Beverley aims to help charities thrive and works exclusively in the not-for-profit sector, establishing her own consultancy Kirkmillan Consulting in 2015. She starts where you are and takes you where you need to be. She will be with you in a crisis, or through change, doing what is needed quickly, sleeves up, no judgement, with lots of compassion.
Her philosophy is that she will only do what is needed and leave you able to do it yourself next time. Beverley can help you to plan strategically and operationally, and to build the right models of delivery to meet the needs of your organisation and the people you seek to serve. She will support you to build capacity and confidence in creating new partnerships or mend the ones that are broken. Beverley can help you to strengthen the story of what you do, to better demonstrate impact and to secure new and more diverse sources of income.
Beverley sometimes supports specific projects or programme of work to support change or improvement, change management is her speciality. She also provides interim management services, stepping in when there is a gap in your leadership team or working alongside a leader that needs support for a time. Beverley is an experienced mentor of third sector leaders and aspiring leaders, building confidence and resilience. Beverley works with others to develop your leadership team. Share your pain and she will no doubt have felt it herself and will tell you how she can help.
Beverley works with charities of all shapes and sizes, and across a range of sectors, from UK wide organisations to small local community-based organisations and community groups.
She is a member of ACOSVO and offers pro bono mentoring to Chief Executives as part of its mentoring service to members and is also one of their preferred providers in the ACOSVO Interim Executive Service.
Beverley enjoys a wide ranging portfolio of clients, and some of her work has included;
• Business Development Consultancy with UK Charity Volunteering Matters
• Change Manager in the intermediary body, Borders Third Sector Interface, leading work to re-invigorate and re- shape strategy, develop a new delivery plan and partnership structure to deliver it
• Interim Director, Project Scotland, securing business growth as well as overseeing the transition to a new organisation following a merger with Volunteering Matters
• Developed and delivered an Agile Leadership Development Programme for the senior team in Creative Commons
• Interim CEO, in the intermediary body Falkirk CVS during a leadership absence
• Significant role as Interim Director / Change Manager in the women’s movement, at Glasgow and Clyde Rape
Crisis, leading a programme of transformation and change
• Undertook an in-depth independent review of governance at a Camphill service following a “crisis moment”
• Providing mentoring to the senior team at Partners in Advocacy, a charity that supports people to secure thier rights
• Interim Manager at Advocard, a mental health advocacy charity, requiring support during the absence of their leader, including managing a significant period of change and improvement.
• Delivering a mentoring offer in the Making Work Work programme for women returners delivered with the Challenges Group, supporting women to return to work after a break.
M. A. (Hons) Sociology and Politics
Postgraduate Diploma in Housing Administration
Beverley enjoyed an early career in social housing i Scottish Homes, across a range of discplines, including community development, housing management, development, and policy. Moving on from the national housing agency, her housing career culminated in a role as Director of a housing association in need of a turnaround.
She entered government in 1999 and undertook a range of roles in both the Scottish and UK Government for many years. This exposed her to diverse policy areas including housing, civil law, employability, welfare reform, and substance use policy. She also spent time in HR policy, specialising in equality and diversity. She was Director Scotland of the lottery distributor, the New Opportunities Fund, leading the organisation into a merger to form the BIG Lottery. In all these roles, Beverley has been an advocate for the third sector providing funding and infrastructre support as well as being a policy maker.
Beverley established Kirkmillan Consulting in 2015, bringing her considerable political acuity and strategic strength into the third sector. Beverley is also Chair of Lifecare (Edinburgh) and has served on many Boards. She volunteers in the third sector and has always offered pro bono support as part of her portfolio.
Her consultancy has considerable experience of change management, governance, strategy formation and delivery.