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10/12/2009

A big restructuring, new appointments and a new office

As we come to the close of 2009 and well into our 4^th year the ALMT continues to grow at a rapid rate. This year we granted monies of £313,377 across sixteen projects that all share common aim of mitigating the suffering of children globally. Total disbursements now are in excess of £1.5m and we have thirty-four projects. All details can be found at  Projects

We have grown now to such a scale that I think it is right that I personally take a step back and put in place proper infrastructure that befits a charity of our size. I will naturally still be very involved as Founder but I feel the ALMT justifies more rigorous attention and involvement. As a consequence I am pleased to make the following announcements:-

I have hired Debbie Gore as Head of Programmes. Debbie will work full-time for the ALMT responsible for all fundraising and administrative aspects of the Trust. Previously Debbie was the Development and Marketing Manager for The Children’s Legal Centre and before that was Project Manager for United Nations in Democratic Republic of the Congo based in Kinshasa. Debbie has an MSc in International Relations from LSE.

Camila Batmanghelidjh and Jenni Thomas OBE have both joined the board of the ALMT as Patrons. Camila is a trained psychotherapist and founded Kids Company and The Place2Be. She is author of the best selling book ‘Shattered Lives – Children who live with courage and dignity.’ Jenni founded the national charity, the Child Bereavement Charity in 1994. She received her OBE in 2002 in recognition for her work with the CBC. She has worked for 45 years as a bereavement counsellor and in 2009 began working for the ALMT.

I am please to welcome three new Trustees - Maggie Correa (Project Manager, Children’s Legal Centre and UN Consultant), Katie Stringer (Ex Director of Corporate Fundraising at NSPCC) and Kate Cavelle (Director of Corporate Citizenship, Deutsche Bank). The three will work alongside Jonny, Pete, Kara, Ed and myself.

All the above appointments broaden and strengthen the ALMT and show our heavyweight intentions in dealing with the issues facing marginalised children globally.

After working with the ALMT almost from inception it is with sadness and thanks we (hopefully temporarily) say goodbye to Louise Davies as a retiring Trustee and wish her all the best ahead of the birth of her and Simon’s second child in January.

The ALMT have been very kindly given a new office by Kids Company within their building which we are incredibly grateful for. So all correspondence from 4th January 2010 to:

Debbie Gore

Head of Programmes

The Angus Lawson Memorial Trust

Wedge House

38-40 Blackfriars Road

London

SE1 8PB

 

We have been immensely fortunate to have been Deutsche Bank’s ‘Charity of the Year’ these last two years. This comes to an end this year and means that we will have to work a lot harder fundraising in 2010. A huge thank you to Amy Parker, who runs the ‘Charity of the Year’ programme, and was instrumental in helping us raise £570,000 through the bank. 

When Kara and I established the ALMT we had no concept of the scale of charity we would achieve. After three years I have been encouraged by Trustees that to achieve UN or Lottery funding we need to move to having costs. There has been a lot of consternation and deliberation on this point and we have agreed to cap all costs at no more than 5% of income.

Thank you all for your support in 2009,

Nick

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