How you will manage the project

Photos: Michelle Leman on Pexels and (insert) Matthew Henry on Burst

This webpage is for trust fundraisers with three or more years’ experience. Beginners should use this page instead.

The following are the different topics it can be good to include:

Experience of project delivery

I might say something like “We successfully manage nearly £Xm of projects and services a year, including reports to funders.” 

Relevant expertise in the organisation

E.g.: “The expertise we draw on at Trustee level also includes: a CEO of a transnational organisation; a qualified social worker specialising in WXY; other senior managers; and Trustees with finance, HR, marketing, communications and fundraising expertise.”

Management structure

An organogram for the project, showing all relevant staff and going at least as far as the senior manager that all those staff have in common (who’s normally the final “owner” – “sponsor”, in project management jargon – of the project). 

Address any issues around unclear lines of reporting: poor management is a regular reason for project failure and I’ve written a lot of ideas for addressing this on the “Reasons for project failure” webpage.

If responsibilities are getting hard to see, the following is a fun and impressive way to deal with that:

R = Responsible for delivery

A = Accountable within the organisation (leadership & authorisation role)

M = Manages someone responsible for delivering the function

S = Support role in delivery

C = Needs consulting

I = Informed regularly, may need consulting on changes

– = Minimal involvement

Ensuring that the people working on the project will have the right skills and knowledge

The qualifications and experience of the project personnel, from project “owner” [“sponsor”] down to any volunteer team.

If there’s strong satisfaction survey feedback on staff and volunteers, I’d include it, e.g., “Feedback from most participants has rated the work of all the groups of staff and volunteers as “Excellent”.”

Management and support

“We have policies and procedures for cost, risk, quality, communication, time, change and HR issues.”

“The team Manager will line manage their staff against objectives derived from the project plan through fortnightly 1-2-1’s and team meetings.  Bi-annual appraisals will monitor and recognise performance and staff development opportunities and needs.”

“Monthly management reports will cover: status; key issues; identified risks; tasks and next steps; required decisions; key future dates and milestones; budgeted costs; and spend to date. The quarterly report to the Trustees will include progress against strategic goals for the organisation and the service. These cover key inputs, outputs, impacts and outcomes for participants.”

Having some kind of management cycle looks good, for example:

Financial management

Points you might include are:

• Who will manage the project budget.  
• How expenditure will be reviewed, e.g., “via our monthly reforecasting process, led by the Head of Finance.”
• I usually mention that we have Sage, or whatever the standard management accounting package is.

The above draft version of this section was a bit thin and Robyn McAllister, my editor, kindly left me the following comment: ‘I quite often include something about the management of restricted income in this section of an application, e.g. The project will have a specific cost code to which all income and expenditure will be coded. Through our monthly management accounts, our Finance team and the Project Manager will reconcile all income and expenditure against budget.’ She’s absolutely right.

Risk management

If there’s no risk management question and there’s room, I’d include something here, with a focus on management issues but also the key risks. Something like:

“In accordance with our risk management and safeguarding policies, the service will: identify and analyse risks; put in place avoidance, mitigation and surveillance/management processes; and maintain a risk register.

“The Team Manager reviews risks six weekly and in the event of incidents and operates according to our incident handling and safeguarding procedures. The most important risks, taking account of both likelihood and severity of impact, are managed as follows…” [Then, name the risks and say what you’d do.]