An entrepreneur behind a venture philanthropy trust and a private equity expert are former colleagues who have joined forces again to bring financial expertise to charities

Nat Sloane When I set up Impetus with my co-founder, Stephen Dawson, in 2002 the idea was to pilot and pioneer venture philanthropy in the UK. We wanted to provide long-term strategic expertise and funding to small and medium-sized charities, supporting the whole organisation rather than individual projects.

David Krucik Nat and I worked together in the mid-1990s when he ran a consultancy and I was more junior. In 1999, I joined strategy consulting firm OC&C to set up the private equity practice.

NS Although I knew David very well we had never talked about charity, but I did think OC&C would be a good fit. I knew it was a high-quality, well respected organisation.

DK When Nat was setting up Impetus we met to talk about how OC&C could get involved. We came to an agreement that we would provide a commercial due diligence type of support on potential Impetus investments.

NS The way a lot of innovative not-for-profit organisations were being funded at the time made it hard for them to grow and expand good ideas to reach more people. Because we came from the private sector and the financial world we thought it would be great if we could tap into our experience to create a model that was more supportive to organisations that had big ambitions to grow.

DK We had been doing pro bono work on an occasional basis before, but it had always been partners' pet issues rather than with a coherent approach. In the conversations with Nat we committed to a set level of pro bono work each year.

NS We discuss business plans with the charities and help identify the areas that are critical to address as part of the big step change they want to make. Then we bring in business people whose expertise is in that area. We have a network of individuals from the business world and corporate partners, of which OC&C is the most central.

DK We put people on Impetus projects as a reward, so people bid for the right to work on them. We structure it as a team but in a way that stretches people so that they get a development opportunity.

NS The interest in giving something back to the community is a common motivation for the people who work with us. But there has to be a business rationale along with the feelgood factor. With OC&C, there is a strong business reason to do it and that is a big factor in why a business entity will engage and stay engaged in corporate social responsibility.

DK Many of the key people who have worked on Impetus projects have progressed through the ranks. I don't know if we would have lost them otherwise, but they have wobbled at various points. They believe that the way we are doing it is more powerful than what their peers do at our competitors. They may go and paint a school, which obviously makes you feel good but we are not painters and we shouldn't be painting schools.

NS We didn't start from the perspective that the private sector has all the answers and all the good ideas and charities therefore sit at the feet of businesses and learn like supplicants. We believe that both parties have skills and capabilities that are valuable.

DK Our staff love the fact that the charities progress. Returning to work with a charity several years after you first meet and seeing that the work you did set them on a successful path is just phenomenal.

NS The way charities get funding is still very much focused on short-term projects. Having been an entrepreneur myself I know how tough that funding model is if you want to grow because it requires you to be constantly seeking out money in small short-term pots.

DK I do think the business community gives a lot to charities but it could support them better by providing skills and competencies. One charity we worked with had given away a lot of the IP to a publisher for virtually nothing because they didn't have the knowledge.

NS Most of the charities would say that when they approached us it was mostly about money but now it is much more about the application of the skills and activities that have helped them develop as an organisation.

DK We have to remember the point of charity isn't to make ourselves feel good—it is to help the people that the charity is seeking to address.