"Chasing Impact" with Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken

03/06/22 • 41 min

Chasing Impact - The MzN International Podcast

This is the third and final episode of a 3-part short podcast series in which MzN MD Chris Meyer zu Natrup and Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Principal Consultant at Five Oaks Consulting, engage in candid, thought-provoking - and somewhat provocative - conversations about the future of the nonprofit sector and the mindsets and mental models that shape the organisations of today.
In part 3, “Chasing Impact", they ask themselves if nonprofits can truly make
and measure the impact they set out to achieve. They explore why some organisations do not
create the impact they desire despite the time and expenses they invest in their programs and
what they can do to create a more learning- and evidence-driven culture.
Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken bio: Tosca has worked on international development and civil society issues for 30 years, in practice, in academia and as an independent consultant. Her work with INGO leaders focuses on governance, change management, organizational culture, leadership development and organizational effectiveness of INGOs. While her practitioner background was mainly grounded in the international development sector, her research, senior leadership development as well as change management work has focused on clients across a multitude of sectors. Tosca is a public thought leader and co-author of the book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ and host of the podcast NGO Soul+Strategy. She also founded an online course on virtual team leadership skills. The name of Tosca’s consulting practice, Five Oaks Consulting, is a translation of her difficult-to-pronounce Dutch last name. :-)
You can find the links to Tosca's services, podcast, blog and co-authored book here:

Five Oaks overall consulting + coaching profile: https://5oaksconsulting.org/
Podcast NGO Soul+Strategy: https://5oaksconsulting.org/podcast/
Tosca's co-authored book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (2020, Oxford Uni Press, with George Mitchell, Hans Peter Schmitz as co-authors and Barney Tallack as a contributor): https://5oaksconsulting.org/book/
Online course offering: Post-Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Skill Essentials
Tosca's blog posts as well as those of guest bloggers: https://5oaksconsulting.org/thoughtleadership/
Tosca offers speaking engagements to staff, senior leadership teams and/or boards: https://5oaksconsulting.org/thoughtleadership/

Her full, fee- and cohort-based course "Post-Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Essentials" is now also open for enrollment!: https://5oaks.teachable.com/p/virtual-leadership-course - Five Oaks wants you to experience what it’s like to once again find joy in your team leadership!
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Intro Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/fugu-vibes/spatial
License code: BG4G1RNDTFTEOLEX

Five Oaks overall consulting + coaching profile: https://5oaksconsulting.org/
Podcast NGO Soul+Strategy: https://5oaksconsulting.org/podcast/
Tosca's co-authored book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (2020, Oxford Uni Press, with George Mitchell, Hans Peter Schmitz as co-authors and Barney Tallack as a contributor): https://5oaksconsulting.org/book/
Online course offering: Post-Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Skill Essentials
Tosca's blog posts as well as those of guest bloggers: https://5oaksconsulting.org/thoughtleadership/
Tosca offers speaking engagements to staff, senior leadership teams and/or boards: https://5oaksconsulting.org/thoughtleadership/

Previous Episode

Starting an NGO - Lessons from War Child Deutschland

In this episode of Chasing Impact, MzN Senior Consultant Carolin Gomulia interviews Lydia Sleifir from War Child Deutschland about what it was like to start an NGO. Lydia founded War Child Deutschland in 2019 together with Dannie Quilitzsch. The duo ran the organisation as a joint directorship team while both working part-time. They can look back on almost three successful, but also challenging, years.
In this episode, Lydia talks about:
- the decision to found War Child Deutschland
- how to get funding for a start-up NGO
- the major obstacles she experienced to getting funding
- what she would have done differently in hindsight
- what it was like to start the NGO as part of a duo, together with Dannie
- the key takeaways from her three years as War Child executive director
Who is Lydia Sleifir?
Lydia was one of the founders of War Child Deutschland and one of the managing directors. Her role at War Child Deutschland is to manage international relations and partnerships, programmes, human resources, finance, controlling and operations. She gained her experience in the development cooperation and humanitarian aid at Plan International Germany and, prior to founding War Child, worked as a consultant.
Find out more about War Child Deutschland: https://www.warchild.de/
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Intro music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/fugu-vibes/spatial
License code: QVQSL5BFELRJ2OS8

Next Episode

"The NGO of the Future": Insights from Stephanie Draper, Chief Executive of Bond UK

In this episode of Chasing Impact, Chris interviews Stephanie Draper, Chief Executive of Bond, the UK network for (now over 400) organisations working in international development. He challenges her with the following questions to which she provides some compelling responses:

How likely it is to achieve the SDGs in less than 8 years left - is it even possible?
Bond provides a space for MPs, NGOs and other actors in the development sector to gather new ideas and respond to challenges. But is talking really enough?
There is such a huge funding gap, and it's getting worse. How do you see this as solvable?
What exactly is the role of business and investors? Should they be working more with NGOs? Or donate more? Outsiders looking on might get the impression that they are doing their own thing. Is that the case?
What does the NGO of the future look like for you?
What is the future of BOND, in your opinion?
And, as a leader, how do you stay balanced while continually improving?

MzN is proud of its partnership with Bond. We offer Bond members joint webinars, blog articles and Sprints. Find out more about our partnership and sign up for our upcoming webinars here: https://mzninternational.com/2021/09/08/our-bond-uk-partnership-continues/ We look forward to seeing you there!
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Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. It was founded in 1993 with 61 members. Now it unites over 400 organisations, ranging from small specialist charities to large international NGOs with a worldwide presence. Bond aims to connect, strengthen and champion a dynamic network of diverse civil society organisations to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
Stephanie Draper is Bond's chief executive. She has spent over 20 years working to accelerate a just and sustainable future, with a focus on sustainable development. She brings extensive international experience in bringing sectors together to collaborate and shape a better future.
Find out more about Bond: https://www.bond.org.uk/about-us

Find out more about Stephanie: https://www.bond.org.uk/person/stephanie-draper