Lisa Raftery

Claudia is a gender equality and violence against women and girls (VAWG) specialist with over ten years’ experience working in international development focused on child protection, women and girls’ empowerment and gender-based violence. She currently works as a Gender Equality Technical Advisor for Save the Children UK and co-chairs their global VAWG technical working group. She specialises in programme design, delivery and evaluation, as well as organisational strategy and capacity building. Claudia has experience working directly with girls and young people in the UK, including facilitating equalities and leadership sessions for adolescent girls, as part of intersectional justice organisation Fearless Futures. She has also worked with young carers, young offenders and vulnerable families, and is currently the safeguarding trustee for a local charity in Hampshire. Claudia is currently on maternity leave, we look forward to welcoming her back in 2024.

Esmeralda Gambelli works at the Churchill Fellowship on grants and engagement programmes in-line with their strategic mission to strengthen communities and sectors in the UK. Esmeralda is the co-founder and member of Yinti, a grassroots group which advocates for women and girls and sustainable community-driven development. She is also a Board member of a resident-led partnership, a place-based funder making strategic decisions about funding approaches in London. Previously she was a member of the Strategy Advisory Board at Samaritans and international development at some of Britain’s oldest Muslim UK-wide charities and led community engagement and partnership brokering.

Lisa is Head of Grants at Social Investment Business, a social investment charity supporting impact led organisations with a social mission. Previously Lisa was Grants Manager for the Ending Women’s Homelessness Fund at Homeless Link, the membership charity for the homelessness sector. Prior to Homeless Link she was Grants Officer at London Councils for the women’s sector, and also worked on the delivery of democratic participation grants at The Electoral Commission. She is highly experienced in grantmaking, programme learning, capacity building and cross-sector collaboration.

Memento Charinga is an investment specialist with over 10 years experience. She actively supports socio-economic mobility ventures and is a passionate advocate of women and girls. Memento was named 2021 Rising Star in investment management and was a finalist for Mentor of the year 2021 by Professional Pensions in recognition of her ongoing mentoring activities. Memento works at Legal & General Investment Management, LGIM in the Solutions Team where she designs and manages discretionary client portfolios. Prior to joining LGIM, Memento worked at Aon where she was a Product Specialist covering multi-asset portfolios. Since her university days, Memento has worked to improve access to education supporting grassroots charities across Zimbabwe. Memento is currently on maternity leave, we look forward to welcoming her back in 2024.

A qualified chartered accountant, Shanta has 20+ years of Financial experience from both commercial & not-for-profit sectors.  During her career she has worked in a broad range of industries, from small businesses to multinational commercial organisations. She has extensive experience of financial governance, reporting, and operations. Currently head of finance and operations in a national charity, she is also Chair of the Finance committee at a local school. When not staring at spreadsheets, she’s a busy mum of two teenagers, teaching martial arts and training for her 4th Dan in Karate.

Beverley is an activist for social change, passionate about the empowerment of girls and young women. Beverley currently works for one of the oldest national not for profit charities supporting girls and young women. She is also an independent consultant, working with corporates and individuals to develop the next generation of leaders as a mentor, coach and role model. Among other roles, Beverley has been a member of the GLC Women’s Committee Support Unit where she shaped groundbreaking programmes and policies.

Sarah Barber is sustainability and social impact leader who is a passionate advocate of women and girls. Sarah works at Lloyds Banking in Group in their Sustainable Finance team, helping to implement their strategy to be leading supporters of the transition to a low-carbon economy, and prior to joining Lloyds Sarah worked at Barclays where she led many responsible business programmes and helped to co-found their Green Finance strategy. Sarah previously served as a Trustee for Wandworth Oasis, the South-London charity dedicated to supporting people affected by HIV, and is a long-term champion of fair opportunities for and fair treatment of women in the workplace. Sarah is currently on maternity leave, we look forward to welcoming her back in 2024.

Sarah has an over 25 year track-record of campaigning, practical work, research and thought leadership on issues around gender discrimination at work, family-friendly and flexible working, and of policy development both to support those disadvantaged by caring responsibilities and to promote high quality employment opportunities for everyone.  She was CEO of the charity Working Families until 2018, and is currently Chair of Parents and Carers in Performing Arts, and a Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management.

Sheila Jane Malley is the former Director of Grantmaking and Policy for BBC Children in Need, and is currently a board member of the Co-operative Foundation and of the Association of Charitable Foundations.  She’s an advocate of a community development approach, and has experienced it both in Northern Ireland – where she worked for many years and still lives – and across the four nations of the UK.

Kay is the Director of Partnerships at The Earthshot Prize, a global environmental prize founded and launched by Prince William. Kay is highly experienced in fundraising and maximising communications to achieve organisational growth, having worked across international NGO’s, UK charities & the public sector. Kay is also an Advisory Board Member for the Queen Mary University, School of Business & Management.

Until 2017 Gilly was Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief, where her key interests were finding new ways to support organisations tackling violence against women and girls, refugees and asylum seekers, and older people. She’s been involved in participatory grantmaking and strategic partnership funding with trusts,  foundations and corporates. She is a founder trustee of Tonic Living – a new approach to inclusive ageing for the LGBT+ community – and is currently a freelance consultant working with independent trusts and foundations and the voluntary sector.

Cath chairs Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls. She’s also a co-founder of the Beacon Collaborative, a UK-wide collective impact movement aimed at encouraging more and better giving and social investment among the UK’s wealthy population. Beacon forges collaboration among organisations that work with wealthy donors through activities covering peer influence, public awareness, research and measurement, professional advice and political engagement. She was formerly a co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, the global wealth management strategy and research firm. She also chairs Philanthropy Impact. Cath was awarded a CBE for services to philanthropy, women and girls, the arts and the economy in January 2024.