Impact Story: Strengthening IBAA and Evelyn Oldfield Unit

Impact Story by Skilled Volunteer | Nada Savitch

When an organisation has been successful, it’s difficult to take the time to examine what’s working and what’s not working. Link UP London volunteers can make a real difference to small organisations that find themselves at a crossroads in their development.

Mulat Haregot, a highly experienced CEO in the voluntary sector, has partnered with Link UP London to strengthen the capacity of two organisations he works with: the Islington BAMER Advice Alliance (IBAA) where he is the Chair of Trustees and the Evelyn Oldfield Unit (EOU) where he is CEO.

Through his collaborations with Link UP, Mulat has seen first-hand the transformative power of Skilled Volunteers in helping small charities tackle challenges and evolve.

IBAA is a coalition of non-profit organisations offering advisory services to BAME and refugee communities in the London Borough of Islington. IBAA was established in 2016 and was very successful thanks to a grant from the Council. In August 2023, the then IBAA co-ordinator realised that they needed help to take stock following the effects of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis and turned to Link UP London.

Mulat explains: “The more you grow the more problems there are… we’d raised expectations but lacked the capacity to help.”

Mulat was amazed that Link UP London found them an experienced professional consultant, Eve, who worked with them for a few months for free.

Eve organised regularly meetings over Zoom where she gave Mulat and the IBAA co-ordinator time to look at their strength and weaknesses and develop a business plan. “She didn’t just give us a template. She gave us time to reflect and acted as a critical friend.”

Although Mulat is a very experienced CEO in the voluntary sector, he realises that when you’re at the centre of an organisation, you sometimes need outside help to see the whole picture.

“It doesn’t matter how clear you are, you can’t see yourself. It’s easy to help others but not so easy to change yourself.”

Volunteer consultants from Link UP London often go the extra mile. Midway through the process, the co-ordinator left the organisation. Eve helped Mulat to think clearly about how to recruit a new co-ordinator.

The work Eve did with IBAA enabled them to put together funding bids which have resulted in more funding from Islington Council and other Trusts and Foundations.

“Over 5000 residents have benefits from the advice given by IBAA – without the help we received from our Link UP London volunteer this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Mulat was so impressed by the work done from Eve, he realised that Link UP London might be able to support the organisation where he is CEO, The Evelyn Oldfield Unit. Mulat found Link UP London a very easy organisation to work with. “Link UP London is a different sort of organisation. They have a small staff that works creatively and has such a big impact.”

The Evelyn Oldfield Unit is a charity that was founded in 1994 and supports refugee community organisations to flourish.
Mulat contacted Link UP London to find a communications professional . “We wanted to celebrate 30 years of the organisation. But how can we celebrate when there are so many challenges?”

Link UP London found Joshua. Joshua has a background in the private sector and so was able to provide a completely different perspective.

Mulat says, “Even after 30 years of learning in the voluntary sector, it’s important to be honest with yourself. The question I hope Joshua would be able to support us to answer was – Are we still relevant?”

The answer to that question is YES!

Joshua went through a process with Mulat and came up with a way to communicate the current situation in the voluntary sector and the position of the Evelyn Oldfield Unit within it. Joshua produced a communications strategy, which means that Mulat now has a plan for communicating the role of the organisation in a sector that has changed since it was first set up. Sadly, the development of the communications strategy coincided with the passing of the long-standing Chair of the Evelyn Oldfield Unit. However, Mulat feels that the process he went through with Joshua prepared him for every eventuality.

Through his work with both IBAA and the Evelyn Oldfield Unit, Mulat understand the needs of small organisations to build capacity, and the role Link UP London has in supporting this process during this difficult economic climate: “Lots of groups are struggling, they are fire-fighting, but we remain positive, especially while Link UP London is there to offer support.”