From rural communities …  

Educated at University College London, my professional career commenced with 10 years in the voluntary sector, first as a rural community worker working with parish councils, W.I.s and other village organisations in Cheshire; and then as Deputy Head of the Rural Department at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), where I was liaising with rural community councils across England and developing policy on village services, rural post offices - and telephone kiosks.

Through professional theatre …

Then ensued 15 years working in professional theatre, first as either performer or stage manager in a series of West End shows, including original productions; as well as touring in the Middle and Far East. This was followed by production and general management work for various West End musicals, culminating as Senior Executive for what is now UK Theatres, which is the professional management association for the UK’s regional and producing theatres, working alongside the Society of London Theatre.

And writing ….

During this period of initially freelance work, my further experience as a writer included: 

• as a co-author of four published books of which The Only Child, Souvenir Press 1994, remains in print, and translated into 11 languages; 
• as an editor, proofing reference books for Gale St James; 
• and as a researcher on countryside and other issues for The Tourism Company.  

From 1993 I was the part-time secretary of the Stephen Oliver Trust which promoted contemporary opera, and I subsequently managed the closure of the Trust, in 2006.

… to supporting the UK’s charitable foundations

For 15 years until December 2016 I was Chief Executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) which represents the interests of over 400 independent charitable funders in the UK, safeguarding their independence & promoting their interests. Amongst many successes in raising the profile of foundations with government and with the wider voluntary sector, during my tenure we developed our focus from grant-making into the wider uses of charitable funds for public benefit, including the effective use of foundation assets. In particular this was pursued through three ground breaking reports on the governance and financial management of endowed charitable foundations.

These reports were followed by a successful partnership with the Pears Foundation to expand the scope of their annual Foundation Giving Trends publication, enabling both foundations and potential beneficiary organisations to understand better the range and capacity of the top 300 foundations in an easily accessible format.

ACF led many effective consultations and campaigns, but notable was that to resist the Government’s plans to impose annual mandatory payout on foundations. This would have limited their ability to respond to need as they saw it, and through necessary shorter investment time horizons would also have curtailed the resources available for charitable purposes.

I was awarded the CBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list for services to charitable giving and philanthropy.