I’ve spent much of my career trying to work out what’s going on in and around civil society, and using that insight to change policy and practice. That’s included senior roles at NCVO, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, where I’ve been an advocate for charities and volunteering. I’m also a trustee of Communities 1st and Creating the Future, a US nonprofit. I’m @karlwilding on Twitter, where I contribute to conversations about charities, volunteering and wider civil society.
Consulting
My consulting practice, Bury Green Partners, is where I’m working with others to help people leading charities think about their organisation and what next. My clients have included NHS England, the Fundraising Regulator, Rotary GB&I, RABI and Local Trust.
I’ve also worked with Pro Bono Economics‘s Law Family Commission on the Future of Civil Society on how to strengthen the social sector’s data and philanthropy. I’m currently working with CRESR at Sheffield Hallam on a project looking at the federated charity model. And I am part of the team at Nottingham Trent University establishing the new VCSE Data and Insights National Observatory.
I’m a director at MyCake, where I am supporting the fantastic Sarah Thelwall to develop benchmarking tools and dashboards that help nonprofit organisations develop insights into how they are doing.
Academic work
Finally, I’m now part of the fantastic team at the University of Kent’s Centre for Philanthropy, led by Beth Breeze. I’m really pleased to be once again doing a mix of teaching and research. My academic page is here.
I’m also teaching at Queen Mary University of London Business School, where I am leading a module on the assessment of social impact. I’m very much hoping that combining academic work with practical consultancy will help me to contribute to the sector.
Get in touch
In other words, I’m doing a mix of paid and voluntary stuff, a bit of research and practice stuff. Please do get in touch if you’d like a conversation about what’s next for you or your organisation – or, with my Kent hat on, if you would like to do a PhD on something related to the voluntary sector or volunteering. And I am always up for talking about ideas for research or insight work on civil society! If you do, I’m karl@karlwilding.org.uk