A glimpse behind the scenes: How PwC teams work together on social impact

Allow us to introduce

• Wendy van Tol, Partner and Leader Sustainability Transformation
  Services
  Wendy has been with PwC since 2000 and represents PwC in the
  international Business Commission to Tackle Inequality (BCTI). She studied Organizational Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and helped NF mainly with positioning on social sustainability.

• Pauline Mbundu, Senior Manager, PwC Consulting, Portfolio and Program Management
  Pauline has been with PwC since 2008, wrote the proposal for NF, and was the project leader. She advises clients on social sustainability issues and helps them with strategic choices in areas such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities. She studied International Business Communication and Change Management & CSR at Radboud University.

• Femke de Ruiter, Consultant Regulatory Strategy and Transformation
  Femke has been with PwC since 2023, focusing specifically on social sustainability. She advised NF on both strategic and operational points. She studied International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam and International Political Economy at the University of Groningen. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

About the Project

The Amsterdam-based foundation Neighborhood Feminists is ambitious when it comes to promoting equality, specifically in the area of menstrual poverty. Despite achieving significant milestones in recent years, they are low on resources and capacity, which poses a challenge to achieving their vision and goals. PwC helped with a step-by-step plan for an executable strategy. Wendy: "It is incredibly inspiring to see the intrinsic drive of Neighborhood Feminists chair Tammy Sheldon and her team. The motivation runs deep, and the urge to sustainably solve the problem of menstrual poverty for the girls who need it most is strong. I believe in this way of contributing to a better world. Many companies can take a cue from how small foundations like theirs do this, with passion, drive, and real impact."

Document Research

Femke was in contact with the client throughout the project. "In the first phase, we had many conversations with NF to clearly identify the problem. We also spoke with NF's stakeholders to understand which organizations they collaborate with and how. To map this out, we conducted a so-called document research and clarified what we could do for the foundation and how we wanted to approach it. This approach included three workshops during which we addressed various subtopics together with NF, such as the foundation's focus, growth, and capacity issues."

Funding

According to Femke, these sessions were quite intensive and often took up an entire morning. "In each session, we discussed a specific topic, starting broadly with the mission and vision and then narrowing down to what the foundation really wanted to focus on. For example, we looked at funding and the parties NF had approached. We then looked at potential partners to approach in the market that they hadn't thought of yet. In the final workshop, we brought all the information together into a step-by-step plan with a clear division of roles for the NF team."

Pauline: "Our team was at its strongest when we developed solutions for NF's viability from different perspectives during the workshops. Like many nonprofits, it's about their financial survival every year. We helped with recalibrating their mission and vision, their governance, and their funding strategy. This gives them a better chance of long-term survival. That makes me proud."

Different Team Roles

Femke explains that "doing everything together" was very characteristic of the project. "Even the interviews with NF and the stakeholders were divided among us. As the contact person, I had a coordinating role, giving me an overall view of the project. Another colleague in the team knew more about planning and budgets, so they were responsible for that. It's also nice to mention that the senior managers always took the younger colleagues to the interviews and client meetings. I've been working at PwC for a year and a half now, and by going to NF and having in-depth conversations with them, I also gained more responsibility in a safe environment."

Read more about how menstruation stations increase productivity and equal opportunities in this article.