| Working in partnership with others to support organisations seeking a positive social impact |
The Coalition for Efficiency’s mission is to work with existing organisations to seek out and implement ways which will influence charities to run themselves more efficiently and effectively without sacrificing quality.
In pursuit of our mission, we allow other parties to adapt, develop and use any ideas and material produced by us. We aim to work with other organisations that are aligned to our charitable mission. We seek not to compete with anyone working in the same space and we are open to collaborate or provide assistance where needed.
Our partners over the years include Volunteering Matters, the Bulldog Trust, City Philanthropy, Charity Finance Group, ICAEW, Pears Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Do-It Trust, Good People and Team London.
Brian Smouha started working in the City over fifty years ago and founded the Coalition for Efficiency in 2010 after attending a workshop run by The Institute for Philanthropy . He is a qualified accountant and was a Partner in Deloitte & Touche from 1970 until his retirement in 2001. During that time he established the specialist Financial Institutions Group, led the liquidation of BCCI, and from 1997 to 2001 led the Deloitte & Touche audit of the World Bank. He is currently a trustee of The Bulldog Trust and has a portfolio of other pro bono commitments. Brian was the founding chair of GuideStar UK and a founding trustee of The Institute for Philanthropy.
“My background was as an accountant and for thirty years as a partner in Deloitte where I started and led the financial services group. On my retirement, I became involved as a founder trustee of the Institute for Philanthropy which has led to my second (voluntary) career in the charity sector.
To further my education in the sector, I attended “The Philanthropy Workshop” run by the Institute for Philanthropy. The course provided a rigorous intensive indoctrination in the sector and demonstrated what can be achieved by individuals in a variety of circumstances. For the final stage of the course participants prepared and presented their strategy for their subsequent involvement with charity and the Coalition for Efficiency was born. Its mission is to help other charities become more efficient and effective by working in partnership with others.
What had struck me about the sector was the huge amount of selfless effort, goodwill and funds going into charities and the fundamental role the sector played in society and life. But there was a piece that seemed to be missing. In the commercial world success and survival depended on maximising output and maintaining the required quality. Charities that depended so much on the compassion and goodwill of donors and workers in the sector do not have the equivalent pressure and can fall short of their full potential.
It seemed to me that the challenge would be to see how we could help spark a cultural change by encouraging charities to concentrate on their mission and use metrics to measure their progress so they can maximise their overall impact on beneficiaries. Using metrics to manage, whether in a commercial business or a charity is the first crucial step in becoming more efficient, staying focused and moving forward in a coherent way.”