Jenny Ramage talks to Heidi Travis about her new role as director of Sue Ryder, the risks and rewards of testing and why the organisation is reviewing its messaging
What areas in particular will you be focusing on during the first year of your role as director?
I want to look at how we can make sure the whole organisation is aligned and certain about what we’re trying to achieve, with all the right people in place and all the tools to let people do their jobs effectively. With 14 different care centres, 425 shops and various offices spread throughout the country, we’re a broad and complex organisation, and it will always be a challenge to make sure we’re all joined up in what we’re doing. I think the answer lies in being much more simple and clear.
The organisation is nearing the end of the first year of its five-year strategy. What have been the key achievements so far?
Our strategy is to create an environment in which everyone can access the support they want, and also to provide amazing care in our own centres. Our plan to expand the breath and reach of our end-of-life services is already underway, and we are beginning to put the plans through for transforming our neurological centres.
How does the charity plan to increase awareness and understanding of its activities?
There’s a definite awareness of Sue Ryder, but I think getting people to really understand what we do is the challenge. We’ll be focusing on clarity of message around the end-of-life care we deliver, and on what we’re doing in our neurological centres. I think we’ve got an amazing opportunity here, with all the people we’ve got working for us – especially all those in retail who talk to the public every day – to have amazing conversations about what we do. We want the messaging in our branding to be clearer, too, and we’ll be looking at this next year.
Do you have any exciting fundraising campaigns in the pipeline?
We have a very exciting campaign in Peterborough, in our Thorpe hospice. For the first time in our history, we’ve launched a major capital appeal for £6m to build a new hospice. We’re approaching it at local level, with lots of messaging in our shops about the need for a better environment in which to provide the care we deliver. We’re even setting up some temporary shops around Peterborough that directly support the campaign. It’s early days but we’ve already got donations and pledges totalling £1.4m.
As director, you’re going to be on a salary of £120,000. What would you say to those who criticise levels of senior staff pay at charities?
Setting remuneration is a relatively complex thing against the market. While we need to be mindful and make sure we pay at the levels we should, we also need to set ourselves in an appropriate place to ensure we can attract and keep the best possible people in order to grow a really successful organisation.
Before joining Sue Ryder in 2010, you were group planning and strategy executive at Marks & Spencer, where you worked for 25 years. What advantages are there to staying with one company for so long?
M&S was an amazing place for me to learn and grow as an individual. In a career of that length, in that kind of organisation, you absorb so much from people who are seen as industry experts across all parts of the organisation, whether that’s finance, PR, marketing or even the City analysts.
Is the charity testing anything currently?
We recently tried a stock generation campaign called Wanted, which was pulled together by our retail, fundraising and PR teams, so it was really integrated. We focused it on one area in the North East, and we marketed on the side of vans and bus stops. For a small investment, it was really useful to learn what response we can get, and we certainly got a very good response compared to other areas where we hadn’t used such an integrated approach.
How can you minimise risk while testing?
You can always assess anything you want to do against the market, and against what you know the likely outcome will be. You can then scale an idea up or down depending on confidence levels and on what you think the financial or reputational risk is. I would always encourage people to try things out.
How can charity shops boost their income?
A shopper in a charity shop is no different from any other kind of shopper: they want to have a nice experience and buy something at a fair price. Just because you have a certain amount you want to spend, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a fantastic shopping experience – and so charity shops should ensure they’ve got great stock that’s well priced and presented nicely. Great merchandising doesn’t cost anything.
What’s been your proudest achievement in your career to date?
I think it has to be the Sue Ryder retail journey, because we’ve more than doubled the profit in three years – from just over £4m to over £9m. There’s been a real transformation in how our teams work; they’ve been empowered to make decisions, encouraged to have a go at things and supported along the way. Because of this, they’ve taken ownership and really see Sue Ryder as ‘their’ business.
Heidi Travis is director of Sue Ryder
This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 35, November 2013
