Wednesday 7th May
The Chief Executive of the Church Urban Fund, Fran Beckett, is moving on from the organisation having been in post for the last 6 years.
Ms Beckett joined the Church Urban Fund at a key point in the life of the organisation; with its future uncertain, there was a clear need to broaden its financial base and develop a greater range of support to faith based projects tackling poverty. Ms Beckett has led her team to successfully reposition the organization, bringing in new support for its work and developing a range of tools to assist projects to deliver their activities more effectively.
Ms Beckett talking about her time at the Church Urban Fund and the future of the organization said, "I feel I have completed what I set out to achieve which was to take forward an organisation that had great potential but which needed to be set on a new, dynamic and self sustaining course for the future. A combination of listening to the grassroots, strong partnership working and developing new sources of funding have made all the difference. The work we do makes a lasting difference in the lives of those living in poverty in this country and the work must and will go on."
Peter Doyle, Chair of the Church Urban Fund remarked, "Fran has made a huge contribution to the work of the Church Urban Fund, and her personal commitment throughout has been of the highest order. We shall be very sorry to lose her. Fran has set us on a new and challenging fundraising course with some exciting developments for the future. We are confident of the way ahead and have an excellent team in place to carry on the vital work of supporting the poorest communities in England and in fulfilling our Christian mandate to do this."
Ms Beckett will be leaving in July to take up a combination of consultancy work in governance and leadership with Anthony Collins Solicitors, various freelance consultancy and writing projects, and local community involvement in Peckham with the church she leads.
-Ends-
Editors Notes
1. BIOGRAPHY
Fran Beckett OBE
Formerly CEO of the Shaftesbury Society, Fran has been CEO of the Church Urban Fund for nearly six years during this period taking the organisation through significant change. Also a speaker and writer on issues of faith-based social action, organisation effectiveness, and leadership/governance she has advised organisations of various sizes and complexity on developing greater effectiveness including good governance.
In recent years Fran has served on various Boards and advisory bodies including – four years chairing the Home Office/Cabinet Office Advisory Group on the Voluntary and Community Sector; membership of several Government review groups including the recent Treasury Voluntary Sector Review; membership of the Boards of NCVO and the Faith Based Regeneration Network; Chair of ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations); Vice-Chair of the EA (Evangelical Alliance); and Chair of XLP/Soul in the City.