Every month TFN gets two chief executives together to find out what they can learn from each other. In January, Ewan Aitken, of Cyrenians met Scottish Love in Action’s Michelle Davitt
Ewan on Michelle
What were you expecting?
I’m not sure I knew what to expect other than someone with an international perspective on bringing change, and in that regard I was not disappointed. I hadn’t realised Michelle had been in post less than a year.
What was your first impression?
Michelle was very easy to talk to, really curious and quick to see connections – even though our organisations seem very different there was still a lot of common ground. Despite being very different in size we both have to grapple with complexity – in our case delivering 37 projects in seven local authorities and a national service – for Scottish Love in Action – working both in Scotland and with groups in India.
What did you talk about?
Fundraising through big events.Managing change. Never losing sight of our values. Bringing out the best in our boards.
What did you have in common?
Both of us are managing huge change in our organisations, which takes significant energy, thinking and compassion for those for whom the change is tough. This remains true no matter the size of the organisations. We are both as concerned with prevention as we are responding to crises and we both understand and try to work in a values-led, relationship based way.
What was surprising or different about their experience?
Michelle is relatively new in post – less than a year. It has been a step up for her and she has had to learn quickly. The fundraising achievements for such a small organisation is amazing – they look to raise around £500,000 a year with a team of just four staff. I had no idea they raised such huge sums. She has identified a real need to develop succession planning for her strong base of volunteers so she can maintain this, which is also a smart move.
What useful thing did you learn?
Michelle talked me through her amazing fireworks-night events. They have found a clever niche doing something other than the usual dinner/auction/raffle-style event. Her use of volunteers and taking opportunities to apply her succession planning process when opportunities presented themselves during the preparation for the event was something I felt was very innovative and wise.
Who bought the coffee?
Michelle was good enough to come down to our Fare Share depot and Flavour and Havers kitchen so we provided the coffee and cake – in Cyrenians our most fundamental mantra is “when in doubt bring cake”!
Could your organisations ever work in partnership?
Yes – we already have the makings of a cunning wee plan around food and cooking. More of which will be revealed in due course!
Did she help spark a new idea?
I really liked Michelle’s thinking around succession planning and about finding the right niche event for fundraising – breaking the usual event mould.
What will be your lasting memory?
Just how much we had in common despite appearing to be very different organisations – in then end we are both about removing barriers so people can flourish for themselves; very different context but same principles of people-centred transformation.
Will you meet again?
Yes, there is much we can collaborate on.
Michelle on Ewan
What were you expecting?
An insight into an organisation that’s pretty different in size and scale to ours, but also to explore commonalities and connections between our work.
What was your first impression?
I was surprised to see the scale of Cyrenian’s FareShare operation and very impressed by the Flavour and Havers Cook School – all the more so because I live round the corner! Ewan’s enthusiasm and commitment was obvious, as was his ability to spot opportunities.
What did you talk about?
Social enterprise, volunteers, community events fundraising, governance, the challenges and opportunities of the chief executive role, thinking outside of the box…there was much to discuss.
What did you have in common?
Overseeing and managing change being an ongoing process; bringing together different elements of operation under one umbrella; and always thinking about income generation.
What was surprising or different about their experience?
The range of work that Cyrenians does was really interesting to hear about, as were the ideas around social enterprise. The scale of the business that Ewan is overseeing is very different from SLA and I was fascinated to hear about the work he has done and how he is moving the organisation forward in terms of its mix of funding streams.
What useful thing did you learn?
As SLA have been looking for a while for a venue for an Indian cookery class fundraiser, it was very useful to learn that the Cook School can be hired. Also useful was a discussion we had around making a business case when looking at new developments.
Who bought the coffee?
Coffee and cake was very kindly provided at the Cook School by Ewan, which also prompted a discussion around the importance of hospitality and being welcoming (which we are both, obviously, very in favour of, particularly when cake is involved).
Could your organisations ever work in partnership?
We’ve already started thinking about this; watch this space!
Did he help spark a new idea?
That we should look at what facilities our sector colleagues in Edinburgh can offer and think about working together for mutual benefit.
What will be your lasting memory?
How welcoming Ewan was, and how this feeling was further embodied in the feel of the Cook School itself.
Will you meet again?
I would love to; it’s really helpful to discuss things with someone whose work is similar enough that they can identify with the challenges, but different enough that they can offer fresh perspectives and help spot opportunities.
