Background
FSU are an established and respected charity providing services to families with needs throughout the UK. It has centres in most main cities and is headquartered in London. As with all not-for-profit organisations, the perpetual requirement is to balance the quality of service to their clients against incoming funds, while ensuring the overall security of the enterprise.

Changes in Government policy towards not-for-profit, including the requirement for them to move towards modern business practices and governance principles, have created the need to focus more closely on organisational efficiency and asset effectiveness.

In pursuit of this goal, FSU recruited the Enable Charities Group of the LSM Partnership, initially to prepare a report to assist FSU to optimise its property potential.  The Property Options Report encompassed outline suitability for FSU future use and relative values in the present market.

Objectives
Based on the key findings of the Property Options Report, Enable participated in the overall strategic considerations to enable FSU to achieve its short and longer-term objectives of securing the base value of the Charity, at the same time as providing improved efficiency in service provision to its users.

What We Did
To achieve these ambitions required: -

• Staff location planning
• Negotiations on rented properties
• Disposals of inappropriate properties
• Acquisition of a new property
• Project management of developments and liaison with authorities and other charities

Three properties in low value growth locations were sold and a new Headquarters building acquired and fitted-out in a selected location close to King's Cross in central London.

Results
By involving ourselves at every stage, the overall strategic plans were achieved and the re-organisation change was managed in the shortest time possible.

FSU now has a flexible and more efficient structure and an established growing property asset both of which may easily be re-aligned to any future changes in the ongoing plans of the Charity.