Ben Morton Wright founded Global Philanthropic in 2002. He has supervised the establishment of Global Philanthropic operations in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Canada. As Group CEO, Mr Morton Wright has gained recognition as a major gift strategist, an expert in structuring international campaigns and a specialist on higher education and Asian philanthropy.

Since founding the Group in 2002, Mr Morton Wright has served as senior strategy consultant to, amongst others, the London School of Economics; St Andrews University; Trinity College, Cambridge; St John’s College, Oxford; the United Nations Foundation; the University of Hull; the STARS Foundation; Institute for Cancer Research; Aquaculture Stewardship Council; the Birmingham Royal Ballet; King’s College London; Sussex University; FIP Foundation; Protimos; York St John University; UNICEF UK, and a number of other organisations around the world.

Currently, Mr Morton Wright advises a number of private individuals and philanthropists around the world to develop meaningful philanthropic strategies. He has been acknowledged as an expert on Asian philanthropy.

Mr Morton Wright is a Board Member at DanceEast https://www.danceeast.co.uk/ and a Member of Council for Goldsmiths, University of London https://www.gold.ac.uk/. He is also a member of the Royal Automobile Club and regularly speaks on philanthropic issues and trends around the world. Ben also co-authored ‘Talking Philanthropy. Volume 1’ book which was published in 2017.

Dr Pamela Davis, Vice President of Global Philanthropic Europe and senior consultant, is considered a pioneer in the field of high-value fundraising, and a champion of philanthropic collaboration. Originally from America, with a PhD from Cambridge University, she has a particular affinity for funding programmes designed to benefit higher education and the environment.

Pam comes to Global Philanthropic with over 20 years experience in building powerful fundraising teams and global partnerships. Since 2017 she and the team have advised private foundations and philanthropists, universities, charities and NGOs including: CIPS Foundation, an anonymous private foundation, ActionAid, Cambridge Judge Business School, Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge, Nature Kenya, the British Council, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Saffron Hall, Millfield School, BirdLife International and Rand Europe.  Working collaboratively, they have created bespoke narratives to test the feasibility and positioning of fundraising propositions, developed cultivation and stewardship plans, gift acceptance policies and interviewed hundreds of HNWI giving clients a clear, focused and successful fundraising strategy and operation.

Prior to joining Global Philanthropic, she was Director of Development for the RSPB, creating their first high-value fundraising programme; their first ethical gifts acceptance policy and procedure; and their first seven-figure gift.  

As Director of Development at ARK she led the reorganisation of the Development Team, shaping new fundraising strategies and adapting event-led fundraising to one focused on donor values.

Prior to that, Pam was brought in as Head of Fundraising at the Cambridge University Development Office, to recruit and lead the fundraising team for the University’s historic 800th Anniversary Campaign. This £1 billion campaign was the first of its kind in the UK; working in close collaboration with senior leadership at the University, Pam and her Development team and the Colleges surpassed the £1 billion target two years ahead of schedule.

Pam founded and subsequently taught the MBA Fundraising course at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and is a guest lecturer on strategic fundraising for the MPhil Conservation Leadership course at the Cambridge Conservation Campus. 

A recognised, award-winning authority on major gifts, capital campaigns, community relations and integrated advancement, Nick leads Global Philanthropic’s Asia Pacific operations.

Over his 30-year career, he has served both in-house and as consultant to philanthropists and organisations across the sector, including education, health and medical research, arts and culture, public policy and community service. His clients include University of Melbourne, University Technology Sydney, Canberra Hospital Foundation, South Western Sydney Local Health District, National Gallery Singapore, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Brisbane Grammar School, Hong Kong International School, The Lowy Institute for Public Policy, Lifeline Australia, St Peter’s Cathedral and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Prior to Global Philanthropic, Nick built a strong track record, initially in Canada, working with organisations including the Alberta Lung Association, Leukaemia Research Fund and Aga Khan Foundation. He served as Manager, Annual Giving then Senior Development Officer at the University of Alberta during its first comprehensive campaign—the third largest university campaign in Canadian history to that time, exceeding goal by 34%.

Moving to Australia in 2001, Nick served as Director, Foundation & Alumni Relations at Curtin University in Perth, and in 2005 joined the University of Sydney as Director of Development, where he led the university-wide fundraising program, including prospect development, annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and donor relations. He also directed campaign efforts for the faculties of Law, Pharmacy, Medicine and Graduate Studies. Under his leadership, the team tripled the number of donors and grew annual fundraising revenues from $20 million to $75 million per year leading into the University’s Inspired Campaign, the first in Australia to reach $1 billion raised.

Nick is a Fellow of the Fundraising Institute of Australia as well as Educate Plus, the lead body overseeing advancement professionals within the education sector in Australia. He is a contributing author to the best-selling book Excellence in Fundraising in Canada: The Definitive Resource for Canadian Fundraisers, and he has presented widely in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

A member of the NORTH Foundation Development Board, Nick has also served on boards for the Australian Theatre for Young People, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Educate Plus, Fundraising Institute of Australia (NSW), Leukaemia Research Fund, University of Alberta School of Business, and Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.

Recently, Eelco and his Dutch-American family moved back to New York, from where he has set up base for Global Philanthropic USA as a Senior Consultant. Since 2008 Eelco has been actively involved in the field in fundraising: he is a specialist in international grantmaking from American foundations, having worked with nonprofits all over the globe.

