"Fresh eyes on your charity"
News · Charity Mentors Sussex
If you lead a charity, community group or CIC in Sussex, you'll recognise the feeling. The funding bid is due, a trustee has stepped down, the bank wants new signatories, and three volunteers need answering by Friday. Everyone looks to you for the decisions — but who do you turn to?
For many small-charity leaders, the honest answer is "nobody". NCVO's Power of Small research found that leaders of small organisations carry a heavy emotional load — stress and burnout driven by financial insecurity and administrative burden, and a persistent sense of being isolated and stretched. Encouragingly, the same research found that simple, light-touch connection — talking things through with someone who understands — made a real difference.
That is what Charity Mentors Sussex is here for. Here is a snapshot of the leaders our volunteer mentors have worked with over the past year, and what changed.
Who we've helped
Getting the board on board. The CEO of Beehive Care Group came to us wanting a more engaged board of trustees. Over six months with her mentor she worked on giving individual trustees specific tasks to own — and finished with what she'd set out to build: "a more proactive and engaged board." Her verdict on the match: "We gelled straight away."
From funding crisis to a plan for the future. Petworth Community Garden CIC needed to plug an immediate funding gap and, longer term, move to a more robust structure. In five months their project manager and her mentor defined the organisation's priority objectives, agreed who was responsible for each, secured emergency funding and began the transition to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation by recruiting new trustees. "Very well matched — Roger has business and management skills that helped to create the structure needed for the next steps."
Governance and capacity. The chair of Autism Support Crawley asked for help with capacity, compliance and governance. Six sessions later they had a five-point plan to implement over the following twelve months. Her only suggestion for improving our service? "Make it longer than six months."
Fundraising when you've always done it alone. Criminon UK's deputy executive director had been fundraising for the charity single-handed. His mentor brought "ideas that were definitely outside of what we would even have considered", and when the conversation turned mid-way to succession planning, she flexed with it. The charity is now in a stronger financial position and has taken on additional staff so its leader can focus on long-term strategy. "It was an excellent opportunity to communicate with someone who was flexible to our needs. I would recommend it."
Trustees and financial planning. The chair of a village hall charity facing financial and governance pressures worked with her mentor on trustee development and financial planning, leading to a business review and improved trustee relationships.
Planning the hand-over. Succession is one of the hardest conversations a founder can have. The founder and CEO of a CIC used mentoring to start thinking through a long-term succession plan — and has agreed to pick the conversation up again once things are clearer. Sometimes a mentor's job is simply to help you start.
What a charity mentor actually does
A mentor isn't a consultant who hands you a report, and they're not there to take over. As the stories above show, a mentor is an experienced, independent sounding board — someone who has sat where you're sitting, asks the right questions, and helps you turn a tangle of worries into a short list of priorities you can act on.
Our mentors are volunteers who have held senior roles in the voluntary sector, business and the professions. Between them they bring experience of fundraising, governance and trustee boards, financial planning, organisational structure and succession — and every mentor receives ongoing back-up and support from us.
How it works
Apply. Complete our short mentee application form and tell us a little about your organisation and what you'd like help with.
We match you. Our coordinator talks to you about your situation and pairs you with a mentor whose experience fits your needs.
You meet. Mentoring is one-to-one and usually runs for around six months — typically half a dozen sessions, in person, by phone or online, with emails and calls in between as needed.
You move forward. You finish with clearer thinking, agreed priorities and practical next steps.
Need help again, reapply and we can help you at at later date.
It is completely free, and open to anyone in a leadership role in a charity, community group or not-for-profit anywhere in East or West Sussex.
Getting the most from your mentor
Be clear about what you want. Come to your first meeting with two or three things you'd like to work on. They can change — several of the leaders above found their focus shifted along the way — but a starting point helps.
Be open. The most useful conversations happen when you're honest about what isn't working.
Do the work between sessions. Your mentor will help you see the path; walking it is up to you.
Respect the gift of time. Our mentors give their time voluntarily. Turning up prepared is the best thank-you.
Take the first step
If you've been holding everything together on your own, you don't have to keep doing it alone. Fill in our mentee application form, email info@charitymentors-sussex.org.uk, or call 07521 464975 for an informal chat about whether mentoring is right for you.