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When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the war quickly spread nearly to the steps of Oliver Wyman’s office in Warsaw. And the impact touched colleagues around the world.

Drawing on their Oliver Wyman training, education, leadership, and empathy, colleagues addressed a range of needs, collecting donations, supplies and toys for refugee families, organizing places for refugees to stay, mobilizing the Oliver Wyman refugee employment program, and stepping up to put systems in place to organize global efforts to help Ukraine. Marsh McLennan activated a giving opportunity for colleagues with a commitment of matching funds that quickly raised over $1.4 million for three charities working on the ground in Ukraine. As one colleague in Warsaw said: “We knew we had to take action, do something, to stop the feeling of powerlessness.”

This is the story of Oliver Wyman’s response to a war that changed the world.

Charity auctions have long been an important part of Oliver Wyman’s culture. Partners, consultants, and support professionals regularly rally their networks to contribute valuable and often unique auction items — and then throw a party to bid on the goods. The afterglow from these nights of joyful giving lasts long past the final bids.

At the center of the action is Rich Yannaco, a partner in Oliver Wyman’s Boston office, who has volunteered his well-practiced auctioneering voice for these occasions for almost three decades. Rich helped organize the first Oliver Wyman charity auction in his hometown in 1994. When he picked up the mic to whip up some excitement, he suddenly had a job for life.

Since then, charity auctions have rippled across Oliver Wyman offices around the world, many inspired by Rich and his work in Boston, and those auctions, in turn, prompting more. Each office has developed its own auction tradition and style, and together, they amount to an outpouring of the connections, creativity, competitiveness, and deep generosity at the heart of the firm’s culture.

Rich says he first became intrigued by auctioneers when a buddy from college invited him to his company’s industrial auction. The secret to the charity auction, he says, is more than a rapid-fire voice, but also learning to read the crowd, plan for spontaneity, and tell a few corny jokes.

You see who's excited, who's listening, and who's not listening. People want to be engaged

For example, if someone donates a dinner for 12 people, Rich will ask the donor ahead of time to do a second dinner if bidding reaches a certain amount. Then, during the auction, when bidding gets hot, he seemingly surprises the audience by publicly pressuring the donor to offer a second dinner to double the bids. “During the auction, when the price hits that amount, I say, ‘I can't believe it! You'll do another one, won't you, won't, you, won't you?’ So it seems like I'm pressuring the donor, but I already have the answer,” he says.

His tactics have been successful. Over 28 years in seven North American cities, Oliver Wyman auctions have brought in more than $5.6 million for charity. And while people love to bid on luxury beach vacations and high-end steakhouse dinners, the most popular items are all about connections among Oliver Wyman colleagues. That is, dinners hosted by Oliver Wyman partners. Rich, for example, donates each year an Italian dinner for 12 that he delivers to the winning bidder’s home, arriving with a chef’s apron and serving up an eight-course meal.

But more special to Rich is what he calls “raise your paddle,” a point near the end of the auction when he calls on everyone to simply give, and give generously. Last year, before the Boston auction, Rich heard from a former partner who had been touched by how much the raise-your-paddle item raises. The previous year, the item had fetched $70,000 of the $160,000 total the auction brought in for charity. The former partner said if the item raised that much again in 2022, he would contribute $70,000.

On the night of the auction, Rich told the crowd the story of meeting the former partner for lunch and having an emotional conversation about the values their parents taught them, and how blessed they had been in their lives. The raise-your-paddle round netted $90,000, and so the former partner donated $70,000 as agreed. It was important to him that his charitable giving be linked to Oliver Wyman. In all, the Boston office’s 2022 auction collected an all-time record of $272,000 for charity.

What were his magic words? “I spoke about how this person ended up coming to Oliver Wyman and left us and became very successful financially,” he says. “And while their upbringing helped, it was the toolkit acquired, relationships cemented, and the lessons learned at Oliver Wyman about giving back that really made a difference.”