From 2015 till 2018 he held the position of Director of Fundraising and Development at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands), focusing on planned giving, crowdfunding, major donor giving and pioneering in the combination of Gaming and fundraising. He loves to give trainings and presentations to fundraising and prospect research professionals, among others on US foundations giving internationally and the use of LinkedIn for fundraising strategy.

Prior to joining the fundraising field, Eelco worked extensively in international relations and international advocacy and strategy (EU, UN, nonprofits). As a volunteer, he has worked with passion at different Olympic and Paralympic Games and more recently, as an international Election Observer. He is a well-known supporter of the interests of Dutch citizens abroad and was a candidate for national parliament in 2017.

Eelco received his Master’s Degree from the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands, Law), the College of Europe (Poland, Masters in Advanced European Studies) and Columbia Law School (US, LL.M.). He is a Dutch and US citizen, has lived, worked and studied in several countries and speaks Spanish, Dutch, French, German and English.

Iain Rawlinson is an experienced Board Member & Chair, charity trustee and strategy adviser.

He is a Founder and Partner of Vico Partners which works closely with Boards and business leaders to manage and resolve sensitive and complex issues which unlock or defend value.

Iain began his career in investment banking with Lazard Brothers and was posted to South Africa in 1994 with Robert Fleming. Following a successful period building up a leading Southern African investment banking team, on the sale of Robert Fleming to JP Morgan in 2000 he was appointed to establish Fleming Family & Partners, where he was a founding partner and COO from 2000 to 2003. After appointing his successor, he went on to hold several senior posts within FF&P before establishing his own office in 2005.

Iain has since undertaken a wide range of business and charitable appointments. Among these, in 2009 after a successful advisory role for shareholders, Iain was appointed Chairman of The Monarch Group, leading its transformation and preparing the Group for its eventual sale in 2014. From 2017 to 2020 he was a NED at the Royal Bournemouth & Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust, and he is currently a NED at Eurasia Mining PLC.

Iain’s philanthropic activities started in 1991 as a founder member of the London International Piano competition. Since then he has held charitable board appointments, including as Chair of Tusk, the African conservation charity from 2004 to 2013, as Deputy Chairman of Global Philanthropic from 2007 to 2014, and currently as Chair of Governors at Walhampton School. From 2016 to 2019 he volunteered with the Centre for Social Innovation at the Cambridge Judge Business School.

Iain was educated at Birkenhead School, the University of Cambridge and the Inns of Court School of Law. He has a BA (MA Cantab) in Law and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1981. He is also a qualified mediator through the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London.

Robin Heller has worked for more than 30 years as a professional in the non-profit and voluntary sector, beginning as a social worker at the University of Pennsylvania (US) Health Care System. For 15 years, she was chief or senior fundraising officer at large non-profit organizations that work in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. These include the advocacy organization Children’s Defense Fund, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalism organization Center for Public Integrity/International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the youth mentoring organization Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and the global conservation organization Rare. She has helped these organizations raise more than $100 million. She holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Northwestern University (US) and a Master’s Degree in Social Service Administration from Columbia University (US). Dividing her time between Washington, D.C. and London, she is particularly interested in cross-border fundraising, enabling global organizations to engage donors in ways that are culturally competent and lead to long-term high-giving relationships. Her areas of expertise include major giving, foundations/institutional fundraising, board development, senior management team collaboration, fundraising ethics, and crisis management. The content areas in which she has deep knowledge are health, journalism and media, humanitarian issues, children and youth, education, and environmental justice. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Washington, D.C. chapter), Council on Foundations (Washington), Institute of Fundraising (London), and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) (London). She is a member of the social enterprise members’ club the House of St. Barnabas, in Soho, London, which together with its Employment

Academy exists to break the cycle of homelessness. She is a Trustee of Tzedek, the UK Jewish community’s response to extreme global poverty.

With over 20 years’ experience in philanthropic fundraising Paula Marshall is an expert in developing and delivering high value funding plans.  She creates strategies that advance institutions’ core missions and catalyse meaningful relationships with trustees, stakeholders and volunteer fundraising leaders.

Since joining Global Philanthropic in 2007 as a senior consultant she has led the Global’s specialist advisory services for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), crafting detailed and effective philanthropic giving strategies.

She has worked with clients across a range of sectors and across continents to build fundraising capacity. Among the organisations she has advised are the Birmingham Royal Ballet, University of Birmingham, the British Library, Royal Marsden Hospital, University of Liverpool, Banff Art Centre (Canada), University of Pretoria (South Africa) and the YMCA Greater Toronto (Canada).

Prior to joining Global Philanthropic Paula headed the trusts and foundations program at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she built strategic relationships with an extensive list of UK, US and German foundations, garnering support for capital, research and student activities as part of the institution’s £100 million campaign.

Whilst living in the USA, Paula led the fundraising team at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, Michigan State University, in her capacity as Director of Development. There she executed fundraising strategies encompassing annual giving, corporate sponsorship, foundation, major and deferred giving, and special events fundraising, as well as liaising with the Center’s volunteer advisory board. She also secured the Center’s largest cash gift, a seven-figure gift to support Center operations.

Other notable fundraising posts that Paula has held include the University of Detroit and Detroit Public Television, the seventh largest public television market in the US, where she worked closely with senior level volunteers from Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Additionally, Paula has experience recruiting for development leadership roles with Richmond Associates, a recruitment consultancy which specializes in senior development roles with leading non-profit organisations.

In 1998, Paula came to the UK to earn her MSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the London School of Economics. Her dissertation compared UK non-profit board member fundraising roles with US non-profit board expectations for leadership giving and active fundraising. Her BA is from the University of Michigan.

