The Charity CEO Podcast

In this episode, I am joined by James Watson-O’Neill, CEO of Sense, for a conversation about what it really means to create a world where disabled people are connected and included. Sense supports disabled people with complex needs to communicate, experience the world and fulfil their potential. The £100m+ charity currently supports over 30k disabled people and families in the UK. The charity has...

Anthropy UK is described as the UK's largest gathering of future makers - inspiring a better Britain. Held annually at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Anthropy brings together leaders from civil society, business, academia, and government, to re-imagine how the country can thrive. This year (2026), I was invited to participate in Anthropy, and it was a real privilege to moderate a session with Rosie...

Thelma Ekiyor is an award-winning global leader in women’s economic empowerment, philanthropy, impact investing, and international development. She is currently the Global CEO of Women for Women International - the first African woman to hold the role. Since 1993, Women for Women International has invested in the power of women in conflict-affected countries, supporting survivors of war to rebuild...

This episode looks at leadership, evidence, and systems change in one of the most complex areas of public policy: the criminal justice system. We are joined by two leaders who work at the heart of this system. Anne Fox , outgoing Chief Executive of Clinks , the national infrastructure body that supports and represents voluntary organisations working with people in contact with the criminal justice...

In the fight for children’s rights, the Global Fund for Children champions bold ideas that might otherwise go unheard. Global Fund for Children or GFC is a global nonprofit dedicated to discovering, funding, and coaching community-based organisations and individuals, who are driving change at the grass-roots, on issues like gender justice, education, and youth power. What makes GFC's approach note...

Sarah Elliott started as the new CEO of the UK charity, Shelter, in September 2025, having previously run the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) for 5 years. Shelter exists to defend everyone’s right to a safe home. Campaigning for housing justice since 1966, Shelter has fought hard to change the housing system in the UK. In June 2025, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, announced a £39...

In August 2021, the Taliban swept back into power in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, toppling the then democratic government in a matter of days. Adela Raz, was serving as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., after having been the country’s first female Permanent Representative to the U.N. She suddenly found herself representing a government that no longer existed. Adela refused to recognise t...

In the nonprofit world, we often celebrate beginnings—new initiatives, fresh funding, and ambitious strategies. But what happens when a charity needs to close its doors? Does closure mean failure, or can it be part of a responsible, strategic decision? In this conversation, Kathy Evans of Children England and Rosie Ferguson from House of St Barnabas explore the realities of charity closure: the ch...

“Gender equality is a choice… working for greater gender equality is not a zero sum game, where you’re taking something from one group and giving it to another - it’s helping to level the playing field for everyone.” Special guest, Eliza Reid, is a bestselling writer, public speaker, gender equality advocate, entrepreneur and former First Lady of Iceland. Iceland has topped the World Economic Foru...

"Empowerment is the ability to make choices... and... having economic tools, economic resources is a way of providing the means for those choices." The world has come a long way since 1974 when women in America could not have their own bank account or checking account without their husband’s signature. The 1st United Nations World Conference on Women in 1975 and the subsequent creation of Women’s...

With an audacious goal to lift 20m people in Africa out of extreme poverty by 2030, Dianne Calvi, President and CEO of Village Enterprise, joins us to share how they plan to make this happen.  Centred around their core value of ‘Ubuntu’, a South African term, which means ‘humanity’ or ‘I am because we are’, Village Enterprise seeks to transform lives through entrepreneurship, innovation and c...

“There is a problem! Business has a problem, the world has a problem, because we are just not utilising the talents, the ambitions, the drive of half the world’s population (the female half)... Economic gender justice is essential both for women’s freedom and equality, but also for the development of the world.”  We are honoured to have on the podcast, Cherie Blair CBE KC!  As the Founde...

Trigger warning: This episode explores and talks about miscarriage, stillbirth and baby loss.  Baby loss and miscarriage is something that many parents face and yet it is still something that is not openly talked about in today’s society.  In this very special episode, I speak with Karen Burgess, Founder & CEO of the charity Petals, that provides counselling support to families affec...

