- Professor John Annette
- Kathleen Duncan
- Stephen Dunmore
- Andrew Hind
- Barbara Monroe
- Georgina Watts
Profiles of the other Commission Members will be posted here shortly
Professor John Annette
John Annette is Professor of Citizenship and Lifelong Learning, Dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education and Pro Vice Master for Widening Participation and Community Partnerships at Birkbeck, University of London.
He is on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Educational Studies, the International Journal of Citizenship Education and the London Review of Education.
He is currently researching and publishing in the areas of citizenship education in schools and for lifelong learning, community based learning and community partnerships in higher education, and on community leadership and involvement in community development and local governance.
His latest publications are:
- Education for Democratic Citizenship co-edited with Professor Andrew Lockyer and Sir Bernard Crick.
- 'Citizenship and Higher Education in the UK' with Professor Terence McLoughlin in Citizenship and Higher Education, Routledge Falmer 2005
- 'Character, Civic Renewal and Service Learning for Democratic Citizenship in Higher Education', British Journal of Educational Studies, vol 53, no 3, Sept 05
- 'Lifelong Learning for Active Citizenship Through Community Involvement'in 'Old' and 'New' Worlds of Adult Learning', ESREA 2005.
He has been active in working in partnership with local communities in north London and facilitating capacity building for community involvement for many years. He is an advisor to the Department for Education and Skills on youth volunteering, also the Civil Renewal Unit of the Home Office on capacity building for citizenship and community development. He is on the Executive of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) and Chair of the 'Higher Education Community Partnership' national network.
He is an advisor to the Department for Education and Skills on youth volunteering, a long standing trustee of Student Volunteer, England and he chairs an a national academic network which promotes learning through volunteering in higher education. He is a board member of CITIZED and also advises the QCA on the community involvement stand of the national curriculum citizenship education subject.
He has been involved in the recent IPPR commission on public involvement in the public services, which launched its report The Lonely Citizen in June 2004. Finally he is an adviser to the London Civic Forum, which supports the new Greater London Authority and the Mayor, and he is currently chairing the Steering Group of the 'Active Learning for Active Citizenship' national programme of the Civil Renewal Unit of the Home Office.
Why volunteering matters to John
“I was a volunteer as a school student and at university, where I did it as part of my university degree. I volunteer now in a variety of ways and I still learn from these experiences as I hope I benefit for others. I believe that all volunteers should have the opportunity to learn reflectively from their experiences of volunteering and personally develop from that learning experience while they work to benefit others.”
Kathleen Duncan
Kathleen Duncan was Director General of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales (formerly the TSB Foundation for England and Wales) from 1990 – 2005. During this time the Foundation made grants totaling £140million to over 30000 charitable organisations.
Previous roles include working in Hong Kong for seven years, setting up the independent copyright society (CASH) and running a travel business; followed by appointments as International Marketing Director for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd and Marketing Director/Centenary Appeal Director for St John Ambulance. From 1995 to 2000 she was Vice Chair of Crime Concern and a member of the Executive Board of the Association of Charitable Foundations from 1994 until 2000 including Vice Chair 1999-2000.
Kathleen has been a Trustee of the National Family and Parenting Institute since 1999 and chairs the DfES Parenting Fund Advisory Panel. Other trusteeships include Changing Faces, Hosking Houses Trust, New Philanthropy Capital and the British Institute for Human Rights. She is also a Governor of Christ’s Hospital School.
Why volunteering matters to Kathleen
“I saw for myself the vital role carried out by 66,000 volunteers throughout the country as Director of the St John Ambulance Brigade Centenary Appeal in 1987 and went out with the brigade for example on duty in Trafalgar Square on New Years Eve and the London Marathon.
During 15 years as Director General of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales, grants were made to many thousands of charities who depend on the commitment and passion of those who volunteer their help. The recruitment and retention of volunteers is a critical factor in providing charitable services to those in need of them.”
Stephen Dunmore
Stephen Dunmore has been Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund since 1 June 2004. He was previously Chief Executive of the New Opportunities Fund (since 1998) and in November 2003, was also appointed Chief Executive of the Community Fund, in order to lead the merger of the two organisations to form the Big Lottery Fund. Following postings in housing and urban policy divisions in the Department of the Environment between 1984 and 1992, he became Acting Chief Executive of the Liverpool Housing Action Trust in 1992 and then moved to the Citizen’s Charter Unit in the Cabinet Office in 1993 and to the Merseyside Task Force in the same year. From 1995 to 1998, he was Director, Regeneration, Transport and Planning in the Government Office for Merseyside.
