What is an interim?

Step forward, the interim manager. As the name indicates, these are temporary experts who come in for three to six months on average. Traditionally brought in to cover high level absence such as maternity leave, surprise resignations or sackings, they are increasingly being used to deliver special projects, according to Stephen Brooker, head of charities practice at Russam GMS, an interim provider to the third sector.

So could interim managers be used to prepare bids for funding contracts? Most interims share certain characteristics: extensive management experience, good communication skills and the ability to pick things up extremely quickly. Going in as part of the management team, they are usually overqualified and can be expected to perform from day one, get the job done, then leave. “We’re not maintenance managers, we’re problem solvers,” says Tom Hamilton, an interim finance director.

By contrast, permanent fundraisers are difficult to recruit. Consultants, while also short term, are less hands-on and better suited to giving advice than managing a project. “Consultants are more worried about keeping the client happy,” Hamilton says. The injection of an interim’s expertise is a way to kick-start a new process, he says, whether in finance, business development or HR. “Whatever the job is, there should be no question about whether they can do it.”

Why use an interim?

For small and medium-sized charities, securing funding is “like the search for the Holy Grail,” says Rachel Youngman, an interim chief executive. Many lack the commercial or finance skills needed to prepare contracts within budget.

Interims, meanwhile, often hail from the private sector. “Someone commercially minded can bring that missing dynamic. It’s an investment that can reap huge rewards,” Youngman says. Most have several elements to their portfolio.

“Get them to write the bid but use them to think about future strategy working with the board, who may not have business experience.”

Russam’s Brooker says interims can often put together a template for future bids. “The methodology of the costing and the way you respond to a tender will stay with the charity. Picking up those skills as an organisation is never going to be a waste of time.”

These skills are difficult to acquire alone. “Everyone gets bamboozled by overhead costs,” Brooker says. “The arithmetic can be tricky – some contracting bodies allow overheads, others don’t. A good finance director will test what can be charged to which contract.” He advises getting an interim in before deciding whether to bid. In the case of a shortfall, charities need to work out whether they can sustain a loss before they dip into reserves. “Charities come to us in a muddle because they can’t understand why it’s costing so much,” he says.

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Learning to bid properly can require a charity to redefine its mission, LSBU’s Maple says. Many charities have trouble espousing the case for support in a way that the funder understands.

Organisations with experience of bidding mistakenly presume that they know how to do it. “They may have been preparing statutory allocations for years but still not understand the case for support – they trot out something that ticks the boxes.” Interims, on the other hand, ask the awkward questions. The new perspective often turns up unexpected savings, he says.

Of course, interims don’t come cheap – day rates at Russam range from £300 to £600 plus, more than twice the price of a regular employee. But a badly prepared bid wastes time and resources. A more expensive interim can also be worth the extra cost. “The work will be higher level, faster and with better insight and experience,” Brooker says. And, it is worth noting, that many will negotiate below commercial rates for charities.

Avoiding pitfalls

“The voluntary sector is not good at using interims,” says Maple. He cites a failure to capitalise on the experience or sustain the benefits. “The danger is that people are employed to prepare a big bid, they get it, but there’s no one to manage the process and report back. Two years later the charity’s back in the same situation,” he says.

Being risk averse can be a problem. If an interim isn’t seen to deliver, charities become nervous and pull the plug, Youngman says. “They want to see cheques rolling in straight away. But it’s unrealistic to think interims will bring in vast sums of money in a very short space of time.”

Not every bid can be won, so see attempts as part of a portfolio, says Maple. “You need to invest in order to build capacity and expertise.” He is currently interim head of major gifts at Crisis, the homelessness charity, hired to help put together a £60 million capital project with a large statutory element. It was unsuccessful, but he remained with the charity to integrate what was learned.

Other pitfalls include a poorly defined brief, reluctance to work with interims, and overlooking practicalities such as desk space, Youngman says. While interims do occasionally turn out to be unsuitable, a good agency will vet candidates and replace them if it’s not working.

Using interims effectively

Rainbow Trust, a charity that provides support for children with terminal or life threatening illnesses, wants to deliver more public services. “We need statutory funding if we are going to expand,” says Anne Harris, the charity’s director of care services. Futurebuilders, the government backed fund, turned down a bid for full investment but awarded a development grant to look at which services they could deliver. The charity was aware that it didn’t have the expertise to do this and called in an interim.

“It was more cost effective to bring in someone short-term than muddling around in the dark or going on training courses,” Harris says. The interim is turning services into ‘packages of care’ that they can sell, based on numbers and outcomes. “Local authorities and primary care trusts need to purchase a measurable package. Historically we have never described our care like that.”

Interims are not caught up in the history of the organisation. “It’s refreshing to have somebody say “I don’t care if this is how you’ve always done it,” she says. A tight, time-limited brief set clear goals. “Whether we win the statutory bid or not, we are going to be in a better position. It can only strengthen our confidence in presenting to different providers.”

Last year the Neurofibromatosis Association (NFA), which helps those with the genetic disorder, met to discuss whether the charity had a future. It is the only service of its kind and helps fund NHS advisers, but goodwill donations were proving unsustainable, so it advertised for an interim with experience of bringing charities back from the brink. “It was a risk that was proper to take in the circumstances,” says Maria Toman, the charity’s chair.

Within two weeks the interim had secured £20,000 in emergency funding. “She knows how to walk the walk, use the right language in bid applications, use persuasive arguments,” Toman says.

Integrating an interim requires careful management. “Staff quickly pick up that things are not running ideally and feel de-motivated wondering what is going to happen.” Toman says. She made a point of keeping everyone informed at each stage and says the interim has generated renewed enthusiasm among employees.

While private sector knowledge is useful, the NFA chose an interim with a charity background. “It’s not about being sympathetic, it’s about being aware of the challenges that the new commissioning framework presents for those working in the public sector,” Toman says.

She hopes the interim will provide a foundation for future bids. “A good interim manager will leave a legacy that the charity can build on and change the way it works for the better.”

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