2019 Shortlist | Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow
Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow
Shortlist – Embracing Digital
Who they are
Home-Start Richmond Kingston and Hounslow believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the principal role in giving their children a good start in life. This local charity supports parents in developing their parenting skills, gaining confidence and strengthening their relationships with their children. It helps families with children under 5 years old who are struggling to cope. The volunteer-led, home-visiting service provides weekly help at home. Parent volunteers offer emotional and practical support at home as well as supporting other parents to establish loving, nurturing relationships with their children.
The charity has almost 25 years’ experience supporting families and extended its work across Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow in 2017.
What they’ve achieved
Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow provides emotional and practical support to parents and families. In the past few years, the board has implemented a strategic plan to increase its online presence and invest in its digital capabilities. More recently it re-evaluated that strategy, evolving it to form an evidence-based and data-driven approach to investing in its core competencies and streamlining its processes to keep it agile and responsive to rapidly changing opportunities and threats. The charity has implemented a new streamlined IT cloud-based management system incorporating all of its day-to-day work with charities. Support roles have been restructured around it, enabling Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow to work across three boroughs, increase the number of families it has helped by more than 25% and deliver a 40% costs saving across administrative functions.
Why they were shortlisted
Judges recognised how the board played a central role in the shift to digital, with trustees identifying the need to invest in a modernisation agenda. Trustee roles included support for participation in a digital pilot, appointing a new Director role, through to approving investment in IT and systems. The board’s next two-year strategic cycle is based around ‘connectivity’, with digital acting as a key pillar of that strategy.
