Headwinds Diagnostic
A clearer picture of the pressures shaping organisations and the purpose sector.
Headwinds Diagnostic
A clearer picture of the pressures shaping organisations and the purpose sector.
Strong communities are supported by organisations with the capacity, capability and resilience to respond to changing needs.
Purpose-driven organisations work with and alongside communities, responding to complex needs, strengthening connections and creating change. At the same time, many are navigating rising costs, funding shifts, workforce shortages and increasing pressure on leaders and teams.
Despite this, there is generally limited current and consistent evidence showing how these organisations are faring, how these pressures interact, or whether they have the capability and capacity to adapt.
This leaves important questions unanswered:
For purpose-driven leaders
What is shaping our organisation, and where should we focus our attention and investment?
For grantmakers
What are the priorities of the individual organisations we support, and what patterns are emerging across them collectively?
For governments
What conditions are affecting the organisations working alongside communities and delivering essential services?
For sector leaders
What shared evidence could strengthen advocacy, inform policy and build the case for systemic investment?
A clearer picture can reveal how external pressures, organisational capability and workforce wellbeing intersect. It can surface emerging risks, guide more focused investment and identify opportunities for earlier, coordinated support, helping organisations sustain their people, adapt to change and continue their work alongside communities.
Understand the forces shaping your organisation, and its capacity to respond. Or build a broader evidence base across a portfolio, region or sector.
Turn organisational realities into evidence for better decisions.
Headwinds Diagnostic connects nine core forces and interdependent perspectives: external pressures, organisational capability and workforce wellbeing.
For a participating organisation, it provides a grounded picture of current conditions, existing strengths, areas of vulnerability and emerging priorities. When applied across a portfolio, region or sector, it generates de-identified, aggregated intelligence that reveals shared pressures, differences in organisational experience and patterns that may otherwise remain hidden.
Nine core forces. Two key measures.
One complete picture.
Headwinds Diagnostic looks beyond isolated metrics to deliver a comprehensive evaluation of organisational health.
Pressure Score
Evaluates the intensity of external conditions, including policy shifts, funding changes, regulatory demands, economic trends, and community need.
Response Score
Measures operational readiness to adapt and execute, evaluating leadership alignment, governance strength, and delivery systems.
Brought together, these views show how external challenges interact with internal capability and wellbeing. It gives leaders an accurate snapshot of the organisation’s real position, and provides funders and councils with aggregated data on the systemic patterns shaping an entire portfolio, region or sector.
HOW HEADWINDS DIAGNOSTICS WORKS
01 Complete the assessment
Leaders share their perspectives through a structured, accessible assessment designed around the realities of purpose-driven organisations.
02 Understand the findings
The results bring external pressures, organisational capability and workforce wellbeing together to create a grounded picture of an organisation’s current position.
03 Identify priorities
Each participating organisation gains a clearer view of its strengths, the pressures it is navigating and where greater focus, support or investment could be most valuable.
04 See the bigger picture
When Headwinds Diagnostic is used across multiple organisations, de-identified findings reveal shared patterns, emerging needs and changes over time.
Each participating organisation receives insights relevant to its own circumstances, while partners gain a broader view across the organisations they support.
HOW HEADWINDS DIAGNOSTICS WORKS
01 Complete the assessment
Leaders share their perspectives through a structured, accessible assessment designed around the realities of purpose-driven organisations.
02 Understand the findings
The results bring external pressures, organisational capability and workforce wellbeing together to create a grounded picture of an organisation’s current position.
03 Identify priorities
Each participating organisation gains a clearer view of its strengths, the pressures it is navigating and where greater focus, support or investment could be most valuable.
04 See the bigger picture
When Headwinds Diagnostic is used across multiple organisations, de-identified findings reveal shared patterns, emerging needs and changes over time.
Each participating organisation receives insights relevant to its own circumstances, while partners gain a broader view across the organisations they support.
Headwinds Diagnostic examines nine external forces influencing the capability, sustainability and impact of purpose-driven organisations.
