Onboarding New Partners: Seeing the Bigger Picture

Setting up a charity can be hard.

Early-stage charity leaders often find themselves juggling multiple roles. Strategist, fundraiser, administrator, operations lead and volunteer manager, amongst others.  Our partners are inspiring, passionate and deeply committed. But being “in it” all the time can make it difficult to see the bigger picture, and knowing what to prioritise next can feel overwhelming.

Passion drives the mission. But without reflection and balance, that same passion can quietly tip into exhaustion.

This is why at The Pearce Foundation, we believe early-stage leaders need more than money to grow their organisations sustainably. We’ve developed a model grounded in a coaching approach combining funding with tailored support activities designed to strengthen our Partners’ capacity in a meaningful and sustainable way.

At our onboarding sessions, we introduce two simple yet powerful tools which sit at the heart of our 9-month partner journey: The Wheel of Life and The Charity Wheel.

The Wheel of Life: Getting to Know You

We begin with the person or people behind the organisation.

The Wheel of Life invites leaders to explore how their charity fits within their broader life. It offers a gentle, bird’s-eye view of overall satisfaction across key areas such as health, relationships, finances and personal growth.

We ask:

• What else is important to you at this stage of life?

• What do we need to be mindful of over the coming months?

• How can we help you prioritise your wellbeing alongside your organisation's development?

It’s not about achieving perfect balance. It’s about bringing awareness to the wider context of a leader’s life.

The Charity Wheel: Getting to Know Your Organisation

Once we understand the person behind the organisation, we turn our attention to the charity itself.

The Charity Wheel focuses on key areas of organisational development, offering a bird’s-eye view of the charity’s overall health. Partners score each area from 1 to 10, reflecting on how they feel about finance, operations, governance, strategy, impact and more.

The process allows leaders to step back from day-to-day firefighting, take a breath and see more clearly. Together, we identify priorities and co-create a clear, realistic pathway for development, bringing focus and direction, while reducing overwhelm.

Combined with insights from their application and our early discussions, this gives us a clear starting point for the nine months ahead.

Why This Matters

Both wheels reflect something fundamental about how we work:

• We place equal importance on the person behind the charity.

• We strengthen the organisation’s foundations.

• And we honour the connection between the two.

This starting point shifts leaders from reactive to reflective. From scattered to strategic.

Over time, we’ve seen how powerful this can be:

• Clarity replaces overwhelm.

• Priorities feel manageable.

• Confidence grows.

A Big Thank You to ScoreApp

We’re incredibly grateful to ScoreApp, whose generosity has enabled us to embed these wheels online.

As a small charitable foundation, practical support like this makes such a tangible difference. It enables us to provide a professional and accessible onboarding experience while keeping our overheads low and our focus where it belongs: supporting fledgling charities to thrive.

Their support reflects the very spirit of partnership we champion: using your skills and platform to strengthen those creating meaningful change in their communities.

Thank you, ScoreApp. We really appreciate your support.