“The humanity that connects us is stronger than what has been created to divide us”. Nisha Anand is the CEO of Dream. Org , a nonprofit organization that brings people together across racial, social and partisan lines to solve society’s toughest problems. A born change-maker, Nisha was arrested in 1998 while handing out pro-democracy leaflets in the military dictatorship of Myanmar and was sentenc...

“It was thanks to this country that lots of those rights and protections that exist for refugees are in place … but now… you get that sense in lots of parts of the world, frankly, that the UK isn’t playing the active role that it has played historically.” The International Rescue Committee is a global organisation that helps people affected by humanitarian crises. The IRC supports people who have...

“Deceptively simple, but devastatingly effective” This is how Ruth Marvel, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in the UK, describes the Award.  The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was started by His Royal Highness the late Prince Philip in 1956 to provide young men with development opportunities to acquire self-confidence, gain a sense of purpose and help them become well-rounded citiz...

“You change the world, when you change the lives of children… It is better for society to build stronger children, than fix broken adults.” The Children’s Society believes that every young person deserves a good childhood.  Reflecting on the current context for young people in the UK today, is Mark Russell, CEO of The Children’s Society.  Mark tells us how he and his colleagues are stepp...

“We have won the war on climate denial… (but) we cannot underestimate what an enormous fight this is… the climate movement being mainstream doesn’t mean we have the power to make change happen yet.” In this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with not one, but two impressive non-profit leaders: Areeba Hamid and Will McCallum, co-Executive Directors of Greenpeace UK.  What's unique about...

“Gift Aid, yes people know about it (but) they still dont understand it… there is about £750m unclaimed in Gift Aid every year, split between smaller charities unable to claim or dont have the skills to do it and higher rate tax-payers not really understanding … how they could be claiming an additional 25% on the gross (donation) in their tax returns.” Our guest today is Anna Josse, Founder and CE...

“Creating One VisionSpring is anchored in what we do, so our mission and our social enterprise models, and its anchored in how we do it, and that is in the values that are at the heart of our teamwork… I cant emphasise enough how much values are critical to our success.” There are over a billion people in the world who don’t have the eye-glasses they need.  VisionSpring is a non-profit that p...

There are 8 million people affected by human trafficking in India every year, and over 50 million globally. According to the UN, 79% of human trafficking is for sexual exploitation and 20% of all trafficking victims are children.  Adventure Ashram is a small but mighty charity that is looking to change this! Driven by a spirit of adventure and freedom, the Adventure Ashram focuses on supporti...

“What we have learned throughout the years of running the Big Give… is that Match Funding is a great way to get more people to give, and people to give more.” The Big Give is the UK’s leading online match funding platform.  The Big Give Christmas Challenge took place from the 29th of November to the 6th of December 2022 and in that one week, raised £28.6m for over 1,000 charities across the U...

“In a way what we are doing, is we’re engineering social and cultural capital for those who don’t have it… that’s what mentoring is” In this episode we explore a new format for the show. Two charity CEOs having a panel discussion on the topic of mentoring: Bejal Shah, CEO of ReachOut and Verena Hefti, Founder and CEO of Leaders Plus. ReachOut is a mentoring and education charity, rooted in local c...

“No child should die from hunger… we have the treatment… this treatment has 95% cure rate… and (yet) only 20% of the severely malnourished children in the world have access to this (life-saving) treatment” In a world where enough food is produced to feed everyone on earth, how is it that nearly 3 billion people - over a third of the world’s population - can’t get the food that they need to survive...

“Everybody’s got a talent, but not everybody gets the opportunity. And thats what we’re about; we’re about opening that door and getting people through that door… that’s what’s missing in a lot of communities and society today…  There’s a lot of talented young people out there… The Raheem Sterling Foundation is about capturing that (talent) and making sure the opportunities are there.” This e...