Based in Germany, Jane Joo Park has advised a variety of clients to strategically align their philanthropic ambitions in new fundraising landscapes.

As a fundraiser, Jane’s experience includes major gifts, campaigns, and foundation and government relations in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. At the London School of Economics, Jane managed a portfolio of prospects based primarily in the banking and finance industry, as well as with alumni in Germany and South Korea. She worked closely with the school leadership in designing and implementing a strategy of institutional significance during the LSE’s first campaign.

While living in the Washington, DC area, Jane was responsible for raising the initial leadership grants of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts’ first capital campaign and developed new initiatives with her programming colleagues securing six and seven-figure multi-year grants. She also served as a Board member of several non-profit organisations including the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues.

Jane is regularly invited to speak as an expert in the practice of fundraising both in English and German. She has also edited the award-winning volume on international fundraising, Across Frontiers: New International Perspectives on Educational Fundraising published by CASE.

A volunteer mentor with Werden hilft!, her neighbourhood social services organisation to support refugees in Germany, Jane also regularly volunteers as class Reunion and Annual Fund chair for Bryn Mawr College where she received her bachelor’s degree in history and East Asian Studies. Jane completed her master’s in Comparative Politics with honours at the London School of Economics and also attended Groton School. She is fluent in German and proficient in Korean.

Stuart Cowen served in the army for over thirty years with the Household Cavalry, both on operations from UN Peace-Keeping to more recent deployments in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and on State Ceremonial – planning and participating in the Golden and Diamond Jubilees and Royal Weddings.

He transitioned from military service to a second career in the charitable sector in 2015, running the charitable foundation of a FTSE 100 company, developing their charitable activity as part of the wider CSR strategy of the Company.  This work included developing the grant-making strategy, building charitable partnerships and corporate collaboration in grant-making, to measurement and evaluation of grants and staff engagement.

Stuart’s work and understanding of the grant-making world is not confined to corporate philanthropy, he has over 20 years experience with family trusts and foundations, and military charities.  He has been instrumental in establishing charitable foundations, merger and change management in charitable structures, their governance, and reviewing grant-making strategies.  When commanding the Household Cavalry, he restructured the wide and complex network of trusts and endowed funds into a single Foundation based on “outcome focused” support to soldiers, veterans, operational casualties and their dependants, the regiment’s heritage and retired military horses.

Stuart attended the Army Staff College.  He earned an MA from Cranfield University and MBA from Said Business School, Oxford.  He is also Chairman of the Rank Prize Funds, supporting research into Opto-electronics and Nutrition.

Andrew is a marine scientist turned development professional with 17 years experience generating funding for science, education and conservation programmes. Specialising in the intersection of philanthropy and cross sector partnerships, he has worked with some of the world’s largest companies including Rio Tinto, HSBC, BHP Billiton and Shell.

A passionate science communicator Andrew’s early marine research and consultancy career lead him into international conservation as Senior Scientist with JNCC, the body responsible for advising the UK Government on its overseas conservation policy. Swapping the North Sea for the Great Barrier Reef and Australian Outback in 2001, he subsequently established the Australian Museum’s portfolio of partnerships becoming a recognised and accredited partnership broker.

For the next decade Andrew worked with philanthropists, corporates and not for profit organisations in Australia and South East Asia, developing programmes for environmental and social outcomes. Winning national and international recognition, programmes such as BHP Billiton-CSIRO-Earthwatch’s Bushblitz and Shell-Earthwatch’s TeachWild re-examined the boundaries around philanthropy and cross sector relationships. A skilled facilitator and trainer, during this period he married his communication skills with an understanding of fundraising to develop and deliver a series of courses in this area for corporate, government and not-for-profit clients.

Returning to the UK with a young family Andrew was pivotal in establishing the Cambridge Science Centre as Cambridge’s premiere science education and outreach facility. As Head of Development he worked closely with the Cambridge philanthropic community and the corporate technology and life sciences cluster to fund the Centre. It grew from a proof of concept in 2013 into an organisation capable of changing how the museum sector delivers education in the UK and beyond.

Currently focussing on fundraising for Galapagos Islands based programmes. Andrew retains his love of science communication. Despite many fundraising highs and programme awards, his most cherished work remains time spent in the field filming and scripting with Sir David Attenborough.

Kevin has an impressive record in strategic and creative marketing from both client and agency side. As well as almost twenty-five years driving successful domestic and international brand strategies in the corporate and consumer world, he is no stranger to navigating and educating institutions and public sector teams in the same.

Sometimes with brutal honesty, but always with intelligent creativity, Kevin counsels clients in unlocking the full potential of their brand – no matter how deeply buried it may be. With an elegant simplicity, he helps organisations clarify their purpose and place in the world; taking them on often unexpected journeys to compelling ‘big ideas’ that set them apart.

Although having worked extensively with ‘household corporates’ such as DHL, Symantec, BT, Jaguar, Astra Zeneca, Johnson Matthey, P&O and many more, Kevin believes that his best work happens with less well known organisations who deserve to be famous. These include Central and Local Government departments, NGOs, independent schools, and charities of various shapes and sizes.

Although somewhat recent, Kevin’s association with Global Philanthropic is fast becoming influential and critically beneficial to our clients.

Ian Scott has a background in both anthropology and statistics and is hugely experienced in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

Ian spent many years in senior roles with some of the world’s largest market research companies, managing multi-million-pound accounts, conducting specialist analytics and hands-on qualitative research (focus groups etc.).  He then spent time in HR consultancy with the Hay Group and following that had responsibility for legacy income with Cancer Research UK.

