As our Chief Executive, James leads our work to bring funders together to build a better London by taking action on what matters to our city and our communities. Since joining the team in 2017 he has grown the reach and impact of the charity, enabling members from across the public, private and philanthropic sectors to work collaboratively to achieve positive change. Through covid-19 he led our work to bring over 400 funders together to sign the “We Stand With The Sector” pledges to support community action, and enabled the London Community Response collaboration (which saw 67 funders working together to give out £57.7m in grants to support London’s diverse civil society responding to the pandemic). He was recognised by Charity Times for his leadership through covid-19 as one of the sector’s 20 “Pandemic Pioneers”, and was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2022 for his services to charitable funding in London.
Immediately prior to joining the London Funders team, James was Chief Executive at Greater London Volunteering, the regional membership body for social action charities in the capital, where he worked alongside the Mayor’s office to win the bid for London to be the European Capital of Volunteering in 2016. Previous roles have included Trustee and/or leadership roles in civil society support organisations in nine London boroughs, as well as being Chief Executive at the Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau in central London. James was the co-founder and Chair of the Volunteer Centre for Tower Hamlets, Chair of South West London Law Centres for ten years, and on the Trustee Board of his local Citizens Advice service for eight years, and continues to volunteer in his local community outside of work.
Ask James about: the ambitions driving London Funders' strategy, exciting developments in funder collaboration, and why we're so passionate about putting equity and justice at the heart of our work.
James' hidden London gem is: vegan "fish" and chips from Brockley's Rock, eaten in the delightful Hilly Fields.