented:
We’re really thankful for the support to review and develop our new 5 year Strategic Plan. It involved facilitating workshops with groups of Carers over a tight timescale. This was followed by meetings with staff, volunteers and trustees to scope out priorities and outcomes. Our new plan which clearly sets out our vision and aims for the future was produced efficiently and arrived on time. I can’t recommend Matt and Goodlabs highly enough.