Oliver Wyman worked on seven impactful projects for Save the Children over seven years, creating a deep, impactful relationship with one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations. Some of the projects built upon one another, such as developing critical leadership training for humanitarians around the world. Other projects that were conceived as separate initiatives wove together and expanded Oliver Wyman’s insights, such as initiatives to create new funding models for Save the Children entities. A review of the years-long relationship shows the power of marrying Oliver Wyman’s international expertise with a high-impact, global nonprofit.

When I began my first project with Save the Children, I was one of the founding partners in the Social Impact program in the UK and was attracted by the opportunity to build something that would have a lasting impact on the humanitarian sector. It is really pleasing to see the project continue and deliver such success

James Bryan, Partner, Oliver Wyman

With Oliver Wyman’s help diversifying its funding base, developing leaders, and improving operational efficiency, Save the Children has expanded its resources. And that means more help for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Save the Children appreciates our longstanding partnership with Oliver Wyman through various in-kind consulting projects. Oliver Wyman has helped us tackle some tough challenges so that we can continue to deliver critical impact for children around the world

Janti Soeripto, President and Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children U.S.

Developing humanitarian leaders

Leadership development is just as important for nonprofits as it is for corporations. By training humanitarian leaders, Save the Children ensures the world is better prepared for future humanitarian crises.

First, in 2015, Oliver Wyman helped the Humanitarian Leadership Academy develop a sustainable business model for its local academies and set a pricing model for the learning products created by each of the local academies.

Three years later, the team returned to the Humanitarian Leadership Academy to develop a high-level operating model and business plan for the nonprofit’s HPass initiative. Oliver Wyman helped HPass to scope a pilot that tested the value proposition of its service offering. Ahead of the 2019 launch of HPass, Oliver Wyman outlined key considerations for a sustainable funding model that the initiative could rely on as their product and reach expanded.

I joined Oliver Wyman because I wanted to learn the business tools that could improve social outcomes and inject that perspective into development and humanitarian work. My first project at Oliver Wyman was with Humanitarian Leadership Academy – it was a great introduction to the firm and how we add value in pro-bono work

Elizabeth Hoyler, Engagement Manager, Oliver Wyman

Corporate partnerships in the Netherlands

Corporate partnerships are a strategic priority for Save the Children, and after a successful pilot in the Netherlands, the nonprofit was ready to expand. The group’s Dutch office in 2019 asked Oliver Wyman to help make the pilot approach scalable and to help embed the strategy in the organization.

We’re pleased to have contributed to Save the Children’s corporate partnership strategic plan. It has been a privilege to work with a team united by their desire to improve the lives of children in need

Marco Kesteloo, Partner, Oliver Wyman

Oliver Wyman mapped out a business case for corporate partnerships and clarified responsibilities of different teams. The nonprofit adopted a shared ambition for its corporate partnership team in terms of partner portfolio and investment in the capabilities needed. Better alignment of different teams' priorities resulted in freeing up capacity for developing innovative cooperation models.

Oliver Wyman and Save the Children remained in close contact for the following year and set up a thematic roundtable for interested corporations to grow the nonprofit’s network. As organizations focus on sustainable development goals, cooperation among different actors will become more important, and Oliver Wyman can play the role of convener and facilitator.

Fundraising in Asia during economic change

The rapidly changing socio-economic outlook and local regulations in Southeast Asia have created significant implications for the development sector. Oliver Wyman conducted two key projects to address specific fundraising challenges in the region.

Despite global recognition of its brand and impact, Save the Children historically faced challenges in corporate fundraising in Asia. The group asked Oliver Wyman in 2019 to help with a new strategy.

The Oliver Wyman team lead by Partner Tim Coyler reviewed the corporate sponsorship strategy and constructed a new one, including steps for implementation. Save the Children said it intends to execute all proposed recommendations, setting up the nonprofit for a significant increase in corporate fundraising in Asia.

Tim continued his work with Save the Children the following year to help develop a target operating model for middle-income countries, beginning with a test case for Thailand.

