Clearer strategy. Stronger teams. Better fundraising and marketing.
I'm Paul McKenzie. Through Giant Steps, I help charities work out where fundraising can grow, make confident decisions, and build the leadership, capability and communications to deliver.
Chief executives, fundraising leaders and trustees deciding what comes next
Whether that means growing income, changing direction, sharpening how you tell your story, strengthening a team or supporting the people who lead it.
What should we prioritise, and what should we stop doing?
Have we got the right team, structure and skills?
How do I become a more effective and confident leader?
How we can work together
Four ways in, depending on the question you are holding.
01 · Fundraising reviews and strategy
Where should we focus — and what will it take to grow?
I help you understand your fundraising performance, identify credible opportunities and make decisions about priorities, investment and the team you need. Together, we turn those decisions into a strategy your organisation can put into practice.
Fundraising reviews and opportunity assessments
Fundraising strategies and delivery plans
Team structure, skills and investment recommendations
Income and investment projections, with expected returns
A clear direction, with practical priorities and a realistic plan to deliver.
"He brought robust strategic thinking and a real ability to turn complexity into clear, practical recommendations."
Jamie Lynch Director of Development, MediCinema
02 · High-value fundraising and cases for support
How do we turn our ambitions into something people want to fund?
I help charities shape compelling funding opportunities and develop their approach to major donors, trusts and corporate partners. We connect what your organisation needs with what will motivate people to give, then plan how to build those relationships.
Cases for support and funding propositions
Philanthropy, trusts and corporate fundraising development
Major appeals and giving programmes
Donor cultivation and stewardship planning
Messaging, brand and supporter communications where they shape the ask
A compelling reason to give, supported by a clear approach to building lasting relationships.
"We now have a clear and focused strategic direction, with stronger foundations in areas like major gifts, case for need, supporter journeys and use of data."
Angela Grimes Princess Alice Hospice
03 · Fundraising leadership team development
How do we lead well together — and bring out the best in our teams?
I work with fundraising directors and their leadership teams to strengthen how they make decisions, work across disciplines and lead through others. Through a continuing programme, we tackle real challenges and put new approaches into practice between sessions.
Quarterly facilitated leadership sessions
Shared priorities, leadership behaviours and accountability
Preparation and check-ins with the fundraising director
Individual mentoring and focused training where useful
A leadership team with shared purpose, clearer expectations and stronger ways of working together.
"His ability to ask exactly the right questions, challenge in just the right way, and also know when things need to be celebrated is invaluable."
Claire Bavister Client, strategic planning and mentoring
04 · Individual leadership mentoring
Where can I think openly, work through challenges and develop as a leader?
I offer charity leaders a trusted space to step back, test their thinking and work through the situations they face. Our sessions combine honest challenge, reflection and practical support, grounded in experience of doing the job.
A structured programme of six individual sessions
Objectives shaped around your role and ambitions
Support with strategy, influence, delegation and difficult conversations
Practical actions and reflection between sessions
Greater clarity about what your role needs from you, and confidence in how you lead.
"His encyclopaedic knowledge of the sector has been immensely valuable — his realistic, but positive attitude resonated well with me."
Jenny Martin Mentoring client
Take one, or combine a few.
Some clients want a single piece of work. Others build something broader over time. Either is fine, and we can start as small as one focused session — an away day, a planning workshop, or training on fundraising, marketing or management — built around a specific challenge.
Fundraising consultant, mentor and founder of Giant Steps.
I'm a Scot, a dad and a fundraiser with more than 20 years in the charity sector and consultancy experience supporting almost 40 charities.
I've led fundraising and marketing at Teenage Cancer Trust and Depaul UK, headed up philanthropy and partnerships at Battersea, and held an interim leadership role at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. My wider career includes Action for Children, Age UK and Launchpad.
I understand the responsibility of delivering income, building teams and making difficult decisions — because I've held it myself.
