06.09.10: A Good Deal
Could you be interested in a deal with a difference? One which seeks a social, rather than a financial, return on investment and which measures success in terms of additional young lives transformed? The Private Equity Foundation (PEF) is looking for volunteer Deal Captains inspired to leverage their investment skills to help effective and ambitious youth charities in the UK and Germany secure a place in PEF’s charity portfolio.
PEF has developed flexible, private-equity based processes for its charity due diligence programme and provides Deal Captains with support so that volunteers need only commit to six days between October 2010 and March 2011.
Each Deal Captain will work with their associates to:
- Select a charity prospect from a pre-screened list of opportunities supplied by PEF
- Assemble a team of PEF sourced pro bono advisers
- Review the charity’s financial, operational and impact information
- Meet with prospective charity management and trustees
- Make site visits, accompanied by a charity-sector expert
- Review the charity’s business plan and proposals and give feedback
- Provide an opinion to the PEF Investment Committee on their chosen charity
If a candidate charity is successful, its Deal Captain would also be invited to continue their involvement with the organisation whilst it is in PEF’s portfolio. The role includes overseeing progress and performance, and acting as a strategic sounding board for the charity’s management and trustees.
Shaks Ghosh, Chief Executive of the Private Equity Foundation, said “PEF brings together the private equity community to source and support charities working with disadvantaged children and young people so that they can become bigger and better. Our due diligence process is key and we would love to hear from potential Deal Captains who can help us discover organisations which, when given the right combination of financial and pro bono support from PEF, have the potential to turn around many more young lives.
“Feedback from our previous Deal Captains tells us that it can be an enormously rewarding experience, giving them the chance to have meaningful involvement with a charity at an exciting time in its development.”
Eric Machiels of Terra Firma said of his experience as a PEF Deal Captain “PEF offered us a unique opportunity to contribute our private equity skills in a new, highly participative way.
“We had the privilege to work closely together with a London-based community regeneration charity running a variety of highly innovative support schemes benefiting NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training) among others. Our input initially consisted in reviewing the PEF-orchestrated due diligence efforts. After attending one of their sessions with young people, we helped the charity’s team re-draft their business plan to more clearly articulate the unique differentiating features of their programme offering and potential impact thereof.
“Throughout this process, we were genuinely won over by the passion with which the charity aims to turn their vision of community engagement into reality and to empower disadvantaged young people to reach their full potential.”
If you are interested in this opportunity, we want to hear from you. Please send us a short bio and a few lines describing why you are interested in this opportunity to hollie@privateequityfoundation.org Please also tell us about colleagues at your firm who would be working with you on this exciting project.
For further information and images please contact Rosie Davey at rosie@privateequityfoundation.org or call 020 7749 5129 / 07827 804066