See also: Client list
Sally Benton
Executive Director Fundraising and Communications at The Forward Trust
Richard is expert at what he does. His ability to address strategic challenges, whilst quickly getting up to speed with organisational culture and financial processes is stand out. He is also a delight to work with, a creative fundraiser and a talented people person. He is able to build trust, focus teams and build momentum.
Heather Blake
Chief Executive at Changing Faces, UK
Richard supported Changing Faces as Interim Director of Fundraising for four months, during a time when we didn’t just need to keep things stable but to build and grow our fundraising. His deep experience and leadership ability were enormously helpful during this time, and his kindness, openness and supportive nature meant he fitted in as a key member of the team from day one. Richard has so many amazing skills to offer and we loved having him as part of Changing Faces.
Desiree D’Souza
Executive Director of Innovation and Social Impact at SeeAbility
Richard joined us to cover our Head of Fundraising and Volunteering role. During his time at SeeAbility, which he structured flexibly to meet our needs, Richard worked equally well with peers in our Leadership Group as he did to support colleagues in his team. He contributed to strategic discussions, helped resolve process challenges and contributed to future planning. Richard is a pleasure work to with and I’m really happy to recommend him.
Nick Sankey
Executive Director at Pratham UK
Richard was brilliant at writing the report that we based our new strategy on. He brought the entire team into the process and made sure all voices were heard. He managed to synthesise where we’d come from and where we were going in a very simple, coherent narrative. This was backed up by a much longer document, which gives a great background to the journey we are on. He was also exceptional value for money, the whole team would be delighted to work with him again.
Annie Campbell Viswanathan
Director at Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID)
I cannot recommend Richard highly enough. I am the CEO of a small legal charity that represents people detained under immigration powers in prisons and removal centres. I took up my position in early 2021 and one of my first tasks was to develop our three year strategic plan. I can honestly say that Richard made this process so uncomplicated and perhaps more importantly genuinely useful. He very clearly knows what he is doing and quickly grasped the main issues, brought us altogether and teased those issues out so that the time we spent in the strategic review meetings was productive and targeted. The document we have as a result is so much better for the work he put in. Richard was also very accessible and generous with his time. I cannot thank him enough.
Claire Reynolds
Strategic transformation and leadership in the charity sector
Richard stepped in as interim Director of Fundraising at a critical time for us, as we had recently launched our new strategy and had an ambitious programme of work (including very ambitious fundraising plans). He kept key activities running, led on fundraising recruitment, and supported a smooth handover to a new permanent Director of Fundraising and Communications. Richard was a pleasure to work with, bringing experience, strategic focus, and good humour too!
Tris Lumley
Director of Innovation & Development at NPC
Richard made a great contribution to the organisation’s work and helped build a robust fundraising strategy, team and practices. He’s also a great guy to work with, an active member of the fundraising community with his finger on the pulse, and a great team member and coach to others. I couldn’t recommend Richard more highly.
Lizzi Hollis
Head of Major Gifts and Communications at Richard’s House Children’s Hospice
Richard came along to my team away day and presented a workshop on building an effective strategy. Although we are a small team, we are varied with trusts, major donor and communications specialists, as well as both senior and junior team members. Richard positioned his session perfectly so that everyone was included and could participate and this in turn allowed everyone to take away learnings. My team and I now feel equipped to be able to write robust and effective strategies for the year ahead that are achievable and can be followed through to completion. I would recommend Richard’s services to any fundraising team looking to improve their strategy knowledge and expertise.
Helen Gray
Foundation Director at Hertfordshire Community Foundation
Following two very well planned and executed focus groups, Richard provided a detailed and superbly written report, which makes very practical suggestions and recommendations. The whole process has been extremely positive for the wider team and Trustees. I would not hesitate to recommend Richard. His knowledge of the sector coupled with his calm approach makes him an excellent working partner.
Chris Gethin
Director of Philanthropy and Campaign at Cancer Research UK
Richard very ably led and managed a team of our major gift fundraisers, setting targets, supporting prospect cultivation and overseeing recruitment to the team. He provided strong management and his experience in the sector was evident. Richard was a kind, committed and capable member of the team. He then successfully led the development of a capital campaign for a period of 6 months with the goal of overseeing the recruitment of a permanent senior role to lead the campaign. He successfully completed the task, worked across the organisation and with senior partners external to CRUK, managing key relationships and developing a case for support and strategy.
Tess Nixon Spiller
Interim Deputy Director Relationship Fundraising at Teenage Cancer Trust
Richard is a hugely kind person. Deeply experienced in the charity sector and a safe pair of hands in a fundraising leadership role. It was a pleasure to work with him when he carried out an Interim Head role at CRUK. He is also a trusted advisor to me and great sounding board on fundraising and consultancy.
Katharine Tucker
Community Fundraising Manager, King’s College Hospital Charity
Richard has been a fantastic mentor, helping me to develop my skills as a smaller charity fundraiser and manager. It’s been so useful to regularly meet with him to discuss on-going work, and also bits and pieces that have cropped up between meetings. His level-headed advice and wealth of experience have really helped me develop personally and professionally.
