Case Studies
I help organisations that have reached, or are close to, a turning point or a breaking point. The examples below are some of the recent work I’ve done and the difference it made.
SaniTap
Social enterprise | WASH sector
Building the operations behind a carbon-financed scale-up
“Luke brought immediate clarity and structure to our operations. His strategic and practical support has made a tangible difference to how we work and the confidence of our team.”
– Andrew Tanswell, Managing Director, SaniTap
Challenge
Over six months, SaniTap grew from five people to sixty. The ways of working that suited a handful of people couldn’t keep up: services were slipping, mistakes were creeping into the logistics, and projects were running late. The bar for record-keeping was high too, because SaniTap’s work is funded through carbon financing, which means every cookstove and water system delivered has to be tracked and evidenced rigorously enough to prove real, verifiable carbon reductions.
What I did
I mapped all of their logistics and delivery processes to the standard that carbon reporting demands, and built the methodology behind it. As the teams grew, I brought order to it: risk registers, a review cadence and an escalation policy, each sized to what that team needed, so people could surface and manage their own risks. I also brought in a data specialist to build a database and a way of turning everyday delivery into solid evidence of carbon reduction.
Impact
SaniTap scaled twelvefold without delivery falling apart. The teams took ownership of their own risks, and the organisation built the rigorous, verifiable record of its impact that simply hadn’t existed before.
AIM Progress
Global coalition | Responsible sourcing
Making sense of 16 years of work, and replacing the spreadsheets behind it
“Luke’s work helped us take an important step towards data driven, impactful decision making. Combined with initiating the development of our Theory of Change, this has made us a more focused and purposeful organisation.”
– Louise Herring, Executive Director, AIM Progress
Challenge
AIM Progress was reaching the end of a strategic cycle without a clear view of what had worked over the years and what hadn’t. The organisation ran on a sprawl of disconnected spreadsheets, and a small secretariat was stretched thin keeping it all going.
What I did
I interviewed leaders from across the coalition and ran an evaluation of 16 years of their impact, so they could finally see what had and hadn’t worked. Then I tackled the systems, replacing the tangle of spreadsheets with a single, integrated operations stack (a member CRM, project management, automated workflows and document storage) running at under £5,000 a year. To make it stick, I mapped the coalition’s core operating processes and built an annual operating cycle, and put their data protection on a proper footing with a full GDPR and records-of-processing toolkit.
Impact
AIM Progress now runs on one system instead of dozens of spreadsheets, at a cost it can comfortably sustain, and for the first time has a clear, evidence-based view of what 16 years of work has actually achieved. The team shares a common picture of how the organisation operates and where its effort goes.
Inherently Human
Human rights consultancy | Systems & culture
Structure and stability to grow without losing the culture
“From scattered tools to smooth, integrated workflows – Luke gave us the structure and systems we need to collaborate effectively and grow with confidence.”
– Ali Murrel, Financial Director, Inherently Human
Challenge
As Inherently Human grew, its tools and ways of working had spread out in different directions, and the friction was starting to get in the way of delivering for clients. They needed their systems joined up and their operating routines standardised, so the organisation could scale without losing the culture that made it work.
What I did
I helped them choose and embed an integrated set of tools across the whole operation: CRM, project delivery, time and budget tracking, finance, and a tidied-up file and knowledge structure, all within Microsoft 365. Alongside the tools I designed the operating routines to match: a clear delivery lifecycle from proposal through to offboarding, risk registers owned by the people running each programme rather than just leadership, and a monthly rhythm for reviewing them. Then I trained the team and supported them as the new ways of working bedded in.
Impact
The team moved from scattered tools to joined-up workflows, with clearer visibility across delivery, finances and resourcing, and the routines to keep growing without the old friction creeping back. By the end of the engagement the systems were installed, integrated and well on the way to being fully adopted.
Let’s talk about your organisation
Most of this work started with a single conversation. If any of it sounds like where you are right now, I’d be glad to talk.