Protect your mission. Strengthen your organisation’s financial stability and long-term sustainability.
Your organisation exists to make a difference. Delivering that purpose over the long term also requires sound service economics, reliable information, effective controls and people equipped to respond to change.
When GAP is a good fit
For not-for-profit executives and trustees facing funding pressure, unclear service economics, growth, organisational change or a gap in senior finance leadership. GAP works alongside your existing team to connect the mission with a viable operating model and practical delivery.
GAP applies experienced CFO leadership, commercial insight and hands-on transformation to strengthening not-for-profit organisations. The same disciplines used to establish and improve complex businesses—service economics, cash, governance, systems, people and implementation—help leaders sustain their mission.
We start by listening and understanding your priorities. Together, we identify practical improvements to income, costs, systems and team capability, with a scope and pace that reflect your resources.
What we help improve
- Service and contract economics: understand costs, margins, funding gaps and pricing decisions.
- Income and cash: strengthen contract data, billing, collections and cash forecasting.
- Finance capability: improve planning, reporting, controls and business partnering.
- Systems and processes: reduce avoidable manual work and connect operational activity to financial information.
- People and accountability: develop skills, clarify ownership and build confidence in decisions.
- Organisational choices: assess restructuring, partnerships, shared services or a merger where these could better sustain the mission.
Break the cycle of pressure and underinvestment
A charity can hold valuable assets yet lack the cash, capacity or confidence to modernise its operations. Short-term fixes may keep services running while the underlying causes of financial pressure remain.
We help establish whether the problem lies in service pricing, income recovery, the funding mix, delivery costs, the operating model or the capability to manage performance. Together, we identify the changes most likely to improve resilience and protect outcomes for beneficiaries.
One accountable programme, from diagnosis to delivery
One coordinated programme—from financial pressure to lasting capability.
Funding readiness runs throughout the programme. Trustees retain control through clear decision points, with the scope, affordability and next commitment reviewed before each phase proceeds.
Understand the position. Examine cash, reserves, commitments, service-level performance and the reliability of management information. Identify immediate priorities and distinguish temporary pressures from recurring weaknesses.
Build the plan. Develop a practical operating model, cost the changes and test the assumptions. Set out the expected benefits, implementation costs, risks, milestones and responsibilities so trustees can make an informed decision.
Establish a credible funding route. Assess how the programme could be financed. Depending on the organisation, options may include planned use of available reserves, fundraising or grant support, responsible borrowing, better use of assets, or partnerships. We help prepare the financial case and coordinate specialist input where needed.
Deliver the change. Work with your people to improve systems, processes, controls, reporting and responsibilities. Provide senior leadership, programme management and hands-on support where internal capacity is stretched.
Prove and sustain the benefits. Track results against an agreed baseline, train the team and transfer ownership. The aim is an organisation better able to fund its mission, maintain its infrastructure and adapt to future change.
Funding the change responsibly
Funding is part of the plan, not a substitute for a viable operating model. We first establish what needs to change and how the improvement can be sustained. We then help build a realistic funding case, supported by appropriate grant, lending, legal or tax specialists.
Asset-backed funding and planned investment from reserves can be useful in the right circumstances. They require careful assessment of restrictions, affordability, repayment capacity and the consequences for services. Grant eligibility and awards depend on the funder; no funding outcome is guaranteed.
Experience grounded in delivery
GAP brings CFO and transformation experience across not-for-profit organisations, social care, international organisations and commercial businesses. Our work combines financial leadership with systems, processes, organisational change and development of the people who will sustain the improvements.
GAP’s track record includes not-for-profit finance recovery, service-level performance improvement, income recovery, restructuring and cross-functional transformation. This sits alongside experience in acquisitions, carve-outs, shared services, ERP-enabled change and investor-facing finance leadership.
Experience in action
Examples from GAP’s track record, showing how financial insight, practical change and stronger internal capability work together.
Recover income. Build stronger service economics.
At a national social-care charity, GAP connected contract, service and finance information to improve income recovery and performance management. The work recovered approximately £600,000 of historic income and secured around £2 million of fee uplifts in the reported year, alongside clearer processes and team development.
Read the social-care case study
Working with the executive team, GAP helped develop the growth blueprint and revise the target operating model across Operations, Finance and HR. The work connected Salesforce contract and service-rate information, rostering, Access finance systems and business-intelligence reporting.
