Our People Archives - Page 3 of 4 - The Beacon Collaborative

City Bridge Trust

Organisations Council Member

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of Bridge House Estates, the 7th largest charity in the UK. Established in 1990, it provides grants totalling around £25m per year to help reduce inequality and grow stronger, more resilient and thriving communities in London. The City of London Corporation is their sole trustee.

We would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support of Pears Foundation, Reekimlane Foundation and Hazelhurst Trust whose funding supports the work of the Beacon Collaborative.

Arts Council England

Organisations Council Member

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. By 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help deliver this vision.

New Philanthropy Capital

Organisations Council Member

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) is a charity, think tank, and consultancy to the social sector. Over many years we have worked with charities, funders, philanthropists, businesses and others, supporting them to deliver the greatest possible impact for the causes and people they serve. NPC has a unique position in the sector, emphasising learning and improvement through our thought leadership. We share the sector’s passion for changing lives, to which we bring the rigour, clarity and analysis needed to better achieve the outcomes we all seek. Through practical advice and innovative thinking, we help charities go further. We bring the work of charities and funders together, improving understanding and enhancing their combined impact.

Charities Aid Foundation

Organisations Council Member

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is a leading international charity registered in the United Kingdom, with nine offices covering six continents. We exist to make giving go further, so together we can transform more lives and communities around the world. We are a charity, a bank and a champion for better giving, and for over 90 years we’ve been helping donors, companies, charities and social organisations make a bigger impact.

Sir Vernon Ellis

Philanthropists' Council Member

Sir Vernon Ellis worked at Accenture becoming Managing Partner EMEAI 1989–2000 and International chairman 2000–08. He was a Senior Adviser to Accenture 2008–10.^[3]

Sir Vernon has been heavily involved in supporting the arts in particular music, and has served as Chairman of English National Opera 2005–12 (President 2012–). He was Chair of Classical Opera from 1996 to 2009 (currently President); Chair of the National Opera Studio 2012–19 Chair of the Leeds International Piano Competition, succeeding Dame Fanny Waterman, 2015–19; Trustee of the Royal College of Music 2006–10; former Trustee of London Music Masters, Sacconi Trust and the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

In 2015, he became the inaugural Chair of the Stop MS Appeal Board. This aims to raise £100m over ten years towards MS research and at the half-way point in 2020 when he retired from this role, the appeal had raised £50m.

He has long been interested in how to increase levels of philanthropy in the UK. He took part in the Philanthropy Review in 2011–12. He is leading a major initiative with Beacon Collaborative to bring new philanthropy into Arts and Culture through its impact on health, education, wellbeing and the community.

In 2001 he established the Vernon Ellis Foundation to channel his personal giving. Up to 2020, this has distributed almost £9m. An early major donation was as the lead private support to the restoration of the London Coliseum. The focus now is on the impact that the arts can make on wellbeing, education and the community. Also, through his Foundation, he hosted around 80–90 concerts a year between 2005 and 2017 at his London home in support of musicians’ and music organisations’ development and other fundraising events. In 2013, he was awarded the Beacon award for Cultural Philanthropy.

Brian McRitchie

Philanthropists' Council Member

Brian was a successful entrepreneur with business interests predominantly in media and retail. He exited business several years ago and is currently an investor and very active philanthropist. His charity interests include homeless and youth issues and he sits on several Charity Boards.

Catherine Zennstrom

Philanthropists' Council Member

Catherine Zennström is chair and co-founder of Zennström Philanthropies, founded with her husband Niklas Zennström in 2007. Its mission is to support and engage with organisations that fight for human rights, work to stop climate change and encourage entrepreneurship to protect our natural environment and allow those who live in it to realize their full potential.

Catherine focuses her work on the human rights portfolio fighting for the respect of human rights and dignity, as well as promoting best practice in philanthropy. She serves as vice chair of the international Board of Directors for Human Rights Watch as well as Chair of the Human Rights Watch European and Central Asia Advisory Committee.

Catherine is an enthusiastic supporter of organisations working to inspire new philanthropists to engage more actively in funding human rights issues. She is a member of The Philanthropy Workshop Network group. She served as a trustee of The Philanthropy Workshop (formerly Institute for Philanthropy) and serves today on the Global Philanthropy Forum Advisory Council.

Katherine Lorenz

Philanthropists' Council Member

Katherine Lorenz is President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation (www.cgmf.org), a grantmaking foundation focusing on environmental sustainability in Texas. She is the Leader of the Next Gen of the Giving Pledge, and Forbes named Ms. Lorenz “Ones to Watch,” an up-and-coming face in philanthropy in 2012. Previously, she served as Deputy Director for the Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org), whose mission is to increase effective philanthropy in the UK and internationally. Prior to that, Ms. Lorenz lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for nearly six years where she co-founded Puente a la Salud Comunitaria (www.puentemexico.org), a non-profit organization working to advance food sovereignty in rural Oaxaca through the integration of amaranth into the diet. She continues to be involved with Puente’s work as an active board member. Before founding Puente, she spent two summers living in rural villages in Latin America with the volunteer program Amigos de las Américas and later served on their Program Committee and as a trustee of the Foundation for Amigos de las Americas. Additionally, she currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Environmental Defense Fund, The Philanthropy Workshop (Vice-Chair), and the Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, and formerly was a Fellow and later Board Chair at the National Center for Family Philanthropy, a Board Member of Exponent Philanthropy, Resource Generation, the Amaranth Institute, and a member of the National Academies’ Roundtable of Science and Technology for Sustainability. Ms. Lorenz is a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle of the Synergos Institute and serves on the Leadership Council of the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the national advisory committee of USC’s Irene Hirano Inouye Philanthropic Leadership Fund. Ms. Lorenz holds a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Davidson College.

Grant Gordon

Philanthropists' Council Member

Grant is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. Through support from the Reekimlane Foundation, established together with his wife Brigitte, he has founded & grown a small portfolio of charities. The Foundation’s mission is focused on reducing poverty and strengthening communities in the UK. The Foundation’s portfolio of grantees includes the Childhood Trust, London’s child poverty charity, the Cabrach Trust promoting regeneration in a rural community in NE Scotland, alongside investing in Thrive@Five an emerging collective impact initiative focused on early years. Grant’s prior non-profit activities include chairing the William Grant Foundation, Philanthropy Impact and he co-founded and directed the Institute for Family Business (UK).