Charity spotlight

Tomorrow’s People’s Working It Out programme helps young people other agencies find hardest to reach back into education, employment or training. It has proved extraordinarily effective with re-engagement rates of around 80 per cent for those completing the course.

16 to 24 year olds follow a personal action plan which builds in work experience, life-management skills and improved motivation. Central is a community challenge which enables participants to put something back into their local area.

However, although Tomorrow’s People has always been well run and has taken a business approach to its activities, the programme’s growth was previously impeded by limited operational experience, resources and fundraising capacity. Partnership with PEF has sought to address those constraints.

In spring 2008, PEF invested £625,000, alongside pro bono business expertise, to refine and scale up Working It Out over three years. The programme has since expanded to reach 8 times as many young people. It has doubled service delivery in London and Plymouth, tripled it in Glasgow and opened in two new areas; Newcastle and Maidstone.

According to the Chief Executive of Tomorrow’s People, Debbie Scott, PEF investment has also enabled the charity to secure additional committed funding which equates to a leverage ratio of 7:1 and she has found access to PEF’s networks particularly invaluable. PEF has brought in pro bono support from a wide range of advisers relating to finance, competitive strategy and the streamlining of operations. Todd Fisher from KKR was the charity’s Deal Captain in 2008, leading PEF’s due diligence and on approval of the grant by PEF’s Board, Todd also led the initial SWOT session with the charity on the execution plan. This involved identifying key drivers of value as well as challenges, and formulating a robust strategy to address these in the first six months of PEF’s investment. More recently, Axel Meyersiek has led from TowerBrook on monitoring progress on their co-investment in the charity, focusing specifically on establishing a new project site in Hammersmith in West London. Pro bono support from Deloitte has also helped Tomorrow’s People resolve and effectively manage critical strategic decisions in the face of external challenges. Finally, PEF has helped introduce measures to monitor performance on an ongoing basis. Debbie Scott commented: “PEF has acted as facilitators and fantastic supporters over the past two years bringing in a commercial business perspective which has really made a difference and enabled us to do the best we can for the young people we work with.”