Canal & River Trust appoints new fundraising director

[Ray T]

CRT Press Release

26th January 2023

 

CANAL & RIVER TRUST APPOINTS NEW FUNDRAISING DIRECTOR

 

Waterways and wellbeing charity Canal & River Trust, whose ongoing mission is to protect and preserve 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales, has announced the appointment of Maggie Gardner as the charity’s new fundraising director.

 

Maggie has enjoyed a long career in fundraising, marketing and executive leadership, notably 15 years as director at global development charity Practical Action, and more recently working with the Freedom Fund, a global US-based charity, and in consultancy. She has also held a wide range of non-executive / trustee positions including at the New Economics Foundation and the University of Northampton.

 

Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Maggie to the Trust. As a charity we are facing ever-greater challenges to keep our 250-year-old waterways safe and available to all, with more frequent extreme weather events taking a toll and the costs of maintaining this precious network spiralling.

 

“Our navigable waterways provide so many benefits to the nation, supporting wildlife and bringing nature into cities, improving community wellbeing and tackling health inequalities, as well as supporting jobs and local economies. It’s more important than ever that we inspire people to support the Trust so the waterways can keep this unique heritage alive and make life better for millions of people.”

 

Maggie Gardner said: “Canals hold a special place in the heart of the millions of people who live on and alongside them, visit for boating holidays or to stroll along the towpath, and enjoy them as places of recreation and tranquillity. Our mission to is protect and preserve them both for now and future generations, but we need public support, alongside vital funding from government, to ensure their survival. I’m excited to be joining the Trust and securing the future of these national treasures.”

 

Ends

 

For further media requests please contact:

Fran Read, Canal & River Trust

m 07796 610 427 e fran.read@canalrivertrust.org.uk

 

[Tractor]

Not a ‘volunteer’ I guess.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

33 minutes ago, Tractor said:

Not a ‘volunteer’ I guess.

£100,000 pa + benefits according to the advert.

[Tractor]

Maybe, ‘performance related’…

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

£100,000 pa + benefits according to the advert.

 

So the actual cost to C&RT (pension contributions, holiday pay, BUPA, car allowance / company car etc etc ) will probably amount to £150k+pa

[Hudds Lad]

“You’ve got to spend money to make money” my old mate always used to say, before he pumped £20 into the pub fruity for zero return  

 

These folk seem to spend their working life on the charity merry-go-round, with a long CV of the same old positions that speak to nothing of practicable skills or experience. 

[dmr]

Maybe she really is good and will earn her keep, but lets wait and see.

The usual justification for higher directors salaries is that you have to pay big to get good people, but in most cases this is just another ill of modern society, its usually just the same few average people going round the same circle of jobs with a big jump in pay on each loop.

[matty40s]

She has got the job because she managed to parrot the usual CRT press release rubbish with her addition adding absolutely NOTHING extra to the torpor.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Tractor said:

Maybe, ‘performance related’…

 

Lets hope so.

 

The worrying thing is always if she is so good as to be worth £100k a year, why did her previous employer let her go? 

 

Will she really raise the £150k extra in her first year at CRT necessary to cover her massive employment costs?

 

An old mate of mine is in the charity fund raising business. He often moves jobs and his pitch to a new employer is something along the lines of "Show me your accounts and I'll improve your fund raising. I want zero basic salary but instead I want 10% of the uplift I generate, over and above your current fundraising performance." 

 

He does all right out of that! 

 

 

 

[Orwellian]

I can't help thinking that this appointment is tied up with the DEFRA grant review. Trying to demonstrate to Government that they are doing all they can to raise their own charitable income. I think it is still the case that they spend more on fundraising than they earn which has been the case since day one. Looks like that deficit has just increased a bit.

[Momac]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

So the actual cost to C&RT (pension contributions, holiday pay, BUPA, car allowance / company car etc etc ) will probably amount to £150k+pa

Within etc etc there are costs for the office , mobile phone, computer other support like HR and management . I would say you under estimated that.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Within etc etc there are costs for the office , mobile phone, computer other support like HR and management . I would say you under estimated that.

 

For Junior Office staff we would always budget costs at around 130%, for managers, directors around 150% and senior directors / board appointments at 200%

 

Mobile phones are pretty much 'free' these days with unlimited free calls, & texts.

 

Things like HR and Management costs would only be a fraction of their true cost as they would be aportioned across the workforce. There could even be zero additional on-cost if they did not need to employ additional HR / management staff to support the new Director.

