A day in the life of Snowdrop's CEO
"Sometimes I feel like I’ve done an entire day’s work before I even get to the office!
My day starts with taking my gorgeous labrador, River, for a morning walk at 7am. Sometimes she behaves, sometimes she chases cats. Most days, I get to have 30 minutes of calm, listening to the birds sing and feeling the morning sun on my face. After my walk, I head back home to check how my kids are doing getting themselves ready for school. My husband has usually left for the gym by the time I get back, and now that my kids are 10 and 12, there isn’t as much hurrying along as there is checking to make sure they’ve not missed anything. I say goodbye to my oldest and put my youngest’s hair into a ponytail before walking her up to school and getting the tram to work.
I always check my email on the way in, mostly to head off anything urgent that will need addressing as soon as I arrive, or to see if there's any good news, such as funding applications that have come through or good news from clients.
When I get to the office, my first 30 minutes is always a coffee and a quick check in with my Senior Team. This is an opportunity for them to grab me about any issues and to discuss our priorities for the day or week, making sure that we are all on the same page before getting on with the day.
Next, I’ll stop by our Toddlers group to see how it's going. This weekly group gives our clients the chance to meet other parents and socialise in a warm, welcoming environment. This week, we're down a volunteer, so I check in with the staff member running the group to see if they need some help. Luckily all is well - I say hello to the parents in the group, some of whom are familiar and some of whom are new. I stick around to sing the weather song: “it’s a rainy day, it’s a rainy day…”. Sometimes it’s hard for our clients to make it to activities like this, especially when the weather is less than pleasant. I also know what a balancing act it is financially, when you’re living on between £49.18 and £75 per week, and public transport to come to Snowdrop and back costs more than £5. We have been able to support with transport costs for all clients in the past, but have had to make cuts in recent years, which means we are only able to support those on the lowest incomes with their travel.
Working on our budget is up next, with my wonderful Head of Finance and Resource. It’s been a very tight few years and, with the cost of living crisis hitting everyone, it’s been a difficult fundraising climate. This has been exacerbated by rising costs across our services. We are keeping a close eye on things and planning for the future. Referrals to our support services were up by 166% in 2024 compared to 2023. We have never seen an increase in demand this steep, and the reality is that we simply can’t keep up with it. We also don’t have the finances to increase staff levels in order to meet the increase in demand. As a Senior Team, we are looking for solutions to that in the medium and long term. For now, we have to limit our services, and we sadly have to say no to some survivors, so that we can meaningfully support those we are working with now. Diluting our approach and spreading our frontline staff across more and more clients is not an option, when we know the dedicated work and support it takes to see recovery and independence. The budget meeting has left us feeling determined to put plans in place and rise to our current challenges.
Suddenly, it seems that the morning has disappeared and it’s already lunch time. It’s important to step away from my desk and actually take a break at lunch. We really encourage this at Snowdrop, and our Head of Fundraising always asks the most interesting questions. If you’re new to Snowdrop, the question is always about what you would eat for your last three-course meal. Today, her question is: if your pet was a person, what kind of shoes would they wear? I think River would wear trail running shoes. Not the kind with toes though, she’s not pretentious. Allowing yourself time for breaks is important self-care. It’s all about pacing yourself, like you would in a workout or a race, so you can make it to the finish line. And I’ll happily talk about what shoes my dog would wear for a bit of light relief when there is so much going on in the world.
After lunch, I work on a presentation for the next team meeting about our strategy for the next three years, trying to translate the vision and challenges into actionable steps that will enable us to achieve our goals. It’s been a lot of work: gathering feedback, organising away days with the team and our Board, consolidating our vision and dreams into tangible actions, and getting everything signed off. I want the team to be excited and inspired about what we, collectively, want to achieve.
Next up, I have a fundraising meeting to go over the progress of our recent spring campaign. People are so incredibly generous, and our supporters have helped us exceed our fundraising target with a little less than a week to go. We discuss what went well over the course of the campaign (great engagement, meaningful storytelling and concrete impact), and what didn’t go so well (we maxed out our email quota in our CRM midway through the campaign and needed to purchase more emails, which delayed things a bit and may have cost us some momentum). Our fundraising strategy over the next three years is a major pillar of our strategy and, while we have a committed and incredible donor base, dedicated corporate supporters and a pipeline of activities and events planned, our focus for the next few years is going to be on widening our network.
Modern slavery is a complex and layered topic; the wider public don’t necessarily have a clear grasp on what it is, or what the impact is here in the UK. What we do find though, is that once people have the opportunity to learn about modern slavery, and our work with survivors, they are engaged and interested. To raise awareness of the issue, we've recently started offering Lunch and Learn sessions for businesses who wish to learn more. I spend the last part of the day discussing our new Lunch and Learn strategy with my team, including the three bookings we have already, as well as how we can use our contacts to expand that reach over the next year.
Now it’s nearly the end of the day and I'll begin to wind down. I try to organise my mind for tomorrow and mentally set things aside as I head home so that I can be present with my family.
It’s been 18 months since taking on the CEO role, and I can honestly say I love it. I love the ways I have grown and learned and been stretched this year. I love how I have seen the team grow and flourish, as well as the individuals we have supported - the victories and setbacks we have weathered together. I'm looking forward to setting out our next three years, including our goals and aspirations, and our desire to create a better future for survivors of modern slavery. Thank you for being with us on this journey."