Turning generous giving into lasting impact.
Too much giving is generous but scattered, and too many charities live season to season. We help family offices, foundations and charity boards decide where their money should go, build the governance that holds it, and show what it achieved.
From family giving to a foundation
A family's unstructured giving became a registered grant-making foundation, with its own board, policies and disbursement committee.
A zakat fund that can defend every decision
Relaunched with an open call, a published scoring framework and a grants committee to run it.
Strategy signed off in eleven days
A national helpline's strategy weekend produced goals and KPIs that the board approved eleven days later.
Islamic philanthropy for refugees
Building Islamic philanthropy partnerships for the UK fundraising partner of the UN Refugee Agency.
Funders on one side, charities on the other
Having sat on both sides of the table is the point. We know what a grants committee needs to see, and what it costs a charity to produce it.
Family offices and private donors
Agree a direction across the family, choose the vehicle, write the grant-making policy.
Foundations and grants committees
Terms of reference, scoring, due diligence, monitoring, and a committee that can say no.
Zakat, sadaqah and waqf funds
Ring-fencing, eligibility, distribution policy and reporting that will stand scrutiny.
Strategy that gets decided
A diagnostic, a workshop that takes decisions in the room, and a written summary within a week.
Governance that stands scrutiny
Board reviews, trustee recruitment, and evidence that policies are used, not just written.
When it goes wrong
Support through regulatory inquiries, serious incidents and independent assurance reviews.
Leading it
One-to-one coaching for chief executives, from someone who has done the job.
Most philanthropy fails at the point of choosing. A family that wants to fund everything ends up funding nothing well. My first job is to help you choose.
From a good intention to a giving programme you can defend.
Two stages. The first finds what you actually want. The second turns it into a policy, a scorecard every grant is judged against, and a record of what the money achieved.
What the family actually wants, who decides, and what has to be true for any option to work, narrowed to one direction.
A grant-making policy, the right vehicle, charities chosen against your criteria, and reporting that shows what the money achieved.
A youth mental health helpline: from a strategy weekend to a board that governs
The situation
A new chief executive, a small board, and a funder that needed the charity's goals for its own investment committee within six weeks. The income plan and the strategy had been written separately and did not connect.
What we did
Pre-reading for every participant, a day of listening, then a facilitated day that voted on goals. We then rewrote the KPIs as outcomes rather than activities and aligned them with the funder's own measures.
What changed
The board signed off goals and KPIs eleven days after the workshop, alongside the funder's proposal. The work continued as coaching for the chief executive, a board policy tracker and agenda, and the recruitment of new trustees.
Articles on giving, governance and strategy
A small practice by design
When you engage Ethical Consulting Group, I lead the work myself, in the room and on the page. I have run a large international charity, sat on the boards that set sector standards, and chaired grants committees for family offices. We bring in specialist lawyers, accountants and researchers when the work needs them, and I stay accountable for the result.
Governance that only works while you're in the room isn't governance. It's dependency.
Recently speaking atThe Prophetic Strategy Summit, Istanbul · Muslim Impact Forum · Zakāh & Advocacy Fiqh Symposium · Muslim Charities Forum Senior Leadership Retreat · Islamic Impact Investing Summit
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes to understand what you are trying to decide. If we can help, a short written proposal follows. If we can't, we will tell you who can.
I reply to every message personally. Or email kashif@ethicalltd.com.