November 2024, the founding trustees of Daring to Dream, Barbara Chidgey, John Chown, #NavMasani took a courageous and strategic decision to focus our efforts on just two major things throughout 2025:
- Continued quality delivery of our established charitable activities and
- Making significant progress in implementing our primary strategic goal:
‘Building a resilient and sustainable organisation’
The most challenging step:
Daring to Dream is taking the most challenging step in any organisation’s journey, from being totally driven by a passionate and dedicated founder (describes me well) to delivery by a professional team, supported & led strategically by its board.
- It is an enormous step.
- It isn’t easy.
- It must happen if Daring to Dream is to grow.
- Transition in action is hard to see
An important helping hand:
We were thrilled to be allocated support from Cranfield Trust
The mentoring (& nudging) keeps me ‘on the case’!
The shift must happen; in our way
Our strategic goals have been in place for some time
Our objectives are in place
Our financial forecasting evolves, matching strategy, objectives & compelling narrative.
Our business plan shows the way to shift, grow, and transform.
The exciting news is:
We are already getting there.
We have already found many trusted people & businesses to work with.
We have a great network of experienced and trusted advisors.
As founder, Chair & CEO, I am no longer the sole operational deliverer.
I haven’t been the sole operational deliverer for a long long time.
My role as a volunteer CEO is steadily shifting and transitioning:
Much of my role has already shifted from ‘delivery’ to ‘coordination’
Where I am still ‘delivering’ in some projects, our current approach is focused on completing the shift of me ‘delivering’ to ‘coordinating’ them.
Trusted delivery teams have been built; continue to be built.
Those teams are delivering; shaping Daring to Dream
Next my coordination roles in key areas start transitioning to trusted contractors.
We’ll prove the concept; we test in small steps.
Then turn the concept into good practice; the shift will progress
Shifting from delivery by a dedicated founder to delivery by a professional team.
Daring to Dream grows
Daring to Dream becomes resilient & sustainable
Daring to Dream has ever-greater impact
I shift from founder, Chair and volunteer CEO to founder trustee
Business plan in action – transformation
Barbara Chidgey, Chair of Daring to Dream
