Strategise | Alex Etchart – Strategy Consultant for Social Change

£1.75M

Grant Funding
Raised

Careers/Orgs
Developed

380+

Partnerships
Enabled

From building your first arts & culture C.I.C.
to big orgs reaching new communities,
I connect the practical and granular
to the multi-year vision to ensure
all stakeholders’ outcomes are aligned.

“Alex is unparalleled as a teacher and a practitioner. A wizard at synthesizing a wide range of techniques into a approach that's playful and intuitive. Alex was re-wiring my neural map without me even knowing. Alex’ unconventional style, spontaneous brilliance, never ending bag of tricks and approachable manner has made public speaking and performance a joy.”

— Alnoor Ladha, Founder and CEO of /The Rules

£0M

Grant Funding
Raised

Careers/Orgs
Developed

Partnerships
Enabled

From building your first arts & culture C.I.C. to big orgs reaching new communities, I connect the practical and granular to the multi-year vision to ensure all stakeholders’ outcomes are aligned.

— Alnoor Ladha, Founder and CEO of /The Rules

Services

Funding Strategy

Apply for £30k from Arts Council England, understand grant maker priorities

Accessible budgeting, activity planning, partnership mapping, compelling narratives, compliance and reporting. Note: I don't bidwrite anymore but can recommend the best in the business.

0 raised 💰

Career Mentorship

Roadmap a sustainable creative career

Design your creative development journey. Business plan a freelance practice. Turn challenges into superpowers. Address gaps in skills and networks. Construct a sustainable future.

0 artists developed 🚀

Programme Design

For CIOs, CICs, art sector, individuals, and small organisations

Build new products, service and offers that meet local need, consult stakeholders, generate revenue and attract funding. Plan course or product life cycle using sustainable practices.

0 designed ✏️

Community Engagement

Connect authentically with new and existing communities, involve them on their terms

Design engagement frameworks that build trust, foster participation, and create meaningful (longitudinal?) relationships. Multiply your reach and impact while supporting local initiatives.

0 campaigns 📢

Peer Support Systems

Decentralised resilience; horizontal mutual aid

Create sustainable Peer Support structures that maximise skill/resource sharing. Enable communities, campaigns, cultural orgs and social enterprises to pool knowledge, contacts and reach.

0 partnerships ↔️

Stakeholder Boards

Vital voices inform design, delivery and eval

Set up engaging, accessible, representative oversight. Leverage key community figures to multiply reach, improve programming, embed continuous evaluation. De-silo partnerships. Vertical communication.

0 boards advised 🏛️

Book an Intro Call

Case Studies

Sibling Arts CIC

£1.05M+ raised across arts, public health & human rights funders, £4M press/media impact, platforming artists in 21 countries across theatre, film, talks & exhibitions.

Sibling Arts CIC

As co-director, raised over £1.05M for frontline artists, delivering £4M in press/media impact.

Raised £585k core & £482k project funding
Delivered programmes to 3,100+ participants & 22,000 live audiences
Public health & policy impact, global visibility

Pepa Duarte

Bid writing, reporting and evaluation for Pepa Duarte, Peruvian actor-dramaturg and mentor. Raised £72k to launch her first UK tour and expand participatory pedagogy.

Pepa Duarte

Bid writing, reporting and evaluation to scale touring and pedagogy.

£72k raised, shows in 12 theatres
Connected shows, community workshops & artist mentoring into a holistic practice
Powerful impact capture, promo videos, evaluation decks.

BOP Jazz Theatre

Bidwriter via Sasolo and engagement advisor to Dolly Henry MBE’s Jazz Dance Theatre initiative. Raised £80k for 20yr anniversary festival & UK schools programme.

Body of People - Jazz Dance Theatre

Bid writing, programme development, community engagement design. Via Sasolo Arts & Development.

£80k raised, festival & UK tour secured
Informed engagement model for schools
Festival platformed 50+ Black jazz artists

Land Skills Fair

Strategic development, impact capture and audience planning for a land-and-culture festival. Raised £30k, secured legacy, and scaled participation through clear targets and comms.

Land Skills Fair

Strategy, audience development and impact framework.

£30k raised
Legacy secured; 500 participants engaged
Delivered with 100 artists + 100 volunteers

Śūnya Company

Business development and funding strategy for a futurist music-theatre company. Clarified programmes and positioning, unlocking new partners while strengthening creative development support.

Śūnya Company

Funding strategy, programme clarity and mentorship.

£50k funding accessed
2,000 audience reached; 500 participants engaged
Programmes clarified; first musical supported

Power Up London

Peer development programme design for 60 social enterprises led by diverse founders. Built skill-sharing and pitching support, culminating in an investor showcase with curated introductions.

Power Up London

Peer learning, networks and investor readiness.

Supported 60 social enterprises
Built peer support + networking systems
Delivered pitching training + investor showcase

Hidden Artist Network

Co-designed a training course: visioning, curriculum, workshops, and practical workbooks. Strengthened regional facilitation capacity and secured sustainable funding for multi-year delivery.

Hidden Artist Network

Curriculum co-design, resources and delivery planning.

