"I reckon Wayfinder pushed us forward by at least six months. That combination of AI expertise and deep sector knowledge isn't something we could have generated internally. We now have a real plan — not one or two experiments, but a portfolio of experiments I genuinely believe will transform how we deliver our mission over the next couple of years.”
Ben Sykes, Head of Digital, Data and Innovation - Blood Cancer UK
Blood Cancer UK faced a challenge common across purpose-led organisations: strong interest in AI with some activity already underway, but a lack of clarity on how best to coordinate efforts and measure impact.
Manifesto's solution to this common challenge is AI Wayfinder: a 10-week programme that delivers an AI strategy and roadmap. Structured as 5 sprints, we identify high-impact AI opportunities, define governance and create a credible path from aspiration to action.
Challenge
Blood Cancer UK had real strengths to build on with AI: leadership commitment, an innovation culture, and early AI initiatives including a clinical trials finder and custom GPTs.
But momentum had stalled. The organisation still believed that there were big gains to be had, but the way forward had become unclear.
We identified several barriers to scaling existing efforts into a strategic advantage:
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Fragmentated effort: staff were using a mix of tools, making it harder to share what was working and replicate it across teams.
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Data architecture: higher-value AI work needs strong data foundations. Improvements here were a work in progress, requiring careful sequencing of future AI efforts.
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Uneven AI confidence: a small group of enthusiasts were running experiments (clinical trials tool being the standout), while others were blocked by basic literacy gaps or limited technical access.
With the constraints now clear, we shifted the focus to opportunity – understanding where staff and service users experienced the most friction. Only then did we consider where technology could help, with particular attention given to AI.
Solution
We surfaced these constraints and opportunities by applying AI Wayfinder: Manifesto’s ten-week programme delivered across 5 sprints, to move organisations from AI deadlock to a dedicated roadmap and strategy. Together, we identify where AI can increase impact and deliver a credible path from aspiration to action.
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Sprint 1: Orientation
We began by aligning leadership on project goals and building AI fluency inside the organisation. We diagnosed the current state through stakeholder surveys, interviews. Surfacing the disjointed nature of current AI activity across Blood Cancer UK. -
Sprint 2: Mapping the current situation
We then took this insight into co-creating some shared AI principles and mapping out where value is currently being created across Blood Cancer UK. Identifying the key pain points and opportunities that AI could be helping with. -
Sprint 3: Discovering new pathways
Through cross-functional team workshops we worked with stakeholders from exploring AI-enabled solutions to address the priority pain points and opportunities, drawing on AI best practice and emerging trends. This generated a long list of opportunities across fundraising, services, and operations. -
Sprint 4: Prioritising the way forward
Each opportunity was evaluated using our Wayfinder evaluation matrix. We distinguished ‘no regret’ activity (high impact, low effort and low risk) from larger projects that required dependencies to resolve. -
Sprint 5: Charting the course
The top experiments were then translated into a three-year roadmap, complete with scoped effort and impact estimates, governance considerations and clear next steps for getting each initiative off the ground. The roadmap organises initiatives in waves, reflecting that AI confidence and capability needs to grow at individual, team and organisational level in tandem.
Impact
The project delivered a prioritised portfolio of eight AI experiments sequenced into a three-year roadmap, alongside projects to deliver the technical foundations and AI practice needed for higher-impact experimentation.
The experiments tackle diverse operational needs across fundraising, services, and operations - ranging from an internal insight finder and policy assistants to high-impact mission multipliers like referral intelligence, service call capture and website semantic search.
Given long-term predictions about AI are difficult, the roadmap is designed to build the confidence and capability to act as AI reliability matures. Our end of project survey found that the organisational confidence across five dimensions of AI strategy rose from 2.5 to 4.3 out of 5.
AI Wayfinder helped turn fragmented activity into a unified strategic direction for AI across the Blood Cancer UK. It bridged team silos, built internal AI confidence and aligned senior leadership on the way forward. With agreed principles for implementation and a defined first wave of experiments, the charity’s digital team also has the confidence to act now, ethically and at pace: running experiments in-house, testing and learning, what works and evaluating each effort before scaling or stopping.
AI Wayfinder helped Blood Cancer UK find the way: from uncertainty about where and how to move next, to a clear route forward they own and believe in.
Watch: Interview with Ben Sykes about the impact of AI Wayfinder for Blood Cancer UK
Client feedback
Manifesto brought the rigour and clarity we needed to turn AI ambition into action. Their prioritisation work cut through the noise, helping us focus on the initiatives that will genuinely deliver value, while building the right foundations for long-term impact. We’ve come away with a roadmap we believe in and a clear path forward that gives us confidence to move with purpose, not just activity. I’d absolutely recommend Manifesto and the Wayfinder process to organisations that already have ambition around AI but want to make sure they’re channelling it in the right places—it meets you where you are and helps you move forward with focus and confidence
Helen Rowntree, CEOBlood Cancer UK
Before Wayfinder, we simply couldn't see the wood for the trees. We knew AI mattered but had no clear picture of where to start, or how to scale experiments without committing to huge costs. What unlocked it was realising we could run foundational work and meaningful experimentation simultaneously — and having a team who could speak to every level of the organisation, from someone in a specific role seeing the direct impact on their day-to-day, right up to the board seeing the bigger strategic picture. AI is unlike anything else section to AI is unlike anything else - if you go quiet on it, people start to wonder if something's happening without them. That suspicion just doesn't exist with other areas of work. Manifesto's approach was honest and grounded rather than evangelical, and I could almost visibly see people relax. It stopped feeling like something being done to the organisation and became something the whole organisation owned.
Ben Sykes, Head of Digital, Data & InnovationBlood Cancer UK
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