Why good Project Management matters?

Charities achieve change through projects—from developing services and campaigns to improving systems and responding to community needs.

The 2020 Association for Project Management Golden Thread study estimated that project management contributed £6.61 billion annually to the UK charity sector. It also highlighted that smaller charities often lack dedicated project resources and that project management can be misunderstood as unnecessary bureaucracy.

We believe good project management should make delivery easier. By providing the right level of structure, practical tools and adaptable ways of working, we help charities use their time, funding and effort more effectively—turning good ideas into meaningful and sustainable outcomes.

Charity and not-for-profit projects are increasingly being delivered in a VUCA environment—one shaped by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

Funding and operating costs can change rapidly. Government policies, donor priorities and community needs may be uncertain. Projects often involve complex relationships between funders, partners, volunteers, beneficiaries and regulators. At the same time, organisations may need to make important decisions with incomplete information and no single, obvious solution.

In this environment, rigid plans and one-size-fits-all methods are rarely enough. Charities need proportionate project management that provides clear direction and accountability while allowing teams to learn, adapt and respond as circumstances change.

With increasing demand, tighter resources and greater scrutiny, effective project management is no longer simply an administrative discipline. It is an essential capability for protecting limited resources, managing uncertainty and turning charitable ambition into sustainable impact.

We understand both project management and the realities of working in the charity sector.

Our work is led by an experienced project management trainer, practitioner and charity founder with expertise spanning project management, Agile delivery, Scrum, organisational change, training and coaching. This includes leading education and community projects in Nepal, Malawi, Indonesia, Uganda and Cambodia, often in post-disaster or resource-constrained environments.

This combination enables us to do more than explain theory. We help individuals and organisations apply good practice in ways that are practical, proportionate and sustainable.

Whether you are managing your first charity project, developing the capability of a wider team, introducing more agile ways of working or seeking independent support with a challenging project, our purpose is simple:

To help charities manage projects more effectively so that their time, funding and effort can create greater impact.

Who we are

Graeme Howell, MAPM, MIoL

Project Management for Charities was founded by Graeme, an experienced project management trainer, coach and practitioner with a background spanning project management, agile delivery, Scrum, organisational change and professional learning. Graeme’s approach to project management has been shaped as much by real-world delivery as by formal methodologies.

Over the years, he has led and managed classroom and education projects in Nepal, Malawi, Indonesia, Uganda and Cambodia. Much of this work has taken place in post-disaster recovery areas and austere environments, where project teams have had to work with limited resources, challenging logistics, changing circumstances and significant local needs.

He is also the founder of Worldwide Action, a small UK-based charity, giving him first-hand experience of the realities faced by charitable organisations — from balancing limited resources and competing priorities to maintaining a clear focus on outcomes, impact and the people a project is intended to support.

These experiences have strongly influenced the way he thinks about project management.

In environments where resources are constrained and conditions can change rapidly, overly complicated processes and rigid methodologies can quickly become a burden rather than a benefit. What matters is having enough structure to create clarity, manage risk, coordinate people and resources, and keep the project focused on the outcomes it is intended to achieve. This has led Graeme to develop a project management approach that is deliberately pragmatic, proportionate and grounded in common sense.

He believes that project management should work in the real world, not just in textbooks, classrooms or methodology manuals. While established frameworks, tools and techniques provide valuable foundations, they should be adapted to the needs of the organisation, the people involved and the environment in which the project is being delivered.

His earlier careers in the British Army and fire service also helped develop a strong appreciation of teamwork, leadership, preparation, risk, accountability and decision-making in demanding situations. These experiences continue to influence his approach to project delivery, training and coaching.

Today, Graeme works as a professional project management trainer and practitioner, drawing on project management, agile, Scrum and change-management principles to help individuals and organisations develop practical project capability.

As a trainer, his focus is not simply on explaining methodology or helping people memorise terminology. He aims to help learners understand why a particular approach works, when it should be used and, importantly, how it can be applied when they return to the workplace.

Project Management for Charities was created to bring this experience together: combining recognised project management, agile and change-management thinking with practical experience of delivering projects in challenging environments and first-hand involvement in the charity sector.

For Graeme, effective project management is ultimately not about following a methodology for its own sake. It is about using the right amount of structure, applying common sense, adapting to circumstances and helping people turn limited resources into successful projects and meaningful impact.