[Ex Brummie]

I wonder which employee previously responsible for fund raising has been sacked?

Cynical me suspects that it its no-one.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

2 hours ago, Orwellian said:

I can't help thinking that this appointment is tied up with the DEFRA grant review. Trying to demonstrate to Government that they are doing all they can to raise their own charitable income. I think it is still the case that they spend more on fundraising than they earn which has been the case since day one. Looks like that deficit has just increased a bit.

Absolutely correct -

When CaRT told Defra in December that it was appointing a director of fundraising:

Quote

“… to develop a strong fundraising strategy and maximise opportunities to develop alternative income streams at a time of increasing cost of living for many people and cost pressure on potential corporate partners.” 

Defra’s response was that it:

Quote

“... hoped that that would assist the C&RT in becoming less reliant on Government funding, in line with the grant agreement objective.”

 

[Alan de Enfield]

 

24 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Defra’s response was that it:

Quote

“... hoped that that would assist the C&RT in becoming less reliant on Government funding, in line with the grant agreement objective.”

 

 

Which I'd read as meaning - "don't rely on geting the grant extended - you're on your own after 2027"

[Orwellian]

46 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Absolutely correct -

When CaRT told Defra in December that it was appointing a director of fundraising:

Defra’s response was that it:

 

Well good luck with that!

[LadyG]

7 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Lets hope so.

 

The worrying thing is always if she is so good as to be worth £100k a year, why did her previous employer let her go? 

 

Will she really raise the £150k extra in her first year at CRT necessary to cover her massive employment costs?

 

An old mate of mine is in the charity fund raising business. He often moves jobs and his pitch to a new employer is something along the lines of "Show me your accounts and I'll improve your fund raising. I want zero basic salary but instead I want 10% of the uplift I generate, over and above your current fundraising performance." 

 

He does all right out of that! 

 

 

 

I doubt very much that he actually gets that contract, I suspect it comes under the heading "Spin"

[Allan(nb Albert)]

8 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Lets hope so.

 

The worrying thing is always if she is so good as to be worth £100k a year, why did her previous employer let her go? 

 

Will she really raise the £150k extra in her first year at CRT necessary to cover her massive employment costs?

 

An old mate of mine is in the charity fund raising business. He often moves jobs and his pitch to a new employer is something along the lines of "Show me your accounts and I'll improve your fund raising. I want zero basic salary but instead I want 10% of the uplift I generate, over and above your current fundraising performance." 

 

He does all right out of that! 

 

 

 

She let herself go. She was self employed -

 

CEO/Principle Consultant CEO/Principle Consultant

Maggie Gardner Consulting · Freelance Maggie Gardner Consulting · Freelance May 2022 - Present · 9 mos

and again -
 

Chief Executive OfficerChief Executive Officer

Maggie Gardner Consulting Maggie Gardner Consulting Jan 2019 - Aug 2020 · 1 yr 8 mos
 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Allan(nb Albert)

[Midnight]

1 hour ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

She let herself go. She was self employed -

 

CEO/Principle Consultant CEO/Principle Consultant

Maggie Gardner Consulting · Freelance Maggie Gardner Consulting · Freelance May 2022 - Present · 9 mos

and again -
 

Chief Executive OfficerChief Executive Officer

Maggie Gardner Consulting Maggie Gardner Consulting Jan 2019 - Aug 2020 · 1 yr 8 mos
 

 Not much success in the consultancy business then?
I'm a chief executive, principal consultant and full stack developer (according to C&RT job adverts) wonder if C&RT would let me manage the North East Region?

 

11 hours ago, Tractor said:

Maybe, ‘performance related’…

Wouldn't last long if it was.

[Alan de Enfield]

She has written several articles that may be (or may not be) relevant - an example :

 

 

The unspoken interlinkages between climate change and modern day slavery

Maggie Gardner

 

Strategic leadership, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility. Helping change happen by supporting organisations, teams and funding.

Published Sep 20, 2021

 

We live in a time of unprecedented consequence and urgency for humankind. With the climate crisis threatening to spiral out of control, large swathes of the globe are set to become uninhabitable and billions of people may lose their livelihoods, their land, their homes, and their freedom. The hard won progress we, at the Freedom Fund, and others have been working for in assisting, liberating and building resilience together with some of the most vulnerable groups on the planet, stands to be not just halted in its tracks, but – in some cases quite literally – swept away. As ever, the poorest, most disadvantaged will bear the brunt of an existential crisis that is not of their making, and that will drive millions into slavery and exploitation, with devastating consequences for their families’ futures.

