Charity information
Organisation changes and our new strategy
Menai Owen-Jones, CEO
It’s hard to think that I’ve been with The Pituitary Foundation now for seven years! 2016 was undoubtedly been the greatest year of change in our history. It’s been an exciting, inspiring and challenging time, leading The Foundation through the changes.
I’d like to share with you the progress we’ve made as an organisation since 2015. As you may be aware, we have been welcoming new staff members and working hard to build a new team. We’ve also recently published our new organisation Strategy. Our ultimate aim is that we will be able to raise more awareness and provide more support and information for pituitary patients in the years to come.
From September 2016, we are now a team of 12 staff in total. We have new staff members in three departments: Patient and Family Services, Fundraising and Marketing, and Finance and Resources. Alongside our staff, we also have a valuable team of 120 volunteers delivering support and services across the country.
For four years, 2012 – 2015, the charity was fortunate to generate surplus funds, which we used to build our charity reserves (effectively, our charity’s savings). Legacies have been one of the main reasons that we were able to add to our savings over recent years – which is an unpredictable type of income stream. For example, one year you may be fortunate to receive £50,000 and the following year, nothing!
Last year, the charity’s Board of Trustees approved a plan to spend some of our reserves to invest in the charity. The ultimate benefits of the investment, and the changes, mean that we are aiming to:
- Increase the number of people we help;
- Expand current patient and family services;
- Introduce new services;
- Increase our support of children, young people and their parents;
- Improve health care professionals’ engagement and education;
- Increase awareness of pituitary conditions and patients’ needs through more campaigning work.
Three departments – one organisation
We have expanded our Patient and Family Services team, to develop our vital patient and family services and to increase our policy and campaigns work.
We have exciting plans in the pipeline to introduce information and support webinars (presentations over the web), develop the role of occupational therapy in pituitary care, and introduce new publications for young people and children and parents in the coming year, amongst other plans.
We are also currently fundraising to introduce a new Text Support Service to complement our current telephone and email Helplines Support Service.
To deliver the benefits of the new structure, it’s crucial that we run the organisation properly. How many times do we read in the media about companies and charities failing due to bad management? So the reason for recruiting new team members in our Finance and Resources Department is to safeguard The Foundation for the future.
In order to be able to deliver effectively the benefits of the organisation changes, it’s important that we too invest in Fundraising and Marketing. As I said earlier in this article, we have been very fortunate to receive legacies over the years, but they are an unreliable source of income. So it’s crucial we invest to identify and develop new fundraising opportunities for the charity and to help raise its profile.
Also digital is the future. Again we need to embrace opportunities to improve our website and digital presence, so we are expanding the ways that we are communicating with, and providing support to, the pituitary community.
The portion of our reserves (or savings) we are using is finite – so once we’ve used it, we have to be in a position that we are generating income to cover the costs of the new structure on an ongoing basis. So this means currently we are running on a deficit budget, funded by our charity’s reserves.
We are at a critical point and we really need the continued and committed support of our valued members, fundraisers, volunteers and supporters. In other words, we still need your help!
The danger when investing in a fairly rapid expansion like this is that it could be perceived that the charity doesn’t need funds anymore, that we have plenty of money, which is not the case.
So this is why we have invested across the organisation, as we need the three areas: Patient & Family Services; Fundraising & Marketing and Finance and Resources, aligned to make the whole charity work effectively, so we can ultimately do more for the pituitary community.
Much to do
Most of you reading this article will be patients and carers yourselves and so you know only too well, there is much for us to do as a charity. Too many patients are still diagnosed too late; too many patients still feel isolated; too many patients have a poor quality of life; too many failings still occur in the care of pituitary patients; too few patients feel supported, informed and able to manage their conditions.
We have recently launched our charity’s new Strategy, following on from our 2013-16 Strategy. The document outlines what work we aim to deliver over the next three years, with our new staff team now in place, to make some inroads into important issues for patients and their families. It also shares some of the things we have achieved as a charity in recent years, with thanks to the help of our volunteers, members and supporters.
Strategy 2016 - 2019
Our current three-year plan sets out our vision and goals for the organisation. Download a copy or contact us if you prefer a hard copy - enquiries@pituitary.org.uk
Thank you for your continued support,
Menai - menai@pituitary.org.uk
Annual Review and Accounts
Here you can find our latest annual reviews and report and accounts.
If you would like a copy of these documents, please download the PDF file from the list below. If you would like us to post a copy to you, please email enquiries@pituitary.org.uk or alternatively write to: The Pituitary Foundation, 86 Colston Street, Bristol, BS1 5BB.