Improved service-level analysis supported the recovery of missed income and a wider review of Local Authority fees and rates. Clearer responsibilities reduced invoicing errors and helped Finance become a proactive partner. Training and ownership of new ways of working strengthened the team’s ability to sustain the improvements.
The historic income recovery and fee uplifts are separate measures; they are not a combined recurring annual benefit.
Bring structure and momentum to a critical recovery.
During pandemic disruption, GAP helped a major conservation organisation coordinate its recovery and restructuring programme. Clear governance, stakeholder engagement and disciplined implementation supported approximately £8 million of recovery savings.
What clients say
Short excerpts from existing client endorsements. Individual and organisation names are omitted here.
David brought clarity, calm leadership and practical experience to a challenging situation.
Client endorsement — international charity
I would recommend David to organisations requiring an experienced transformation leader to navigate financial pressure, organisational restructuring and complex stakeholder environments.
Client endorsement — conservation organisation
David worked effectively across Finance, Technology and operational teams, turning the transformation objectives into practical processes and deliverables.
Client endorsement — international purpose-led organisation
Regular finance leadership and support
Support can include interim cover for a senior vacancy, a defined improvement programme or ongoing part-time finance leadership. A monthly commitment can bring dependable cash forecasting, service-level performance reviews, trustee reporting and support for your team, without requiring a full-time appointment.
We agree priorities, days, availability, responsibilities and fees with you. The scope can be phased to reflect your resources, with regular reviews of progress and value.
What a charity sustainability review should make clear
A useful review connects available cash, restrictions and commitments with service or programme economics. It identifies which pressures are temporary, which are recurring and what trustees need to decide.
- A reconciled view of cash, funds and commitments, with forecast assumptions.
- Service or programme funding gaps and opportunities for income recovery.
- Costed improvement options, implementation capacity and effects on the mission.
- A prioritised action plan with named owners and trustee decision points.
Recurring part-time finance leadership can support cash forecasting, trustee reporting and delivery of the agreed improvements. Days, capacity, start dates and fees are confirmed before committing.
Read the charity sustainability guide: looking beyond reserves and see finance stabilisation in practice.
Established experience. Specialist depth.
Established in 2001, GAP combines experienced CFO and transformation leadership with a specialist network developed through implementation programmes and interim assignments. We bring finance, systems, operational and specialist advice together around the organisation’s needs, with named responsibilities and an agreed scope.
A practical starting point
Begin with a defined sustainability and service-economics review. We agree the scope, information required, leadership involvement and fee in advance. We examine cash and commitments, service and programme costs, funding recovery, reporting, controls and team capacity. You receive a prioritised decision brief, service-economics and cash findings, available options and a costed improvement roadmap.
Where further work is justified, we agree a phased programme with clear responsibilities and decision points. You retain control of the commitment at each stage.
Solve your Capability GAP.
david.roberts@gapconsult.co.uk · 07831 139751
How the engagement is agreed
GAP agrees the delivery team, specialist roles, responsibilities, deliverables, time, fees and review points before work starts. Our shared method connects diagnosis with implementation and results. We work alongside your existing team and advisers, considering the effects on people, services and resources, with clear decision points and a plan for capability transfer and handover.
Frequently asked questions
Can you help us obtain funding for the work?
We can assess potential routes, prepare forecasts and a financial business case, and coordinate applications with an appropriate funding specialist. We will be clear about eligibility, application effort and what remains uncertain before you commit.
Do we need to appoint a full-time executive?
Not necessarily. Support can be a defined project, fractional leadership or an interim assignment, depending on the scope and capacity required.
Will this simply mean reducing services?
We begin with the mission and the facts. Better income recovery, pricing, processes and use of resources may offer improvements. Where harder choices are necessary, we help leaders and trustees understand the options and their consequences.
Can you help with a merger or shared services?
Yes. We can assess the strategic and operational case and support planning and implementation alongside specialist advisers. The assessment includes mission fit, governance, integration costs, tax implications and the capability needed to deliver the benefits.
What does success look like?
It is agreed at the outset. Measures may include cash visibility, service contribution, income recovery, reporting reliability, stronger controls, staff capability and an operating result that enables appropriate reinvestment.