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How we work
Four principles, a fixed engagement sequence, and clearly stated limits.
Four principles
Independence
Recommendations rest on evidence and professional judgement. Where our analysis does not support what a client hopes to hear, we say so.
Analytical rigour
Structured analysis, documented evidence, explicit reasoning. Where evidence is incomplete, the output says what is established, what is inferred and what remains uncertain.
Collaboration
We work alongside clients through the engagement rather than delivering a document at its end. Recommendations are developed with the people who will have to apply them.
Confidentiality
Client identities, mandate details and institutional information are confidential by default and are not disclosed without written authorisation.
The engagement process
Every engagement follows the same four stages. The sequence is fixed; the content of each stage is specific to the mandate.
1
Initial assessment
A confidential discussion of the institutional context, the objectives and the constraints. The purpose is to establish whether the question is one we can address and whether we are the right practice to address it. No cost, no obligation.
2
Mandate definition
A written mandate setting out objectives, scope, deliverables, timeline, responsibilities and fee. No work begins before it is agreed.
3
Advisory delivery
Analysis, advice and recommendations delivered through a structured methodology appropriate to the mandate. Clients are engaged throughout, so findings are tested against operational reality as they develop.
4
Review and follow-up
Outcomes reviewed against the original objectives, with follow-up support where implementation requires it.
What we do not do
These limits are operational. They are stated because they shape what a client can expect.
Lobbying, campaigning, or fundraising on a client’s behalf
Not undertaken in any form. Advisory support on funding strategy and proposal development is distinct from soliciting funds, and carries no success-based remuneration.
Advice outside a written mandate
We do not provide informal or ad hoc advice. Every engagement is scoped and recorded in writing, which protects both parties.
Generic solutions
We do not apply standard models to organisations that do not resemble each other. Where a client needs a template rather than analysis, we are the wrong practice.
Disclosure of client identity or mandate details
Not without explicit written authorisation. This applies to our own promotional use as much as to third-party enquiry.
Responsibility for a client’s core operations
We advise and support implementation. We do not assume legal or operational responsibility for functions that belong to the client.
Mandates that compromise neutrality
Declined at the assessment stage, without exception.
Every prospective engagement is assessed against our independence, expertise and capacity criteria. We decline mandates that do not meet them.
Every engagement begins with a confidential initial discussion. There is no cost and no obligation attached to it.