He has also been chair of a housing association and was a member of the Government’s Urban Green Spaces Task Force and ACEVO’s Sure Funding Commission. He currently sits on the Giving Forum and the Government’s Cleaner, Safer, Greener Management Board.
Why volunteering matters to Stephen
“I believe that volunteering, in all its variety, has a key role to play in rebuilding civil society and promoting social cohesion. I am particularly interested in engaging young people in volunteering – for example, extended schools may create a new context for wider community involvement, providing a real opportunity to promote this engagement.”
Andrew Hind
Andrew Hind joined the Charity Commission as its first chief executive in 2004.
Andrew has extensive experience of working with the charity sector. He was a senior executive with ActionAid (1986-1991) and Barnardo's (1992-1995) before moving to the BBC World Service in 1995, where he was chief operating officer. Andrew has served as a trustee of several major charities, including VSO, the UK Committee for UNICEF and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. He has also acted as a volunteer and trustee for a number of smaller charities in his local community in North London.
Andrew was co-founder in 1988 of the Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) - an organisation promoting excellence in financial management for charities. He was Chair of CFDG from 1992-1994. He is the author of 'The Governance and Management of Charities', and a former judge of the national Charity Awards.
Andrew is a member of the Audit Committee of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Why volunteering matters to Andrew
“Volunteering is the difference between functional and dysfunctional society. If we can get active and inclusive volunteering taking place in all our communities, there is no limit to the potential we all have to make the world a better place.”
Barbara Monroe
Barbara Monroe has been a social worker for over 30 years, working in a variety of settings: probation, child protection, community health and hospitals. Throughout her career she has been privileged to work with volunteers and has herself had many volunteering roles. In 1987 she joined St Christopher’s Hospice and became Director of the Social Work Department and the bereavement service. Following a period as Director of Patient and Family Services she was appointed Chief Executive in 2000. She is also Director of the St Christopher's Candle Project designed to offer help to children and young people bereaved through death and Chair of the national Childhood Bereavement Network. She has been responsible for delivering and implementing a variety of volunteer training and supervision programmes. She is a well-known lecturer and trainer in this country and abroad and has written extensively about bereavement and the psychosocial aspects of palliative care. St Christopher’s benefits from the support of over 600 volunteers who donate about 3000 hours of help every week.
Why volunteering matters to Barbara
“Throughout my career I have been privileged to work with volunteers and in organisations that benefit from their support. For example at St Christopher’s Hospice we benefit from the support of over 600 volunteers who donate over 3,000 hours of help every week and who undertake an enormous variety of roles from bereavement support to transporting patients. They help to extend the variety and scope of services that we are able to offer to dying individuals and those close to them.
“I believe passionately in the importance of volunteers’ contribution to society and in the mutual benefit and development they bring to the organisations they support. The ‘gift relationship’ represented in their work is a vital factor in promoting social cohesion and understanding and the quality of communal life. Volunteers represent a wide variety of community perspectives and in return bring their influence and experiences back to those communities. Volunteers remind us all that good care is not a commodity.”
Georgina Watts
Volunteering has affected me personally and provided a focus for me professionally. I started out teaching disabled teenagers to swim as part of a youth project when I was 16 and have been volunteering ever since. In my twenties I immersed myself in student volunteering and activism and later on in community welfare advice. The training I received as a volunteer helped me to become an advice centre manager. More recently, volunteering has become the principle focus of my career. As chief executive, I led Youth Action Network for 5 years, as it became England’s leading youth volunteering charity. Obviously I am passionate about volunteering but my particular enthusiasm is in putting young people in control of their own projects. I contributed to the work of the Russell Commission on Youth Action and Engagement as an independent adviser and researcher. I am a trustee of Volunteering England and having given birth to my daughter Eleanor in 2005, I now split my time between motherhood and my newly formed consultancy.
Why volunteering matters to Georgina
“Volunteering matters to me because it changes lives. I have experienced at first hand how volunteering positivelyimpacts people, communities and society and I believe it has the potential to do much more. At a national volunteering event for young people, simply by bringing together young volunteers from across England, to share and celebrate their successes: prejudices were shattered; new understanding built and friendships created. Friendships across cultures, religion and race that still exist today. Just by encouraging volunteers, of all ages, to express their passions, exert real influence over their activism, and take controlled risks, it is possible to transform confidence, build self-esteem and change life-direction. It is a proud moment for me to be involved in the Commission for the Future of Volunteering as it has the potential to learn much from real grassroots experiences and create a lasting legacy upon which to build better volunteering practices and make universal involvement possible. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity to build on the work of the Russell Commission and the Year of the Volunteer and I hope cultivate a vision for volunteering that enables everyone in England to play their part in changing lives.”