Trained dozens of Midlands artists
Developed 5 co-facilitators + 5 expert mentors
Multi-year funding secured

Client Reviews

"Alex transformed our approach to grant applications. We secured £250k in funding within six months."

Our organisation was struggling to articulate our impact and connect with funder priorities. We needed a strategic approach to diversify our income streams.

Alex worked with us to develop compelling narratives, map our partnerships, and create accessible budgeting frameworks. The result was not just successful funding, but a clearer vision of our mission and impact.

— Sarah Mitchell, Community Arts Initiative

"The mentorship program completely changed my career trajectory. I now have a sustainable freelance practice."

As a creative professional, I was struggling to turn my passion into a viable business. I needed guidance on business planning and skill development.

Alex helped me identify my strengths, address skill gaps, and create a roadmap for sustainable growth. The business plan we developed together gave me the confidence to take the leap into full-time freelance work.

— James Chen, Independent Filmmaker

"Our programme design is now more inclusive and effective. Alex's participatory approach made all the difference."

We wanted to redesign our community engagement programmes to better serve marginalised voices and create lasting change.

Alex facilitated a comprehensive redesign process that involved our community members at every stage. The new programme structure ensures diverse voices shape our strategy and outcomes, leading to more meaningful impact.

— Maria Rodriguez, Social Impact CIC

"The strategic planning process gave us clarity and direction we'd been missing for years."

Our CIO needed a comprehensive strategic plan that aligned our mission, activities, and funding strategy.

Alex guided us through a thorough strategic planning process, helping us articulate our vision, set clear objectives, and create actionable roadmaps. The plan has become our north star for decision-making and growth.

— David Thompson, Arts Development Trust

"Alex's expertise in partnership mapping opened doors we didn't know existed."

We needed to build strategic partnerships but weren't sure how to identify and approach potential collaborators effectively.

Through partnership mapping and strategic networking support, Alex helped us identify key stakeholders, understand mutual benefits, and establish meaningful collaborations that have significantly expanded our reach and impact.

— Emma Wilson, Creative Collective

Organisations I've Worked With

Arts Council England

Royal Opera House

Open Society Foundations

Dutch Ministry of Justice & Security

Sasolo Arts & Development

Amnesty International

Nest Collective

LGBTQ+ Rights Organisations

Big Issue Invest

BOP Jazz Dance Theatre

The Strategy Pipeline

Strategise is about connecting resources, relationships, and vision. Explore how these elements flow together to create sustainable change.

→ → → ↻

1. Listen

Understanding the context, needs & perspectives of stakeholders.
Actively listening to protagonists, partners, communities & the environment.

Active Listening – patient inquiry, define the problem in your words, echo back my understanding
Internal Research – learning, review existing documents, project plans, budgets, timelines, however messy/organised.
External research – identifying good references inc. project / sector / market indicators
Consultation – capture named/anonymous feedback from team members, staff, service users, clients if required
Baseline – review existing mission, objectives, outputs, outcomes, formats, KPOs, KPIs, pathways, dependencies

2. Vision

Articulating clear outputs & outcomes within the theory of change.
Building a 360 degree plan that covers all bases. Managing expectations.

High Level Context – multi year perspective, where does this piece of work fit in the whole?
Defining success – “What does success look like?” “Where do we want to get to?”
Targets – measurables, opportunities, audiences, communities, partnerships, funders, mentors
Workplan – capacity mapping, assigning roles, outputs, deadlines, dependencies, planning any residencies or intensives
Leveraging templates – Google Sheets, Google Docs, Canva, brand guidelines or setting up my own Project Management Software

3. Implement

Putting planning into action in a transparent, methodical format.
Clearly signposting of moments for taking stock & feeding in.

Delivery – creating materials, modelling, budgeting, designing, copywriting, rudimentary software
Communicating – building basic websites, impact reports, pitch decks, roadmaps
Hosting – strategy sessions, team development, residencies, intensives
Plumbing – doing the slow build of new systems & frameworks
Documenting – ensuring all new systems are well documented for future collaborators

4. Test

Piloting new approaches, gathering feedback, validating assumptions. Iterating based on real-world results.

Review 1 – comprehensive feedback, any structural changes, missing areas, quality control
Edit 1 – big rewrites, redesigns, strategic pivots, quality control, references & sourcing
Review 2 – minor changes, language, presentation, aesthetics, sizes, export formats
Pilot programs – roll out to the team, test it in action, Quality of Life improvements
Collate feedback – qualitative/quantitative, accessible formats, bespoke approaches
Focus Groups – test on participants/clients/service users if/as applicable for real world feedback

5. Reflect

Learning from experience, documenting insights, visioning next steps.
Building institutional memory, embedding lessons. Unexpected learnings?

Handover – All assets and deliverables, documentation, IP, templates
Evaluation – Reflection sessions, debriefs, interviews, anonymous submissions
Impact Assessment – Stats, hits, reach, views, listens, sales, satisfaction
Lessons Learned – Proactive documentation, collective diary
Next Steps – Embedding continuous journey, how will tools be implemented, prepare for next cycle.

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