Ideas Alliance | Social Consultancy

Building bridges between communities and organisations

What we do

We help brave organisations do things differently, bringing people’s voices and lived experiences into policy, service design and decision-making.

Who we are

Ideas Alliance CIC is a social consultancy. We help commissioners, providers and communities work together so that local people shape public services – delivering better outcomes for everyone.

What people say

"Through our work with Ideas Alliance, it has completely changed things. We have different conversations now, we share ownership and have equal power."

"Our organisation has benefited considerably from working alongside the Ideas Alliance. For us it has been good to be able to have the opportunity to take time to reflect and have a critical friend to drive us to do better for those we serve."

"I really felt empowered working with the Ideas Alliance team. They echoed children and young people's voices and experiences in an innovative way."

“Working with the Ideas Alliance has always been rewarding. Supporting my work as a Health and Care Commissioner to introduce Alliance Contracting enabled a positive shift in culture as well as practice to take place and more recently their collaborative, relational approach to supporting power shifting has generated real learning, particularly about the importance and place for values and trust in a public service system.”

"It was a pleasure to work with the Ideas Alliance Team. They provided an honest, friendly and dedicated service to use throughout a complex project with a very tight deadline. Working on a complicated and sensitive area of local government, they were able to offer us with insightful workshops and in-depth fieldwork that allowed to us to better understand service delivery. As a researcher, I fully endorse Ideas Alliance."

"Ideas Alliance worked with us and within our communities to take an appreciative inquiry approach to community research into infant feeding. Their organisational skills, planning, preparation, and professionalism were exemplary. Their work has been a catalyst for embedding community research into all we now do".

Who we work with

We work with a range of people and organisations including local authorities, charities, community members, voluntary groups and national bodies.

Latest News

Building confidence in participation: What we learned from Adur and Worthing’s Participation Labs

Everyone wants to involve people more deeply in shaping decisions that affect them. It’s now widely recognised as the right thing to do. But for many councils and organisations, participation still feels unmanageable. That’s why we created Participation Labs – a practical way for organisations to build the skill and confidence to make participation a normal and embedded part of how they work.

Using Digital Tools to Build Local Democracy

How can councils really hear from their residents – not just the loudest voices, but everyone? With Thriving Together, we mixed online and offline ways of listening to help build stronger connections with local people and find out what matters most to them.

Supporting local partnerships in developing and delivering impactful Best Start in Life strategies and Family Hubs offers

Ideas Alliance are delighted to be working with Dartington Service Design Lab and Collaborate CIC on a new collaboration to help every child get the best start in life