About me
In a past life I was a charity campaigner and fundraiser before moving into politics with the Liberal Democrats as Chief Fundraiser.
Having grown up in one of the poorest boroughs in the country and I took the opportunity to stand for parliament. Instead of campaigning on party political grounds i elected to build my election on ending child poverty by 2020.
I was pleasantly surprised to be appointed Race Equality Spokesperson by former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
A very short stint in film finance had led to freelancing opportunities on business development opportunities.
I am working on multiple projects examining the following issues:
- open democracy & government
- individual rights to digital empowerment & privacy
- opens source software and values
- reform of drug legislation and reform of criminal justice system
- mental health advocacy
Projects
- Rebel CauseA platform to enable commercial, social and individual empowerment. Aimed at industry disrupters, social activists and future leaders the platform will provide access to a network of digital marketing and cyber security resources. A virtual agency sits at the heart of the platform enabling strategic advisory services and solutions for those who require a guided partnership approach. A do-it-your self one-shop market place with "as-a-service" infrastructure, platform and software solutions is t
Work history
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Chief FundraiserLiberal Democrats
- Westminster, London SW1P 1QH, UKFull Time
Following 10 years in charity’s I was headhunted for a 9 month contract to finance the 2010 General Election Campaign in September 2009. There had never been any structured formal fundraising undertaken by the Party and with no staff, infrastructure or budget I was tasked with raising a never previously achieved goal of £5m.
I was 29 years old at the time I started and fast forward to May 2015 and I felt I had aged a lifetime in sheer wealth of experience. My first battle was prizing out a budget of £5,000 to spend on achieving the target. Somehow, it had turned into £5m.
I recruited 30 well respected supporters to financially invest in the campaign and commit to recruiting more of their peers to help reach the target. Armed with personal training plans and bespoke marketing assets the network was able to on average recruit 2-3 more supporters at a level similar to their own (£1,000 to £50,000). I was freed up to negotiate multiple six figure gifts from HNWI.
£5m had been achieved and I was asked to consider taking on the role of Chief Fundraiser on a permanent basis. A the joy that was soured by the emerging overnight news of the election results itself.
A loss of several seats despite winning more than a million extra votes was a stark indictment on the broken first past the post electoral system.
I don’t think anyone anticipated such a result could then invoke an invitation to form a government in coalition.
While the experience of government was a political, electoral and existential catastrophe for the Party this was not reflected in fundraising results which saw the Party overtake and remain ahead of Labour on individual donations. Funding was in direct contrast to polling.
I had put in place a structured programme of capacity building and commercial development. What felt like a constant and never ending recruitment programme delivered an incredible team of six staff. Committed, professional, talented and savvy that when the time came I knew I could move on leaving the operation in safe hands.
As I prepared to move on from life in politics I was at a loss as to my next move. My entire career and been dedicated to working with some of society’s most disadvantage groups and to participate in national government felt like the pinnacle. My side hustle had been film financing and my one and only effort turned a small profit.
I liked the sound of being a film producer but politics was not done with me yet......
FundraiserShakespeare's Globe
- South Bank, London SE1 7EH, UKFull Time
I wanted to to be a press officer at The Globe but the Director of Fundraising had other ideas and steered me towards a fundraising role. I had never considered it before as a career option but lo and behold I went on to enjoy a15 year career generating £100m for good causes with my teams.
The Globe was the most inspirational and rewarding environment I could have ever have hoped for. I enjoyed many late nights setting the world to rights with Mark Rylance post performance.
The role itself required very creative thinking to develop new revenue streams. The engraved walls, personalised paving slabs and sponsored seats had taken up every inch of sellable real estate. So I designed the Play Patrons scheme to offer up production sponsorship to the general public (normally the reserve of corporate financiers). A new recurring revenue programme that could be integrated into annual forecasts and in retrospect it was basically a prototype KickStarter programme . I wonder if it’s still running in some form. That would be nice.
Skills
- Digital Communication
- Digital Marketing
- Cyber Security
- Business Development
- Business Growth
- Brand Growth
- Social Inclusion
- Social Media Management
- Social Change
- Fundraising
- Charity Fundraising
- Corporate Fundraising
- Entrepreneurial Mind-set
Education
Bachelor of Arts (BA) University of Reading
- Reading, United Kingdom
English Literature & Language
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A LevelsLatymer Upper School
- King St, Hammersmith, London W6 0RA, UK
English
French
History