Ian has for the past 8 years worked as a freelance consultant providing support to organisations in technology, high-end golf-clubs, media, the not-for-profit sector, and to high-end golf-clubs.

Amongst the not-the-profits, he has worked with recently are Children’s Hospice’s Across Scotland (CHAS), PDSA, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Bloodwise, and Friends of the Earth.

Ian has degrees in Social Research Methods, and Social Anthropology and Sociology.

Sarah is Global Philanthropic’s Group Manager.  She co-ordinates the running of the office and oversees financial matters and human resources.  She is also Executive Assistant to the Group Founder and CEO, Ben Morton Wright. 

Sarah’s background is in academia and not for profit. She has worked as a Researcher in the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge and as Centre Manager for the BRASS (Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society) Centre at Cardiff University.  She has also worked as Trust Manager for the Loomba Trust (a charity supporting children of widows in India).  Sarah received an MSc in Environmental Management from Imperial College.

Sarah is a mother of two young children and joined Global Philanthropic in 2015.

Michelle Bergsma is Global Philanthropic’s Marketing and Communications Content Manager. She develops and publishes digital marketing and communications content across the Global Philanthropic Group, for social media, web and electronic mail, ensuring balanced representation of regional offices, and contributing to the development of a cohesive Digital Marketing & Communications Strategy.

Michelle started working with nonprofit organizations over 10 years ago when she assisted the Business Development and Communications team at Katimavik. Later, she coordinated the marketing and creative efforts for ViTreo Group, a fundraising firm based in Calgary, Canada. In this role she also worked with multiple diverse nonprofit organizations in designing case for supports, #GivingTuesday campaigns, and fund development and campaign plans.

Michelle is passionate about Digital Marketing and it is through creativity, design, SEO and compelling stories that organizations can share their mission, brand, and impact with their audiences. Being able to help nonprofits understand and grow their relationships through connecting their work with their online audience is how she can help nonprofits best.

Tamsin Warr comes to Global Philanthropic as Office Manager for our Hong Kong office. She has twenty years’ experience of client and project management within the design and advertising sector. Tamsin was actually a graphic designer herself for seven years before moving on to project manage clients. She has worked on clients such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, National Grid, Nokia, Boots and Sky TV.

Tamsin moved to Hong Kong in August 2013 and was a full-time mother until recently when she joined us to look after our Hong Kong office.

Seymour Banks has 20 years of investment and hedge fund experience. He qualified in 1994 as a Chartered Accountant at Coopers & Lybrand where he specialised in the investment management industry. From 1996–2002 he worked at Barclays Global Investors where he helped build a billion dollar European hedge fund business, including long-short equity, macro and fund of hedge fund products. In 2003 he became Managing Director of Signet Capital Management Ltd. In 2013 he left Signet and joined Hyde Park Investment as a non-executive Director. In February 2016 Seymour joined Hilltop Fund Management as Chief Executive.

Bruce Salzer is a proven business leader with an accomplished background across the United States, Japan and Hong Kong in sophisticated international financial services with experience and interest in CSR/ charity fundraising. He brings with him particular skills in client relationship development, CRM, as well as creative and innovative business marketing and project management to achieve sustainable leadership positions.

While originally from Florida in the United States, for the last 15 years he has lived in Hong Kong and Tokyo. In his roles he has worked closely with clients in both North and Southeast Asia, from Australia to Pakistan.

Since 2004 Bruce has been Managing Director, Head of Corporate Access in Asia Pacific for JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and most recently Jefferies. In these roles Bruce worked with highest levels of corporate leadership as well as senior institutional investors connecting the two parties to mutual benefit. Actively pursuing a corporate access strategy positions a company to succeed with the investment community throughout various market conditions. Keeping investors informed improves a company’s credibility, while increasing liquidity, which in turn lowers the cost of capital and improves a company’s market value. Bruce has been a market leader in this space across Asia and has successfully lead the development and on-going management of programs including roadshows, investor tours, and flagship conferences around the world.

Bruce is a keen fundraiser in the charitable and philanthropic space. He was a member of the team that built the first Clinton Global Initiative (‘CGI”) conference outside of the U.S. The Clinton Global Initiative is flagship event of the non-partisan William J. Clinton Foundation. CGI brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s more pressing challenges. The three day event was held in Hong Kong from December 1-3, 2008. The event hosted by President Bill Clinton included participation by 500 world leaders, corporate heads, non-governmental organizations, and other dignitaries and raised over 180 million USD.

Bruce is currently head of the fundraising committee for Hedge Fund Cares in Hong Kong, helping to raise funds for the prevention & treatment of child abuse in Asia. He is also a fundraising committee member for Premiere Performances, Hong Kong which brings world class chamber music to Hong Kong.

When he lived in Austin, Texas, he founded and lead a New Year’s Eve Benefit Gala in 1996 and 1997 raising over 100,000 USD for Christopher House AIDS Hospice. Among other volunteer positions he also lead Octopus Club charitable group for AIDS Services of Austin hosting small and large fundraisers and leading efforts of others to raise funds for the organization.   Bruce for many years was a member of the committee that hosted the Human Rights Campaign Austin Black Tie events and other fundraisers.

Bruce has his M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business, University of Texas at Austin and his B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Chanel has 17 years of experience in educational advancement, with an equally long track record as a communications professional, engaged in all aspects of print and electronic media.

