The ambition

Anthony Nolan is the country’s leading blood cancer charity. It faces a shifting landscape, with changes in scientific understanding, clinical behaviour, health policy, global demand, technology change and charitable funding. Firetail has worked as a strategic partner with Anthony Nolan for a number of years to help the organisation develop a responsive, outward-looking strategy that delivers the best outcomes for patients.

Our approach

We have worked closely with the Chief Executive, trustees and leadership team over the last five years as a preferred partner for strategic analysis, planning and implementation.

Our approach to developing Anthony Nolan’s strategy focused on four key perspectives: stakeholders, landscape, finance and operations. Our work has engaged all the main stakeholder groups, internally and externally, to identify the important questions, priorities and observations. Landscape analysis considered the charity's UK space and wider global context in terms of supply and demand, as well as the impact of changing clinical practice and scientific understanding. We reviewed the charity’s funding model, business model and performance of key investments. We also reviewed the charity’s operational strengths and weaknesses, identifying capabilities required to be successful, especially around technology, project management and research funding.

The impact

The strategy identified three clear priorities for Anthony Nolan: to take a leading role in global scientific research, to work on improving patient outcomes, and to drive the efficiency of donor-transplant provision. These objectives translated into new initiatives and key performance indicators. This work has seen measurable financial, organisational and operational impacts, directly contributing to Anthony Nolan’s vision of saving and improving patients’ lives. By designing a clear and simple strategy our work has also helped Anthony Nolan to drive a focused internal culture, which contributed to increased motivation and engagement from staff and volunteers.

Firetail push me to think differently. This can be really challenging but it is always focused on helping to make good decisions that will make a huge difference to the patients and families that Anthony Nolan was set up to serve. They really understand who we are and how we work; because of this I trust them to help us find new opportunities and solutions but always in a way that is authentic to Anthony Nolan.

Henny Braund, Chief Executive