 

There is a unique intertwining of climate change, the impact of the pandemic and the ongoing scourge of poverty which combine to further increase vulnerability and risk of slavery.  And at the same time, the continued flourishing of slavery-fuelled destructive industries reinforces the downward spiral of human and ecological devastation.

After decades of kicking the issue into the long grass, businesses and politicians can no longer ignore the economic and other impacts of a transition to a greener economy, and financial institutions are weighing the cost of de-carbonisation against the cost of inaction and the inevitable environmental and economic shocks of a warming planet. Unfortunately, at this point, modern slavery is largely absent from the conversation – despite the fact that it is often amongst the first indicators of climate impact and provides the human fuel for many destructive industries.

 

Approaching Climate Week, I find myself asking three things

·      As we accelerate the transition to a greener world, where will human rights be in this process, and particularly the issue of modern-day slavery?

·      Is tackling modern slavery one ‘secret to saving the world’, given that forced labour is a key factor in making some of the most destructive industries profitable?

·      Or will the focus be solely on technological fixes without addressing human rights abuses, which often run hand in hand with the drivers of climate change?

We have a window of opportunity for a convergence of multiple interests around a meaningful change agenda. We have an opportunity for change – for people and our planet.

So, as we approach Climate week, I find myself recalling this quote from Fritz Schumacher

 ‘To talk about the future is useful, only if it leads to action now’

[Jon57]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

She has written several articles that may be (or may not be) relevant - an example :

 

 

The unspoken interlinkages between climate change and modern day slavery

Maggie Gardner

 

Strategic leadership, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility. Helping change happen by supporting organisations, teams and funding.

Published Sep 20, 2021

 

We live in a time of unprecedented consequence and urgency for humankind. With the climate crisis threatening to spiral out of control, large swathes of the globe are set to become uninhabitable and billions of people may lose their livelihoods, their land, their homes, and their freedom. The hard won progress we, at the Freedom Fund, and others have been working for in assisting, liberating and building resilience together with some of the most vulnerable groups on the planet, stands to be not just halted in its tracks, but – in some cases quite literally – swept away. As ever, the poorest, most disadvantaged will bear the brunt of an existential crisis that is not of their making, and that will drive millions into slavery and exploitation, with devastating consequences for their families’ futures.

 

There is a unique intertwining of climate change, the impact of the pandemic and the ongoing scourge of poverty which combine to further increase vulnerability and risk of slavery.  And at the same time, the continued flourishing of slavery-fuelled destructive industries reinforces the downward spiral of human and ecological devastation.

After decades of kicking the issue into the long grass, businesses and politicians can no longer ignore the economic and other impacts of a transition to a greener economy, and financial institutions are weighing the cost of de-carbonisation against the cost of inaction and the inevitable environmental and economic shocks of a warming planet. Unfortunately, at this point, modern slavery is largely absent from the conversation – despite the fact that it is often amongst the first indicators of climate impact and provides the human fuel for many destructive industries.

 

Approaching Climate Week, I find myself asking three things

·      As we accelerate the transition to a greener world, where will human rights be in this process, and particularly the issue of modern-day slavery?

·      Is tackling modern slavery one ‘secret to saving the world’, given that forced labour is a key factor in making some of the most destructive industries profitable?

·      Or will the focus be solely on technological fixes without addressing human rights abuses, which often run hand in hand with the drivers of climate change?

We have a window of opportunity for a convergence of multiple interests around a meaningful change agenda. We have an opportunity for change – for people and our planet.

So, as we approach Climate week, I find myself recalling this quote from Fritz Schumacher

 ‘To talk about the future is useful, only if it leads to action now’

Looks like no more volunteers (slave labour) and no more real fire stoves and the rest (global warming) were all doomed 😭😭😭

[matty40s]

Sorry, what a load of bollocks.

You can see similar over thousands of twitter posts, and more in depth in far better written books.

Someone who moves upwards using other more knowledgeable views from experts in fields is a slithy tove or parasite in my view.

 

[Mad Harold]

48 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Sorry, what a load of bollocks.

You can see similar over thousands of twitter posts, and more in depth in far better written books.

Someone who moves upwards using other more knowledgeable views from experts in fields is a slithy tove or parasite in my view.

 

Yes, it's a right mouthful of exam answer rubbish. 

Isn't she a bit too bright to be standing on the towpath rattling a collecting tin?