Alumni Manager for the University of Canterbury (NZ) for 11 years, and Swinburne University of Technology (VIC, Australia) for five, Chanel has deep strategic and operational knowledge across all areas of stakeholder engagement, including event and data management, communications, merchandising, training, fundraising and donor stewardship.

With large cohorts of international graduates at both institutions, she has worked particularly closely with alumni and donors in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the UK and USA.

In her subsequent role as director of the Australian office for a UK-based tele-campaign consultancy, Chanel looked after school and university clients across Australasia, consulting on annual giving strategies for telephone campaigns that each exceeded their fundraising targets.

A Fellow and Member of the Board of Directors for Educate Plus, Chanel chaired the Melbourne 2014 Educate Plus International Conference, which still holds the record for being the largest educational advancement conference staged in the Asia-Pacific.  Out of this experience, Chanel was commissioned by Educate Plus to help shape and implement training programs for school and university professionals including alumni, fundraising, marketing and recruitment staff.  As Head of Training for Global Philanthropic, Chanel looks forward to leveraging her well-honed training insights to ensure a robust experience for our clients.

Above all, Chanel’s passion is writing; it’s through this medium she gets to explore her love of telling a great story with an innate curiosity for finding out what makes things tick—turning the results into persuasive and compelling content. Her communications roles have included co-editing the University of Canterbury’s flagship biannual magazine for 10 years, writing print and electronic copy for annual giving campaigns and other donor communications, and designing and implementing digital and social media strategy.

Chanel graduated Master of Arts in English Literature from Canterbury University, along with a first class honours degree in English and History.

Chanel is based in Melbourne.

James has over 15 years of experience in not-for-profit (NFP) marketing and fundraising, working across a breadth of causes in the arts, environment, education, animal welfare, and HIV/AIDS.

He has worked with international NGOs such as WWF-Australia, where he established a major gift program—Leaders of Change—that drove a 20% increase in major gifts; and also with smaller state-based entities, such as ACON, where he led the transformation of the Red Ribbon Appeal for World AIDS Day into a coordinated, multi-channel, volunteer fundraising event that increased contributions by more than 250% in the first year.

During his seven-year tenure at the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW (2011-17), James helped transform the AUD$10M Revolving Property Fund into the most successful in Australia, comparable with the best in the world, as benchmarked by an independent agency in 2017.

James also led the creation of the innovative Yellowbox Campaign for the Trust, which enabled donors to “purchase” 10sqm blocks of land to protect rare and threatened species. Donors were given a unique GPS code, allowing them to “visit” and track the progress of their individual “yellowbox”. James presented on Yellowbox at the World Parks Congress in Sydney (2014) to a global audience, and at the National Private Land Conservation Conference in Hobart (2017), where he not only shared his learnings on effective NFP digital marketing but also hosted the Conference Debate.

While at the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, James contributed to an almost AUD$3M-increase in philanthropic gifts in less than 12 months.

Since 2017, James has consulted to Trust for Nature (Victoria) and the Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group. He has also been involved in a project for SAMSN (Survivors and Mates Support Network), a charity established to support male victims of child sexual abuse. He was recently appointed interim CEO of the Jane Goodall Institute of Australia for a 12-month contract, during which he will lead that organisation’s plans for massive growth.

He also currently sits on the Advisory Board of not-for-profit start-up Food Frontier, led by 2015 Young Victorian of the Year Thomas King.

In 2016, James was a finalist as NFP Executive of Year in The CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year Awards.

He is the co-author of a major paper examining the motivations of landholders entering into conservation agreements, due to be published in late 2018.

James is based in Sydney, Australia.

Kate began her career fundraising for some of the most prestigious arts institutions in the UK, including English National Opera, Tate Gallery Liverpool, and the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2004, she moved into higher education, working first with the University of Liverpool, then the University of Nottingham.

At Nottingham, Kate led a university-wide campaign—incorporating campuses in Malaysia and China—to raise £150M by 2015. The campaign closed in 2017 after achieving £242M.

Kate moved to Australia in 2013 to become Chief Engagement Officer for the University of Adelaide, growing and developing relationships with government, industry, alumni, donors and the wider community. During this time, she was also a member of the Chief Advancement Officers group for Australia’s Group of Eight (Go8) universities.

Kate spent three years as Chief Advancement Officer for St Peter’s College, Adelaide, Australia’s third oldest school. Kate’s portfolio included admissions, communications and marketing, alumni and community relations, and fundraising, as well as the school archives and museum.

She is currently Executive Director, Advancement at the University of Tasmania and is enjoying getting to know the people and places of Australia’s most southern state.

Kate enjoys being a voluntary contributor to the advancement community and is regularly seen supporting the programs and initiatives organised by CASE, Educate Plus, and FIA.

Malcolm Hutton has a vast amount of experience in the financial sector and became a Director of Global Philanthropic in February 2003. He retired as a Senior Director of Bell Lawrie White (subsidiary of Brewin Dolphin Holdings Plc) in 2001. Prior to that his impressive career has included posts as a Senior Director at Allied Provincial Securities Ltd, many years as a Partner at Parsons & Co (later to merge to become Allied Provincial) and previously at Abercromby & Stott. Malcolm Hutton is also involved with a number of other appointments including: Former General Commissioner of Income Tax (Aberdeen and Kincardine Divison); Trustee of the University of Aberdeen Development Trust and various other charitable organizations.