01
Government funding and policy environment
Changes in public policy, regulation, commissioning and government priorities.
02
Program funding pressures
Funding adequacy, duration and flexibility, together with reporting and accountability requirements.
02
Program funding pressures
Funding adequacy, duration and flexibility, together with reporting and accountability requirements.
03
Demand and community need
Changes in the scale, complexity and urgency of the needs organisations are responding to.
04
Workforce and labour market conditions
Recruitment, retention, workforce capability, remuneration and skills availability.
05
Financial and economic conditions
Rising costs, revenue pressures and the broader economic environment.
06
Sector and ecosystem dynamics
Partnerships, competition, infrastructure, technology and wider sector conditions.
07
Technology, digital and cybersecurity
Digital transformation, AI adoption, and cybersecurity risk to operations and safety.
08
Demographic and housing pressures
Population change, ageing, and housing and homelessness pressures on the communities you serve.
09
Climate, disaster and disruption events
Natural disasters, pandemics and other large-scale shocks to operations and communities.
Together, these nine categories provide a structured view of what organisations are experiencing, the capability available to respond and the ability to adapt under sustained pressure.
Insight for organisations. Intelligence for those supporting the sector.
For purpose-driven leaders
- Understand the pressures shaping your organisation
- Recognise strengths and areas that may need greater attention
- Prioritise effort, support and investment
- Build alignment across leaders, teams and boards
- Contribute safely to a stronger picture of sector conditions
For grantmakers
- Understand the experiences and priorities of grantmaking organisations
- Identify shared pressures and capability needs across a portfolio
- Design more relevant capability-building support
- Direct investment where it can make the greatest difference
- Track changing conditions and progress over time
For governments
- Build a clearer picture of organisational and service-system health
- Identify pressures affecting local and regional organisations
- Strengthen policy, planning and funding decisions
- Inform more coordinated capability support
- Access de-identified, aggregated regional intelligence
For sector leaders
- Reveal patterns across a network, cause area or sector
- Build a stronger evidence base for advocacy
- Inform policy conversations and sector priorities
- Identify opportunities for collective action
- Track how sector conditions are changing over time
For purpose-driven leaders
- Understand the pressures shaping your organisation
- Recognise strengths and areas that may need greater attention
- Prioritise effort, support and investment
- Build alignment across leaders, teams and boards
- Contribute safely to a stronger picture of sector conditions
For grantmakers
- Understand the experiences and priorities of grantmaking organisations
- Identify shared pressures and capability needs across a portfolio
- Design more relevant capability-building support
- Direct investment where it can make the greatest difference
- Track changing conditions and progress over time
For governments
- Build a clearer picture of organisational and service-system health
- Identify pressures affecting local and regional organisations
- Strengthen policy, planning and funding decisions
- Inform more coordinated capability support
- Access de-identified, aggregated regional intelligence
For sector leaders
- Reveal patterns across a network, cause area or sector
- Build a stronger evidence base for advocacy
- Inform policy conversations and sector priorities
- Identify opportunities for collective action
- Track how sector conditions are changing over time
One platform. Greater level of understanding.
- Organisation-level findings: Each participating organisation receives a clear view of its external pressures, capability, workforce wellbeing and priorities for attention or investment.
- Interactive analytics dashboard: Explore de-identified, aggregated findings across a cohort, portfolio, region or sector, with filters such as cause area, geography and organisation size.
- Comparative benchmarking: For portfolios, understand findings in relation to relevant peer, portfolio or sector patterns.
- Longitudinal insight: Track how pressures, organisational capability and workforce wellbeing change over time.
- Trend analysis: Explore emerging patterns and consider how current conditions could shape future needs and sustainability.
- Consistent treatment for every participant: Responses contribute to findings funders view at cause, postcode and organisation-size level. No organisation is named or individually identified.
- De-identified portfolio and sector reporting: Reveal shared patterns and priorities without exposing sensitive organisation-level information.
