mcgarry consulting

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SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

SOCIAL POLICY

We try to help causes, individuals and organisations that inspire us. People who make this world a little bit brighter, more interesting or challenge the status quo and stand up for others. We aim to give 7% of our net profits and over 200 hours volunteering each year.

Some of the organisations we’ve supported recently include: Concern; Girls Gotta Run, Ethiopia; Liberty; Little Stars School, India; Livelihood Project: Empower Women in Ghana; Tiny Life; Trees for the Future and Wikipedia.

We’ve coached and/or been on committees for 25 years, so we practice what we preach. In 2017, Liam McGarry, founder of McGarry Consulting, was nominated for Sport NI Community Coach of the Year, having been Athletics NI Volunteer of the Year. Previously, Liam was Chair of Bredagh GAC, co-founded Belfast Running Club, founded Belfast Falcons, helped set-up Jog Belfast and on the Management Committee of Rosario YFC (the largest amateur football club in NI). He was also on the Games Organising Committee of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games and the 2006 Special Olympic Ireland National Games; and was a mentor with Young Enterprise NI.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Louis Armstrong had it right, what a beautiful world. We’re keen to keep it that way and welcome any advice people can give us. For our part, we strive by five simple steps:

1. Lead by example. Use common-sense to reduce, recycle and re-use where you can; and prioritise environmentally friendly and/or ethically sourced goods where you can.

2. Go paperless. We don’t print documents. We encourage technology and recycled paper where required.

3. Use technology. Skype and similar services can greatly reduce the need for travel and low value meetings. Free services like Google Drive, Doodle, Dropbox, Sli.do etc can make sharing documents, arranging meetings, and answering questions much more efficient.

4. Be pro-active. Learn from others, work with partners and try to promote adoption of more environmentally friendly practices.

5. Plant trees. We want a positive legacy, and the most effective and enjoyable way for us to do that was to plant trees. We’ve sponsored parts of our local forest and plant 100 trees through Trees for the Future for every new project we get. 

FRESH THINKING & notable FIRSTS IN NI

BEING BOLD

People are attracted to nice things, bright things, interesting things. We want our reports to be interesting, our consultations engaging and our work highly thought of. How many reports are too long or repeat the same old text? How many reports go unloved and/or unread? Who reads beyond the executive summary?

We pride ourselves on our independence, freshness of approach and willingness to try new ideas. This involves more time, more thought and can scare people used to the status quo. But why regurgitate what we already know? We’ve been making our reports smaller, more visual and incorporate new media and technology where we can (e.g. use of video, drones). Ideas welcome

Finally, we like to be straight up with clients. If we say we’re going to do this project, then the people mentioned will work on it for the days mentioned. The lead contact will be the person at all the meetings and you will have the personal mobile to call at any time. Who you see is who you get.

FIRST FOR FUNDING & INNOVATION

McGarry Consulting have pioneered many new projects and programmes in NI; as well as scoring some notable firsts:

• Project managed the Orchardville Society’s 3-year £3m+ ESF (EU funding) application that scored 179/180, ranking first in NI. We also addressed queries to ensure maximum funds were obtained quickly

• Created and delivered the first Digital Media Mentoring and Business Development programme run in NI. This provided extensive support for over 10 creative industry start-ups in Belfast, and surpassed all targets

• Created the first Community Development & Training Model in NI on behalf of Coleraine Borough Council. This covered the entire spectrum for someone raising a local issue through to growing a sustainable social economy business

• Brought in to expedite European Fisheries Funding in NI, and enable the first ever FLAG funding in NI (funding for local fishing communities) to be released. Our business case and work enabled €3m to be distributed to over 20 local projects.   

• Completed over 100 (green book) economic appraisals, quality assurance and training. This led to McGarry Consulting being used an expert witness in a legal case involving EU funding and economic appraisals

• Worked with The John Hewitt Society to create their first ever 3-year strategy and action plan. This helped them bring on more staff, move to bigger premises, secure funding, clarify roles and improve their governance