Martin Haigh was an early investor in Global Philanthropic. Martin’s has enjoyed a few careers, the first in stockbroking which lasted twenty years and saw him head up trading teams dealing in the emerging equity markets of South America and Asia for some of the worlds largest institutional brokers such as HSBC, Banco Santander, Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered, the second in event ticketing in Asia working for Magnetic Asia and more recently for the world’s largest promoter Live Nation as Head of Ticketmaster Asia.

Colin brings more than 20 years of achievement across the higher education and non-profit sectors. He has delivered exceptional outcomes through designing, building, leading and managing complex organisational strategy.

Colin developed the Advancement function at the Australian National University (ANU), leading the transition from an endowed funds focus towards a comprehensive approach to philanthropy. In addition to establishing one of Australia’s most innovative philanthropic operations, Colin worked with university senior executives to secure and implement two of the largest gifts in Australian history—the Tuckwell gifts—alongside a diverse range of other six- and seven-figure donations.

Prior to joining ANU, Colin was Executive Director of Australian Science Innovations (ASI), a non-profit organisation offering national and international programs in support of secondary science education. During his five years there, Colin developed corporate partnerships to evolve ASI from a single program serving 3,500 students, to a multi-program, multi-partner organisation with an annual participation of 35,000, from three different countries.

Colin originally trained as an experimental physicist, studying at ANU and the University of Western Australia (UWA). A Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship took him to the University of Tokyo to work on gravitational wave detection. After a career of teaching and research in physics, he turned to organisational development and management, undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate in Cross-Sector Partnership with the University of Cambridge’s Program for Industry, and an MBA (Executive) with the Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW.

Colin is an active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and was a member of their International Commission on Alumni Relations from 2016-2018. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings and chaired the CASE Asia Pacific Advancement Conference in Singapore in 2015. 

 Colin has advised clients in the education, research and public policy sectors including Burgmann College ANU, Canberra Grammar School, St Michael’s Collegiate School, Questacon, Parks Australia, Flinders University, The King’s School and Marist College Canberra amongst others.

Lisa Lai joined Global Philanthropic in 2009 as Managing Director, Asia. As the head of Global Philanthropic’s Asian Office she is part of the company’s senior management and consulting team.

Lisa has vast experience in government relations, liaising with the senior management of various universities and alumni bodies, as well as fundraising for a variety of private and corporate foundations. Through her many years in the business sector she has developed a rich network of multi-national corporations and organisations across Asia. Through her time with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, she has also developed contacts within municipal and central governments in the PRC.

Based in Hong Kong, Lisa oversees Global Philanthropic’s portfolio and activities in Asia including Greater China. Her responsibilities include relationship management and development, alumni interaction, fund-raising achievement plans and organisational development.

As an active member of the Hong Kong University Alumni Association, Lisa has served on the executive committee for an extended number of years. She graduated from the HKU with a Bachelor of Arts degree (First Class Honours) and subsequently obtained her Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics. She is fluent in English and several Chinese dialects including Putonghua.

Kaisa Freeman has extensive experience in advisory and senior level roles in corporate affairs, industry/university partnerships and marketing.

In a wide-ranging career, Kaisa has provided strategic and tactical advice, managed strategic research, innovation and education partnerships, and implemented initiatives at local, regional and global levels. In 2011-2015 Kaisa acted as Stream Lead in a global, AUD 50 million transformation project focusing on graduate attraction, recruitment and retention strategies, processes and systems. She also led the Rio Tinto Education Partnerships Program working closely with leading universities such as The Imperial College London and The University of Queensland, as well as educational institutions in Africa, Asia, North and South America. She has also had accountability for the design and delivery of programs associated with diversity and inclusion, STEM, learning and leadership development.

Kaisa earned her Master of Business Administration at the Australian National University in 2001. She also holds a Master of Political Sciences from the University of Helsinki, a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Trade Management and a Diploma of Sustainability. In 2014, she completed AICD’s Company Director’s course. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the University of Western Australia Business School. Her part-time research focuses on corporate investment in global education.

KEY AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Strategic Partnerships Management
• Global Talent Attraction, Recruitment Marketing and Development Strategies
• Industry-led Curriculum, Learning and Pathways Program Design, Development and Promotion
• End-to-end Data Analytics, CRM and Digital Marketing Solutions
• Marketing Operations Optimisation

Daniël de Blocq van Scheltinga is an experienced advisor on strategic and financial matters with strong pan-Asian track record and broad network, most notably in Greater China region.

Daniël is the founder and managing partner of Polarwide, a Hong Kong based financial and strategic advisory firm founded in 2008. Daniël was the first foreigner to be granted permission to run the finance company of a top tier Chinese State Owned Enterprise, having established and managed ChemChina Finance Company. Prior to that Daniël has been in multiple positions in corporate and investment banking for 26 years, including Asia Pacific Head of Chemicals and Asia Head Asset Based Finance for ABN AMRO.  He has lived in Hong Kong for 16 years, and continues to spend much of his time in China, advising both international and Chinese firms, as well as leaders in the public and private sectors.

Daniël is the Chairman of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Executive Committee member of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, and Advisory Committee member of the Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Advisory Committee of ICAC.

Before moving to Asia, Daniël was actively involved in fundraising for the Order of St. John in the Netherlands.

Daniël is a graduate of Leiden University in the Netherlands, holding a Master of Law degree with a specialty of International law.

Kelley McLendon has joined Global Philanthropic in January 2014 to strengthen the growing advisory team.

She is an accomplished senior strategy executive with over 20 years’ experience for leading American and Australian banking institutions including Goldman Sachs JBWere, National Australia Bank and Bank of America. This includes extensive experience in philanthropic advisory services to individuals, families, private business and corporates. She has expertise in managing all aspects of trust and foundations, overseeing operating non-profit resources and endowments, and in providing broader private wealth advisory services. She is also specialist in corporate social responsability, specifically community investment and employee engagement.