It came at a time of massive personal change and reflection for everyone, and I recall feeling good that about doing something good for the world. That’s always the case with social investment work, but this had an extra charge because it took place during the pandemic lockdown

Tim Coyler, Partner, Oliver Wyman

Save the Children Thailand relied largely on funding from foreign government aid agencies such as USAID and the European Commission. As some Asian countries, such as Thailand and Indonesia, have become wealthier, funding from these institutional donors has decreased. The nonprofit needed alternative funding models, which required navigating country-specific regulations about donations.

The most impactful part of the project was the interviews the team conducted with the nonprofit’s program managers, whose stories about why they launched various programs showed the critical importance of the work Save the Children does

Anosh Pardiwalla, Partner, Oliver Wyman

Oliver Wyman’s solution involved a greater role for corporate donations and local funding teams. One of the key aspects of the project was refraining from offering one solution, and instead building the capabilities for Save the Children to continually develop its operating model across in Asia as social economics change.

Our program footprint has been maintained, even though we have seen decreasing donor interest from our traditional funders. Some of the key areas of work maintained include migrant education in border areas and youth life skills for success in conflict areas. The project also triggered a shift in mindset among Save the Children staff, by developing an understanding that our business model had to change, and by developing together a picture of what those changes might look like, and what it would take to get us there. We have made significant progress: We’ve established a corporate fundraising function, and we are testing individual giving as a future growth lever, with a digital fundraising pilot under development

Guillaume Rachou, Programme and Business Transformation Lead, Middle Income Country Unit, Save the Children International

Diversifying funding sources in India

That same year, another Oliver Wyman team conducted similar work for Save the Children in India. With changing regulatory and industry trends for fundraising in India, the nonprofit needed to diversify philanthropy beyond traditional grants. The group asked Oliver Wyman to define a three-to-five-year strategy for innovative funding.

Due to new local regulations, Save the Children in India faced the possibility of a significant decrease in donations. The India team heard about our work and reached out to us. Oliver Wyman defined a strategy to diversify funding for Save the Children India, including some new businesses such as setting up a social enterprise and launching a development impact bond

Aarti Nihalani, Partner, Oliver Wyman

Since traditional donors were expected to continue to provide the bulk of the funds in the near future, Oliver Wyman also recommended strategies to improve traditional fundraising and make use of data and technology to improve organizational efforts to raise funds.

The team gained board and management buy-in for the new approach and accelerating adoption to within six months. Through Oliver Wyman's support, the client was able to translate its broad vision for innovation into quantifiable targets and steps and adapt to changes in the market. The project created valuable insight on innovative and emerging funding opportunities that can be applied to other nonprofit clients.

Addressing the organization’s culture

Save the Children’s Cambodia office in 2022 asked Oliver Wyman to redesign organizational processes to ease the feeling of being overburdened and improve effectiveness. 

Oliver Wyman reviewed the organization’s processes and suggested a redesign. The team drew on experience in organizational effectiveness and reached for tools to help make meetings more effective, recognize employee contributions, address credibility gaps with staff, and help make the cultural shift.

Oliver Wyman supported Save the Children in Cambodia to undertake a strategic workload analysis and streamline systems and processes around a number of functions. The team was highly professional and helped us navigate a number of challenging questions, leading to a few concrete changes in how we operate. This has freed up our time and resources to focus on delivering quality programs for children

Elizabeth Pearce, former Country Director, Save the Children Cambodia

The team identified root causes for local staff challenges and organizational challenges that should be addressed at the international level. Oliver Wyman redesigned key organizational processes together with the nonprofit.

In terms of longer-term impact, our program operations staff survey in late 2022 shows many of Oliver Wyman’s recommendations have been implemented, enabling the program operations team to make a range of improvements to staff workload and workflow, effective meetings and information sharing, and improving staff well-being overall. Thank you!

Mot Sana, Director of Program Operations, Save the Children Cambodia

Seven-by-seven isn’t the end of the story for Oliver Wyman and Save the Children. It’s only the beginning of a friendship with the power to broaden the resources and deepen the expertise of everyone involved, while working to make sure children around the world get to eat, go to school, and fall asleep in warmth and safety each day.