BACKGROUND
For 6 years James was Chairman of the British Red Cross’s largest annual fund‐raising event for which he helped win 9 national awards, and he has also raised millions of pounds for numerous charities in the UK and abroad. He provides advice and fundraising support to donors and charities in the UK and abroad.
James also provides consultancy services to Focused Philanthropy, a
bespoke philanthropic advisory service providing major donors with
off-market, sophisticated and high impact giving strategies.
From 2003, when he was invited to be
Vice-Chairman of the prestigious British Red
Cross London Ball, the British Red Cross’s flagship
annual event, James was actively involved in
fundraising for the Red Cross and helped raise
nearly £3,000,000. He was Chairman of the Ball
from 2003-8 and in that time not only
dramatically increased the amount of money
raised but also the profile of the Ball.
Under his chairmanship the Ball won the following awards:
Eventia Awards 2007: Best Celebratory Event of 2006 for 'The Secret Garden (2006) - Winner
RSVP Awards 2007: Most Creative Use of Theming and Props for ‘The Secret Garden’ (2006) - Winner
RSVP Awards 2007: Most Creative Event of the Year for ‘H20’ (2005) - Highly Commended
Eventia Awards 2006: Party Of The Year for ‘H20’ (2005) – Highly Commended
Event Awards 2006: Best Overall Event In Any Category for ‘H20’ (2005) – Winner
Event Awards 2006: Most Improved Experiential Campaign for ‘H20’ (2005) – Gold
Event Awards 2006: Best Celebration Event for ‘H20’ (2005) – Gold
Event Awards 2006: Most Effective Event Activity FCMG/Healthcare for ‘H20’ (2005) – Silver
CEA Awards 2005: Most Effective Use Of Budget Award for ‘YAKSHA-YAKSHI’ (2004) – Highly Commended
OTHER CHARITY-RELATED WORK
James has advised or raised funds for organisations including the following:
- Meningitis Trust
- The Citizens Foundation
- Freemasons Grand Charity Conference
- Christian Aid
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research
- Save the Children (Festival of Trees)
- Fairbridge
- Help For Heroes
- Al Madad Foundation
- Education for All Morocco
- The Queen Mother’s Memorial Fund
- Why Not?
- Give A Future
- Goldman Sachs (fundraising event advice)
- Training For Life
- aAIM (set up fundraising event)
- South West Hospice
- The Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation
- Help Centre (Saudi Arabia)
- Lake Turkana Fishing Boat Appeal (see photo below)
- RAFT
- Starfish Greathearts Foundation
James has also been a speaker at a number of events including several highly rated appearances at the Institute of Fundraising’s National Conferences.
‘Excellent and entertaining! - James should be a protected species or a Red Cross “treasure” or something! No one wanted to leave this session!’
(Post-workshop appraisal written by a delegate to the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies’ International Fundraising Conference)
‘Really inspiring!’
‘Passionate, mesmerising and spoke a lot of sense’
‘Quality of the information was excellent’
‘Very entertaining’
‘Hilarious and brilliant!’
‘He was amazing - very charismatic but talked great sense too’
(Appraisals from 2009 Event Managers Forum)
‘Everyone thought you were extremely entertaining and said it was well worth attending the conference just to hear you’
(Event organiser of the Freemasons Grand Charity Conference 2009)