After more than ten years and multiple positions in banking in Massachusetts, Kelley became Director of Charitable Trust Services for the Bank of Boston (now Bank of America) in 1998. She managed more than 1,000 charitable trusts and foundations, oversaw the disbursement of more than $90 million in trust funds annually. She also delivered numerous seminars on the benefits of strategic philanthropy to prospects and clients.

In 2004, she relocated to Australia with National Australia Bank (NAB) as an Executive for Private Wealth Management. Taking advantage of her US-based knowledge of philanthropy, NAB quickly appointed Kelley as Group Senior Manager for Corporate Community Investment (CCI). In this role, she was responsible to the Board of Directors for the development of goals for and implementation of the first ever global strategy to leverage the corporation’s total CCI, including philanthropic giving, community partnerships, employee workplace giving and engagement, across all banks and businesses on a worldwide basis. As a result of her leadership, NAB’s commitment to spend 1% of pre-tax profit on CCI was achieved in 2010. This was prior to the target date of 2011.

Kelley continued to assume philanthropic advisory positions in the banking sector, culminating in her appointment as Director of Philanthropic Services with Goldman Sachs JBWere in Sydney in 2008. She provided high net worth clients with strategic advice on philanthropy as part of their overall personal and financial goals, based on their wealth, tax, family, and legacy interests. She trained external financial professionals on integrating philanthropy into wealth planning. She also consulted to operating non-profits on best practices associated with topics such as optimizing governance, financial resources and donor relationships.

Kelley currently works across the United States, Australia and Europe serving as consultant for a diverse array of clients in the private philanthropy, corporate community investment, and non-profit sectors.

Kelley has a strong background in Finance with a Masters in Business Adminstration (MBA). She is also a licensed Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

Lucy is a highly experienced, people-focused fundraiser and events manager.  She has been lucky enough to work in a variety of sectors; corporate, media and charitable, but it is in the not-for-profit sector where her heart lies.

Lucy started her career in broadcast media and worked on major global music projects such as the BRIT Awards, Glastonbury and the launch of Coca Cola In Concert for the BBC and independent production companies.

Her move to the charitable sector saw her lead a variety of flagship events to drive awareness, engagement and fundraising contributions.  Her positions required her to build long standing, collaborative relationships with patrons, trustees and sponsors.

Lucy’s recent position at Barclays Capital gave her a unique insight into how corporate CRM divisions work as well as the chance to account manage the Bank’s presence at both the IMF and WEF.

Lucy is from the UK but loves to travel; she lived in Argentina for 5 years and is currently based in Singapore.  She has a Masters from Edinburgh University.

Leonard Forman is managing consultant of the Edinburgh-based strategic communications consultancy Forman & Partners which he founded in 2011 after almost 20 years in higher education advancement and public affairs.

He advises ambitious clients across education, arts and culture and cities on strategic communications, brand positioning, partnerships and engagement helping them focus on innovation and leadership.

He has worked with and advised some of the world’s leading educational and cultural institutions including the British Council, Moscow Kremlin Museums, US-UK Fulbright Commission, University of Strathclyde, University of Dundee, National Portrait Gallery, London, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and The Smithsonian Institution.

Leonard is a senior communications strategist and practitioner, and has significant understanding and career experience supporting major philanthropic projects.

A former special adviser at the University of Aberdeen, he played a leading role in positioning the university during its £150million development campaign in European and international markets most notably in the USA.

Leonard established an external affairs office for the University of Aberdeen in Edinburgh where he developed more than 150 projects with civic Scotland partners including governments, national companies and cultural institutions, international festivals and diplomatic missions.

Prior to Aberdeen, he served in the first press and public relations team at the Robert Gordon University where he managed brand communications and public engagement.

Elena joined Global Philanthropic in 2012. She provides operational support to Global Philanthropic consultants, coordinates projects for clients, designs and prepares training programmes, supervises communications and is executive assistant to the Group founder and CEO Ben Morton Wright. Elena is also a project manager for Global Philanthropic’s Russian speaking clients, including CIS and Central Asia.

Elena received an MA in Fundraising for Non-profit from Bologna University, Italy, where she studied with leading UK, US and Canadian fundraising professionals.

Elena’s background is in linguistics and intercultural mediation. After completing her BA in Applied Linguistics at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators, Bologna University, Italy, Elena worked as an interpreter for business liaison.

Elena speaks Russian, English, Italian and Spanish.

With over 20 years experience of fundraising, Kate Crane Briggs has worked for organisations ranging from major UK institutions to start-ups in Cape Town, South Africa where she now lives with her family.

Before becoming a consultant, Kate held senior development and management positions in London’s Natural History Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and Prince’s Drawing School.

Kate has undertaken fundraising capacity building projects at the UK’s Public Catalogue Foundation, City & Guilds of London Art School, Ikamva Labantu (South Africa) and the Museum of Design, Innovation, Leadership and the Arts which will be Africa’s first such museum.

Kate was an active member of the renewal campaign teams for the St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London and St Michael & All Angels (Hackney). While an Associate Consultant at the Philanthropy Company she undertook fundraising feasibility studies for London’s Africa Centre and Southwark Playhouse.

While Kate’s contracts at the Royal Academy of Arts and University of London (Institute of Historical Research) specialised in corporate fundraising, Kate has played a key role in developing regular individual giving, most notably for the Southbank Centre and Barbican.

