In the second half of the year Achill Management consultants were kept busy working with voluntary and community organisations who had received Capacity Builders Modernisation Fund grants across Surrey, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and London.

Currently we are working with a range of clients from the Elder Peoples Support Group in South London (an older people’s charity providing essential health and social care services to active elders) developing business planning and fundraising, to Voluntary Action Islington one of the largest of London CVS’s where the Achill team are supporting the Trustees and Senior Managers with development and business planning.

2010 promises to be another exciting year for us and Achill Management will be expanding its consultancy team further to cope with the increasing demand.

The climate remains tough for the Third Sector with public donations down 11% and government funding continuing to fall. The pressure on charities and not for profits is likely to increase and mergers and collaborative working have become more common among Achill Management’s clients.

We delivered in excess of 40 consultancy days to clients across the South East as part of the Capacity Builders Modernisation Fund Bursaries in September and October, all with the focus on collaborative and cooperative working. Many of these organisations applied for Phase Two monies to support further joint working opportunities and are waiting to hear from Capacity Builders as to whether they have been successful.