Elly Heaton-Virgo
Chief Executive Officer at Young Ealing Foundation
Richard … provided a high degree of professionalism and expertise in facilitating the development of a strategic vision and business plan for our early development. He has ensured that we are all clear about why we exist and how we intend to facilitate the change we want to see in the world. Richard’s calm and considered support has meant that we will return to him time and time again for external advice and guidance.”
Rob Ball
Chief Executive at Architects Benevolent Society
Richard and Catherine have provided us with expert guidance and personal support along a journey of improvement and cultural change. They have helped us grapple with the challenge of providing welfare services in the context of reduced state support and increasing in-work poverty, while moving towards a more preventative and holistic approach to wellbeing which also anticipates emerging needs. By bringing together operational staff, managers, trustees and volunteers they have shown us how we can work better together at setting direction, delivering our priorities and measuring the quality, effectiveness and impact of everything we do. I highly recommend their services and I am happy to provide further details of the support they have provided.
Becky Hewitt
CEO at Changing Faces, formerly Director of Communications at Girlguiding
Richard joined Girlguiding as our Interim Head of Fundraising in July 2016 with a brief to: review Girlguiding’s five year fundraising strategy, ensure compliance with all relevant legislation and guidance, develop our reporting processes, lead the Fundraising Team during a significant time of change and development, and assist with recruiting a new Head of Fundraising and other key positions in the team. During his time with us Richard has combined strong strategic insight and knowledge of best practice and with a fantastically collegiate, positive and problem-solving approach. He delivered a very significant workload – while taking the time to get the know our team and understand the support they needed. He was an engaged and collaborative member of our Communications Leadership Team – and generally great fun to have around.
Lucy Davis
Sector Grants and Development Manager at The National Archives
3rd Sector Mission Control developed training materials for an HLF-funded ‘Fundraising for Archives’ catalyst project. The materials were universally well received by the sector and there has been continued to be a demand for the training beyond the end of the HLF project.
Cheryl Armitage
Head of Development at Medical Research Foundation
Richard, Hayley and Deborah did a fantastic job of developing some excellent cases for support and a comprehensive prospect list to help us establish our new Trusts and Foundations fundraising programme. I was impressed at how quickly able to gain a good understanding of our work. I found it a pleasure to work with them and I would highly recommend them all
Felicity Christensen
Formerly Communications & events manager at Small Charities Coalition
At the Small Charities Coalition we’ve had the great fortune of working with Richard for the past few years via our workshop programme. He has voluntarily and consistently delivered excellent, high quality fundraising training to our members, and we always get glowing feedback praising his knowledge and personable approach to delivering workshops. Richard is brilliant to work with and is a real asset to our small charity training programme in helping to upskill small charities across the UK.
Bridget Gardiner
Formerly director of fundraising and marketing Epilepsy Society
Richard provided an excellent service as interim head of fundraising at Epilepsy Society, ensuring that targets were met and creating a new structure to meet the Society’s emerging strategic plan. His calm and supportive management style made working with him a pleasure. He is especially good at placing donor stewardship at the top of everyone’s agenda.
Pontus Rosén
Formerly CEO at Association of Art Historians
The skills and experience that Richard brought to the AAH Finance & Risk Management Committee have been of immense value. Richard has a broad and deep understanding of charities and has given helpful reports to the committee on risk management practice, governance and income generation. I can honestly say that my organisation is in better shape due to his presence on the committee.
Jason Harrison
Formerly Director of External Relations at Education Support Partnership
Richard was an excellent Interim Head of Fundraising at Education Support Partnership. He helped settle us in an extraordinary period of change; advanced key strategic plans and some structural changes, oversaw our autumn appeal, developed and implemented our winter raffle. He line managed the fundraising team and was very easy to work with.
Alice Clayton
Formerly Development Manager, National Opera Studio
Richard has been my mentor for the past year and I have benefited hugely from the relationship. He allowed me to direct the sessions, providing insightful and thoughtful advice and guidance when necessary. He repeatedly went above and beyond and was huge fun to work with. I would highly recommend Richard as a mentor to anyone.
Katie Vivian
External Relations Manager, Architects Benevolent Society
Richard supported us to prioritise fundraising activity and to develop a robust fundraising strategy for the Charity, which had not been in place before. He invested time in getting to know us as an organisation which meant he was able to advise us effectively. Richard’s knowledge and skills in fundraising are impressive and I really benefitted from his advice and guidance. Richard’s approach to supporting me and my team was both motivating and empowering, and we thoroughly enjoyed working with him!
Henrietta Hopkins
Partner at Hopkins Van Mil & Creating Capacity
Richard gets things done whilst thinking creatively and strategically. I have really admired his ability to find solutions in challenging times and be supportive of those around him.
More testimonials on my LinkedIn profile page.
