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PIP – Beanstalk Phase III
Project Manager Brief
November 2017
BACKGROUND
PIP (Pursuing Independent Paths) is a leading organisation working with adults with learning disabilities, based in London.
PIP has grown significantly recently andhas worked hard to put itself in a relatively secure financial position. We continue to diversify our income base and increase our profile externally. We are surpassing many of the strategic targets we set for ourselves when our 2015-2018 plan was agreed, including a large increase in student sessions delivered.
Important issues have arisen which need to be tackled in order for us to continue to deliver on our charitable objectives. These include:
Continued, and at times increased, demand for PIP services from both new and current students
The growing length of time some of our students have been attending PIP and the ongoing value of our curriculum/timetable to those students
Approaching capacity constraints within our current space
Population growth of people eligible for personal budgets in next five years
Higher support needs of the emerging demographic
This situation is both an opportunity and a challenge. Research has been undertaken around our current and existing target population, services, and our delivery model.A business plan has been developed and the preliminary decision taken to push ahead with a major expansion of our services. Project Beanstalk is the project’s name.
SUPPORT REQUIRED
After conducting research of our own (see attached ‘PIP Transition Discovery Report’) in 2016/17, the organisation decided to embark on a further expansion of our services. A project outline was agreed and split into 3 phases:
We have completed Phases 1 and 2, using a combination of in-house expertise and external consulting support. There is now a case for support, financial model, and high-level implementation plan in place for Project Beanstalk. In October 2017, the Board of Trustees formally approved moving into Phase 3 of the project, and the charity has now officially commenced both a search for some new premisesand a fundraising campaign.
Given the day to day demands of running the organisation and managing the expansion project, PIP is now looking to hire a project manager to pull together the elements of Phase 3. This will involve creating and implementing a project tool kit,delivering some of the key tasks, and helping to coordinate the various work streams.
Flexibility will be needed, however at this stage we would point to the following tasks as being part of the scope of the role:
- Upfront project structuring
- Creating a summary workplan (tasks / workstreams)
- Confirming governance groups
- Creating key milestones and metrics (where applicable)
- Establishing a schedule of meetings
- Ongoing project coordination
- Liaising with key stakeholders
- Tracking progress against key milestones
- Organising, creating materials for, and liaising with thegovernance group
- Deliver regular updates as agreed and necessary
- Specific workstream support
- Following up leads and contacts in relation to the premises search
- Detailed tracking of fundraising streams and relevant activity(supporting the Development Manager)
- Conducting additional relevant research
LENGTH OF PROJECT AND TIMELINE
Start date is ASAP, with days and hours flexible for the right candidate. This phase of work is expected to last until April 2018, i.e. 12-14 weeks in total. At that point we are hoping to have found premises and to be ready to move into a full build programme, or will expect to pause work, pending premises being found. Following thisinitial phase, and depending on both premises and fundraising progress, a further period of work will be necessary, to be determined at the review.
We expect to agree a workplan in advance with the successful applicant, however the overall timeline is shown below.
Date / WorkDec ‘17 / Final proposals submitted by candidates
Interviews & decision made, accepted, and T&C’s agreed
W/C 8 Jan ‘18 / Initial meeting & Start working at PIP (note some flexibility on exact start date)
W/C 15 Jan / Definition of project plan and governance, outline milestones
W/C 22 Jan / Write up of existing work and identification of key choices required in business plan
W/C 29 Jan / Governance Group meeting and report
W/C 5 Feb
W/C 12 Feb
W/C 19 Feb
W/C 26 Feb / Trustee mtg report
W/C 5 Mar
W/C 12 Mar / Governance Group meeting and report
W/C 19 Mar
W/C 26 Mar
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Key skills (essential) / Experience- Project management toolkit (suitable for the scale of PIP and the flexible / uncertain nature of this kind of project)
- Excellent oral and written communication
- Ability to drive progress but also work alongside a diverse team
- Ability to work in proactively, independently/self-starter
- Analytic skills, particularly financial
- CRM/database
- Launching new projects
- Delivering successful projects
- Working in diverse teams
- Working in the charity world
- Involvement in fundraising campaigns
- Physical location search and build
PROJECT MANAGER BUDGET
£450-£500 per day. Negotiable. This is a key project for a growing charity and we’re willing to be flexible for the right candidate.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
- PIP Research doc
- Beanstalk project PP slides
- Beanstalk case for support
- Beanstalk implementation plan
- PIP Marketing materials
- Strategic Plan ’15-18
Supporting adults with learning disabilities to achieve their potential
Registered Charity No. 1088592