
Katie Leatherbarrow
How long have you worked for EFC?
I have worked as an associate with EFC since January 2021. I went full time in September 2023.
What’s your background/experience?
After my Masters I worked in recruitment, recruiting fundraising roles for charities. I then worked as a fundraiser in a small charity dealing with trust applications, events and corporate fundraising, amongst other things.
I also spent 10 years at University of Manchester, starting in a gift admin role, moving up to what was basically the database manager job. I also taught myself data visualisation along the way.
Why were you attracted to working for EFC?
I’d known Alex for a while; he started working at University of Manchester three months after me and I worked with him. Paul and Alex have great reputations in the sector so for me, working with EFC was all about the personalities. The challenge, variety and scope of work remained the same but the possibilities of working with such a range of different organisations and charities is what attracted me.
How does EFC stand out from the competition? What’s its USP?
I don’t believe there is too much competition in the sector because unlike some other consultancies we actually get stuff done. The consultant world can tend to be dominated by writing reports, giving opinions and telling people how to action everything. At EFC, we actually do it and action things for clients. We carry out all the in-depth business analysis but also help fix the problems. We value specialists on both a personal and professional level. We have a high degree of autonomy and all bring something different to the collective.
What has been your proudest moment whilst working for the company?
It’s nice when clients ask for you by name. That shows they trust you, value the work you do and specifically want to work with you. After working with a client at Rugby, they asked us to work with them again at Cambridge. That then turned into a bigger booking, which was a proud moment for the team.
What challenges are facing the industry and how can EFC help clients overcome them?
One of the main challenges is how do you work smarter with reduced budgets, especially in the school sector. EFC can help clients plug a skills gap, especially in smaller organisations that don’t have a data/ops person in the team. Some clients may not be able to afford a full-time development manager so they can work with us at EFC and buy one for a day or two a week. That all helps with budgets. We can also plug a capacity gap in bigger teams where they’re too busy with the day to day running of things.
Most interesting developments happening in the industry?
There are quite a few for me: the impact on private schools of a new Labour government, the changing demographics of alums in HE and asking for money from people loaded with debt. Blackbaud being bought is also one to watch.
With school fees subject to VAT, organisations will be thinking about how not to pass that cost on to parents. There’s also the issue of bursaries. When it comes to university alums, unless they’re very wealthy, they’re not going to be able to give back as they leave with so much debt.
Where do you see the company in five years?
Continuing to have a collection of best-in-class people that will cover every area of an operations team. Using EFC will help clients fill the ongoing capacity gap and work smarter.
Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I’m a big Manchester United (and Stockport) fan and was listening to a Gary Neville podcast where he shared some great advice. One of his coaches once said to him, ‘Don’t start cutting corners as you’ll end up getting good at it.’ My takeaway from that is that you should always put the maximum effort into everything you do, something EFC prides itself on. My advice to myself is do the boring stuff quicker. This relates to process improvement. The admin always has to be done so let’s do it but make the process quicker.
Describe EFC in five words
Specialised, nimble, analytical, sincere, straight talking – I was told by a client recently that we talk like we know what we’re doing, which is always good to hear.