Currently, Kate is an institutional advancement strategist and mentor for South African Education Environment Project (SAEP), Camps Bay Schools and Thembalitsha Foundation, as well as representing Global Philanthropic in South Africa. Kate’s approach is to look at all areas of generating funds and income – making her clients sustainable financially and increasingly this isn’t just through philanthropic, grants and corporate giving but enterprise and innovation.

Kate is an active member of South Africa’s Women in Philanthropy and New Generation Fundraisers’ Network where she recently presented a paper on capital campaigns.

With a BA from the University of East Anglia in Art History and a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from Westminster University, Kate is now on a Common Purpose’s part-time leadership programme based in the Western Cape.

Dr Diya Gupta, a researcher and writer with significant experience in communicating specialist knowledge to a broad range of audiences, joins Global Philanthropic in 2020.  She believes in writing with imagination, rigour and flair.

Educated at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, as well as the University of Cambridge and King’s College London, UK, Diya has been a philanthropic communications writer for over 10 years. She has worked on a wide spectrum of writing projects – cases for support, proposals, donor reports, promotional brochures, leaflets and web content – on themes ranging from museum conservation, scholarships and outreach programmes to art history, entrepreneurship and public health initiatives.

Diya formed part of the University of Cambridge’s historic 800th Anniversary Campaign, which raised over £1 billion two years ahead of schedule, and then worked with the University of Sheffield in building its trusts and foundations programme.

Between 2015 and 2019, while undertaking doctoral research at King’s College London, Diya was employed as a freelance philanthropic writer on a variety of projects by King’s College London, London Business School and the medical charity Blood Cancer UK (formerly Bloodwise). In 2014, she developed and wrote the case-for-support for the Buddhist charity Land of Joy, which raised over £1 million.

Diya has over 10 years’ experience as a freelance journalist, with feature pieces on literature, history and culture published in the Guardian, BBC World Histories magazine, The Telegraph (India) and Mint Lounge (India), among others. You can read these articles here: http://diyagupta.co.uk/featurearticles/. Drawing upon her doctoral research, she is currently working on her first book on a literary and cultural history of India in the Second World War.

Eleanor comes to Global Philanthropic with over 17 years of experience across the Institutional Equity and Investment Banking Divisions of Morgan Stanley, Cazenove, Standard Chartered, Mizuho and BNP Paribas.  Starting her career raising funds for corporates within Morgan Stanley’s Equity Capital Markets department in London, her hometown.  She became a CFA charterholder in 2001.

Moving to Hong Kong in 2001 she created Morgan Stanley’s Asia ex Japan Corporate Access group; advising C-suite executives of Asia’s largest companies regarding their investor relations programmes.   Working to connect Asian corporates with current and potential investors around the globe.

Subsequent roles included equities Client Relationship Management, business management and project management.  Most recently Eleanor worked negotiating terms for research payments under the MIFID framework.

Eleanor is a keen sportswoman and was recently the volunteer HKFC hockey mini & youth Chair for three seasons (300 kids!).  When not in the office or with her three daughters, she can be found on the hockey pitch or on the fabulous Hong Kong mountain trails.

Melody is the founder of dogoodhere.org, a network of professionals delivering design labs to foster collaboration and connectivity in the social sector. Combining data science and design thinking, Melody uses data-driven and empathy-based methodology to help build capacity for nonprofits to be versatile, diverse, and sustainable.

As a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), her fundraising career spans over fifteen years and several sectors including Arts, Education, Health, Animal Welfare, and Wildlife Conservation. Her area of expertise includes Major Gift fundraising, Prospect Management, Sponsorship, and International Fundraising.

Melody is a committee member for IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity Access) and International Development Committee for the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Global. She is an Alumni Coach for IDEO U – an online learning community created by IDEO, a leading design agency for Design Thinking. She is a former board member of the Association for Professional Researchers in Advancement (APRA) Canada, and is an active speaker and educator with APRA Canada, APRA International, CAFP, and AFP Calgary Chapter.

Louise joined Global Philanthropic in 2020, with twenty years’ experience in fundraising. She has secured over £20 million for a range of charitable causes, from grants, trusts and foundations, and major gifts. Louise has significant experience working in the charity sector and also in Higher Education fundraising. She has secured six and seven figure gifts for capital appeals, arts projects, scholarships, medical research, scientific research and conservation work.

Alongside her role at Global Philanthropic Louise also works as Funding Development Manager at the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. She believes strongly in the value of music education and is excited to have the opportunity to fundraise for such a wonderful cause. Prior to this she was a Senior Philanthropy Manager at the University of Sheffield, where she built relationships with some of the largest foundations in the UK. During this time Louise secured significant donations for scholarships, Parkinson’s disease research, plant science and a microscopy facility. Louise is also experienced in philanthropic writing and case for support development.

Louise is based in Sheffield and has a B Mus (Hons) in Music from the University of Huddersfield and an MSc in Development Management from the Open University.

Harriet joined Global Philanthropic straight after University in June 2020, having spent three years studying for a degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Leeds, where she specialised in Biology and Maths. 

Harriet works supporting Sarah Hutchings, Group Manager, as well as, assisting CEO Ben Morton Wright and Europe President Pam Davis. Harriet provides administrative support and assists with research for projects being delivered by the company, including our annual conference, Talking Philanthropy. 

Harriet is currently a part-time member of staff; when she is not working, she enjoys keeping active and reading. 

She is currently living at her family home in Suffolk, UK.