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Capability note
Private Sector and Philanthropy
Governance, philanthropic structuring and independent assessment
Companies and private foundations reach a point where arrangements that worked through proximity and trust no longer hold: a generational transition, an external investor, a regulatory requirement, a philanthropic commitment that has outgrown informal management, or an expansion into a context the organisation does not know.
This note sets out the problems we are asked to address, what we provide, and the terms on which we work.
Capability note
Private Sector and Philanthropy
Problems we are asked to address
01
Ownership, board and management not separated
Decisions are taken by the same people in different capacities, without record of which capacity applied. This functions until it is questioned — by a successor, an investor, an auditor or a partner.
02
Philanthropic activity managed informally
Giving is significant but unstructured: no stated criteria, no assessment of recipients, no reporting, no record of why one organisation was supported and another was not. The exposure is reputational and, depending on the structure, legal.
03
Recipients and partners assessed on relationship
Support is directed through personal or institutional familiarity rather than an assessment of whether the recipient can use it, account for it, and sustain what it produces.
04
Succession without governance
A transition is approaching and the institution has no structure capable of absorbing it. The arrangements depend on a person rather than on a framework.
05
Commitments without a structure to deliver them
Social, environmental or governance commitments have been made publicly. Nothing internally produces, measures or evidences them, and the gap is visible to anyone who looks.
06
Entry into an unfamiliar institutional context
An expansion, investment or partnership in a region whose institutional, regulatory and political realities the organisation has not assessed independently.
What we provide
Governance frameworks
Separation of ownership, governance and management; board and committee design; decision rights and delegation; decision-recording and conflict-of-interest arrangements.
Structuring of philanthropic activity
Design of the vehicle and its governance, giving strategy and criteria, grant-making policy and procedures, reporting arrangements, and the records required to demonstrate how decisions were taken.
Independent assessment of recipients and partners
Institutional assessment of organisations being funded or partnered with: governance, capacity, financial management and ability to deliver and account for what is committed.
Succession and transition governance
The governance arrangements required for a transition: decision authority, interim structures, documentation of institutional knowledge, and reduction of dependency on individuals.
Delivery of stated commitments
Translation of public commitments into institutional arrangements that produce, measure and evidence them.
Context and institutional analysis
Independent assessment of the institutional, regulatory and operating environment of an unfamiliar context, and of the risks attached to a proposed course of action.
What a client receives
A governance framework with board and committee terms of reference
a delegation of authority matrix
a philanthropy or giving strategy with criteria
a grant-making policy and procedures
assessment reports on recipients or partners
transition governance arrangements
a context or institutional assessment
an implementation plan with responsibilities and sequencing
Terms on which we work
Independence. We hold no commercial interest in the outcomes we recommend and receive no consideration from any third party in connection with a recommendation. Where our assessment of a recipient, partner or course of action is unfavourable, the report states it.
No conditional remuneration. We accept no success fee, commission, or remuneration conditional on a transaction, a funding outcome or a particular recommendation.
No lobbying or representation. We do not conduct lobbying, advocacy or representation before any authority, and we do not represent clients in negotiations.
Confidentiality. Client identity, mandate details and findings are confidential by default and are not disclosed without written authorisation. This applies to our own promotional use as much as to third-party enquiry.
How to begin
An initial confidential discussion to establish the question, the constraints, and what scope would be proportionate. There is no cost and no obligation attached to it.
If there is a basis to proceed, we set out a written mandate with scope, deliverables, timeline and fee. No work begins before it is agreed.
