CURRICULUM VITAE - DAWN McCRACKEN
STRENGTHS - Business development, contract and and performance management. Thorough understanding of statutory and European funding regimes. Working within a regime of multiple (and sometimes competing) priorities, strict deadlines and complicated reporting arrangements. Negotiation skills, excellent communication skills.Successful applications to grant-making and funding bodies across the range of statutory, charitable and foundation sources (including Foundations linked to major donors). Developing programmes, projects and contracts in line with funding body criteria. Review and evaluation of programmes, projects, contracts and teams. Managing programmes, producing auditable claims. Team management and coaching. Communication skills through a variety of media.
February 2017 - present
Fresh Start, New Beginnings - consultant, supporting succession planning as CEO retires, growth planning as charity has recently expanded, conducting a 360 service evaluation, developing a risk register, developing large scale funding bids. Creating literature. Recently contracted with Musica (music workshops for the disadvantaged) to do all their admin and with the Suffolk Community foundation to help them out whilst they are short staffed. Also won an international writing competition, had this published and am now on my second book.
July 2016 - November 2016
Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design - Practice Manager, looking after a small team of landscape architects with a rolling portfolio of around 35 projects. All aspects of contracting, billing, reporting against agreed outcomes, raising invoices, credit control. Developed a Marketing Plan and developing a Corporate Plan that will allow the business to forecast accurately its performance and income.
Nov 2015 - May 2016
United Nations Environmental Programme (World Conservation Monitoring Centre) Brought in as interim to establish a new business performance and project management team, working closely with the finance director to embed a new team of project management officers to support scientists bidding for funding, delivering projects and producing successful reports and claims. Negotiating contracts across a range of funding sources (Governments, charities, foundations, other UN divisions in a range of languages and with a variety of currencies. I declined to apply for the role on a permanent basis, despite their encouragement. Cambridge was simply too far for a job that needed 110%. It has however really strengthened my understanding of business forecasting, planning, along with cash flow management.
2012 - 2015
East Anglia's Children's Hospices, Statutory and Trusts Funding Manager. A senior manager in the fund-raising team. Managing all statutory inputs, claims, audits and grant applications. Delivering charity objectives in statutory funding. Producing performance reports for funding bodies. Supporting the charity in developing approach to working with emerging health structures. Developing appropriate relationships with external funding, audit and regulatory bodies. Making applications to Trusts and Foundations, making sure delivery takes place and funding is claimed in line with grant body expectations. Producing costed plans of delivery. Creating robust contracting / audit / claiming processes. Producing evaluation reports. Managing Client Record Management systems. Knowledge management and exchange across clinical and fund-raising teams.
2008 - 2012 Account Manager, Skills Funding Agency (Suffolk)
Developed role in and represented interests of skills development on 7 Local Strategic Partnerships. Planning and managing portfolio of provision through variety of contracting and grant arrangements. All aspects of UK statutory and European programme funding (ESF, ERDF). Making applications for external funding, subsequent procurement of programmes. Judging applications for funding through grants and contracts, contracting, producing claims and ensuring clean audits.Managing all post 16 FE in Suffolk (planning provision, negotiating provision with providers, contracting, performance management, remedial action planning). 3rd sector development, working with umbrella bodies and charities to enable voluntary sector organisations to attract statutory and European funding, provide services in line with contracts, produce auditable claims of both funding and matched funding. Partnership working with external bodies to agree skills strategies and implementation plans.
1992 - 2008 Account Manager Learning and Skills Council (Birmingham)
Lead for working with third sector, lead for Equality in Economic Development, including Local Strategic Partnerships. Lead for LSC in seconded partnership team working on counter-worklessness strategies for BIS looking at barriers for disabled people entering work (eventually this became The Work Programme). Managed series of project teams.
Developing programmes for policy development using ESF and ERDF funding. Trans-national strategic partnership development projects using EQUAL funding (involved Full Economic Costing model matched funding over a range of external partners, £12m). Developing delivery partnerships to produce partnership based applications for funding. I managed four large funded partnerships working on research for European policy development areas (Gender and equality, Disability and employment, Corporate and social responsibility, Refugees and Asylum seekers) and worth £12m over four years. These partnerships involved complex funding arrangements spread over calendar / academic and financial years. Producing fully costed plans for projects, teams and programmes, including ensuring matched funding requirements were met. Prevocational learning programmes in FE and ESF providers. Childcare and childcare development programmes. Individual Learning Accounts. Managing provider performance, producing performance reports, agreeing remedial action.
1986 - 1992 Employment and Training Advisory Service
Manager of adult guidance unit of Birmingham City Council Careers Service. (30 staff)
1984 - 1986 Birmingham City Council
Careers Adviser.
EDUCATION:
Prince2 Project Management qualified at practitioner level
BA (Hons) Modern European Studies 2/ii
Post graduate Diploma in Careers Guidance
Post graduate certificate in Employment Studies
Current open learning courses with a range of universities (FutureLearn)
UN Results based management
Other information:
Clean driving licence.
Volunteer at local theatre and active in Amateur Dramatics.
Proficient in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power-point, Outlook). At a temp test recently scored 85% Word 93% Excel and 100% data entry.
Expert user of CRM software (Raiser’s Edge, Systm1, Deltek)
Familiar with SAGE accounts (Line 50)
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Dawn McCracken