Through Giant Steps, I help charities develop fundraising strategies, build high-value programmes and strengthen their leadership. I work with individual leaders and whole teams, bringing experience from organisations with very different causes, ambitions and resources.
I believe better fundraising starts with creating the conditions for people to do their best work. Clear priorities, thoughtful investment, good leadership and honest conversations all matter. So does giving people the support and freedom to grow.
I care about helping leaders become more confident in their own judgement. I'll listen, ask questions and challenge where it helps. I believe kindness includes saying the thing someone needs to hear, with care and a willingness to help them work through it.
Expect warmth, straight talking and some laughter. We can take the work seriously without taking ourselves quite so seriously.
And the name?
People often ask about the clever brand story behind Giant Steps. Sadly, it's not quite what you might hope for from a fundraising and marketing consultant. My son and I named it because I'm 6 foot 8. That was pretty much the creative brief. He's now my unofficial non-executive director, so at least someone's holding me to account.
"He knows how to balance pragmatism with pushing leadership teams to think differently about their income and engagement opportunities — and is just as comfortable coaching and advising smaller charities as larger ones."
Julie Wilson-Dodd, Transformation and Strategy Consultant
What working with me feels like
Warm, honest and practical.
I ask the right questions, challenge in the right way, and help turn discussion into decisions — so progress feels both ambitious and achievable.
He really took the time to get to know our organisation and get under the skin of how we work — so that his ideas were ones that landed in the right context.
Helen Undy OBE Chief Executive, Money and Mental Health
Working with Paul is energising, fun, full of humour, insightful, and makes you feel like you are the most important thing for him.
Simon McKenzie Chief Executive, Bridge Institute
He helped us have a higher level of ambition for fundraising income, but was also flexible and supportive about how we could achieve this with limited budget.
Emily Frith Chief Executive, Adoption UK
Listen
I talk about this work out loud, too.
Conversations on fundraising strategy, leadership and what actually helps charities grow — the same questions I work through with clients, thought out loud.
On LinkedIn
Random thoughts, most weeks.
Video and writing on fundraising, leadership and the bits of the job people do not usually say out loud. All of them, and the rest, are on LinkedIn.
My consultancy, mentoring, marketing and team development work has supported charities of different sizes and causes.
Adoption UK
Age UK
Bridge Institute
Buttle UK
Centrepoint
Cool Earth
Crohn's & Colitis UK
Depaul Ireland
Designability
Dogs Trust
Forward
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
Imperial Health Charity
Independent Age
James' Place
Make-A-Wish UK
MediCinema
Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
PACEY
PACT
Princess Alice Hospice
RAF Benevolent Fund
Riding for the Disabled Association
Ronald McDonald House Charities UK
Safer London
Spurgeons
St George's Hospital Charity
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
The Children's Society
TimeGivers
Wellbeing of Women
Some assignments are delivered in partnership with other consultants.
Who I work with
A personal relationship, with the right expertise around it.
Giant Steps is led by me, Paul McKenzie. You work directly with me, and where an assignment benefits from additional expertise or capacity, I bring in trusted colleagues.
Jenny Crabtree
Navigate
A public fundraising specialist and founder of Navigate Fundraising, known for transforming public fundraising performance and building high-performing teams. She has led multimillion-pound portfolios — growing public income at Battersea from £1m to £20m — and worked with Comic Relief, Scope, English Heritage, SeeAbility and Buttle UK.
Paul Gillespie
Giving is Good
Founder of Giving is Good and a senior high-value fundraising consultant, specialising in philanthropy, major appeals and cases for support for complex institutions.
Paul Brown
Paul Brown Communications
A charity communications consultant and founder of Paul Brown Communications, bringing brand, messaging and storytelling expertise to strategy and review work.
The team is shaped around the brief. From the outset, clients know who is involved, what each person brings and who is responsible for delivery.
Let's work out what comes next.
You might have a clear brief. You might simply know that something needs to change.
I can help you understand the challenge, make the important decisions and work out how to move forward.
