How Rank Foundation are supporting leadership and innovation to develop resilient charities
Investing in leaders and supporting innovation creates the conditions for charities to thrive, beyond short term grant funding.
Charities change communities for the better. At the heart of successful charities are leaders who have the resources, skills and confidence to innovate. Investing in these leaders and supporting innovation creates the conditions for charities to thrive, beyond short term grant funding.
This is the philosophy behind the partnership between The Rank Foundation and Social Enterprise Academy (the Academy) – a collaboration focused on supporting charity leaders to develop new income streams, strengthen their organisations and change their communities.
A Foundation built on relationships
The Rank Foundation is known for doing things differently. Not a traditional grant maker, it invests in long-term relationships with and between leaders, creating the trust and confidence that helps ideas grow over time.
Over the past decade, the Rank Network has evolved into a community of around 1,500 social sector leaders across the UK, connected through events, learning opportunities and networks.
“We’ve deliberately focused on developing that network,” explains Kai Wooder, Director of Programmes. “We bring as many people together as often as we can – conferences, learning events and programmes.”
Creating space to think beyond the grant cycle
Many charities spend years trapped between funding applications and crisis response.
“They’re often stuck in a grants cycle,” Kai says. “They’ve got ideas about generating income differently, but there’s no way they could take money from their core services just to try something new.”
Profit for Good was created to change that.
Delivered by Rank and the Academy, it gives charity leaders the chance to step away from day-to-day firefighting and explore enterprise ideas to strengthen their organisation for the long-term.
As well as a cohort-based programme of learning and support, participants receive:
- £10,000 seed funding to test an idea
- Action learning sets with external facilitators
- Matched funding for growth over three years
- A supportive group of peers that lasts well beyond the programme
“It’s quite a significant investment for us”, Kai says. “But the idea is to give leaders the resources and the space to try something new.”
The ideas themselves range widely. “Sometimes they’re simple – like renovating a spare room so it can be hired out,” Kai explains. “We’ve had someone buy a lake and put paddle boards on it.”
Why the partnership with the Academy matters
Delivering a programme like Profit for Good requires more than funding; it requires the right learning environment.
“When it came down to working with groups, you need more than the resources; you need the engagement piece. You need the charisma to hold people’s attention, and the flexibility to adapt to the cohort.”
Kai continues, “The Academy is a credible organisation that is relatable and flexible, with really good resources,” Kai says. “Anyone we’ve interacted with has been personable and knowledgeable. We are true partners in the work; we can pick up the phone and have conversations. We can change things as we need to.”
Learning that meets leaders where they are
Within Profit for Good, the Academy provides a structured learning journey for the cohort beginning at an in-person launch event, where participants meet each other and begin the journey together.
“That first session is in person,” Kai explains. “The group meet the facilitator and start building relationships.” After that, the learning continues online over several months.
For Rank, the flexibility of the Academy’s facilitation is key.
“We have a strong relationship with the facilitator. We know she has the expertise to change the session or the content if needed to work with the group,” says Kai.
That adaptability ensures the programme never feels like a tick-box exercise. “It’s about getting the best out of the group, and making it meaningful,” Kai says.
Supporting leaders in a sector under pressure
From the financial crash to the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and global instability, the past 15 years have been turbulent for the charity sector.
“The sector is really struggling,” Kai says.
Leaders often spend their time firefighting immediate challenges rather than investing in long-term sustainability.
And when margins are tight, experimenting with new ideas can feel impossible. “It’s really unlikely boards will free up £10,000 or £20,000 just to try something,” Kai explains.
We create the space and provide the right resources to energise the leader,” Kai says. “Fatigue and burnout are very prevalent.”
By combining funding, learning and peer support, Rank helps leaders rediscover the creativity that brought them into the sector in the first place.
Lightbulb moments that reframe profit
Participants from the 2025 cohort have shared their own stories of participating in Profit for Good, and a key theme emerges – that profit has felt uncomfortable for social entrepreneurs, but it is essential for impact,
“Grant funding is getting harder to secure. I realised something had to shift. After 35 years in the charity sector, I needed a mindset change. Profit for Good helped me see that trading and charitable work can sit side by side,” shares Richy Duggan of Bike Recycling Hub
Laura Brewis of We Make Culture agrees, “Charging for things has always felt a bit alien, almost compromising. Understanding that earning money doesn’t undermine our values has been huge.”
Clare Ayman, of Sunshine Co-operative sums it up nicely. She shares “I’ve learned that financial sustainability isn’t separate from social impact – it’s part of it.”
The journey continues
For Kai, the most powerful stories from Profit for Good are still emerging – she’s looking forward to seeing the onward journeys of the leaders and their charities.
“I’m interested to see stories of organisations whose income increased 20% or 30% as a result of being on the programme,” she says.
But she’s equally interested in the struggles along the way, because real change rarely happens overnight. Kai shares, “We want to know what’s been hard and what’s been learned.”
Over time the Academy and Rank have built a trust-based partnership that creates better outcomes because they work flexibly together and alongside leaders.
At its core, the partnership is about creating space for innovation. It’s about resourcing innovative leadership in communities and sectors facing the toughest challenges.
By investing in leadership, learning and experimentation, Rank is helping those leaders build stronger, more resilient organisations. Through its partnership with Social Enterprise Academy, those ideas are given the support they need to take root.
If you are interested in finding out more or exploring leadership development programmes to support the leaders who are driving social change, please contact [email protected]
About the Rank Foundation
The Rank Foundation works in communities across the UK to encourage leaders, develop entrepreneurial mindsets and form strong networks that improve life.
Founded in 1953 by the flour miller and film maker Arthur Rank, the Foundation is built on his enterprising spirit, commitment to community, and Christian faith.
During his lifetime, Arthur Rank, later Lord Rank, spotted opportunities to innovate – such as gaining exclusive rights to xerography or ‘photocopying’ outside the US and Canada – to grow a multi-million-pound empire. Since the founder’s death, the Foundation has donated more than £250 million to communities across the UK.
Today Rank’s thriving Network of around 1,500 community leaders work to tackle society’s challenges in the communities they cherish. The Foundation builds deep and lasting relationships of support with its Network members, going beyond traditional funding to philanthropy based on mutual respect, trust and empathy.