Barnardo's top fundraiser leaves, goes back to school

Fundraising | 9 Oct 2008

Barnardo’s director of fundraising, Steve O’Connor, is set to leave the organisation to take up the newly-created position of director of development at Leicester University.

O’Connor (pictured), who previously has held a senior position at Macmillan Cancer Support, departs the children’s charity following an eight year stint as director of fundraising. While he expressed sadness at leaving Barnardo’s, O’Connor said that the lure of returning to work for his alma mater was too strong.

“Barnardo’s is a progressive charity where fundraisers can see the very real difference they are making to the lives of vulnerable children. It’s a real wrench to move on,” he said.

Over his time at Barnardo’s, O’Connor has overseen significant development, including the establishment of lucrative corporate partnerships with Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, Lloyds TSB and Royal Mail. The charity’s major annual fundraising event, The Big Toddle, has also experienced notable growth – from generating around £400,000 in its early days to raising an expected sum of nearly £2m this year.

Chief executive, Martin Narey, praised O’Connors efforts. “Barnardo’s is doing very well at the moment, with an 18 per cent increase on last year in work commissioned by local authorities and a significantly raised profile in campaigning and influencing,” he said.

Narey said that O’Connor’s replacement would have “the best job in fundraising”.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson at Leicester University said that the team was “very excited” about the imminent arrival of the fundraiser. The development team at the university has traditionally been focussed on alumni relations, but after O’Connor joins the team in November, they plan to embark on a major fundraising campaign that will be “qualatively different” to campaigns of the past.

The spokesperson said that the recruitment of former student O’Connor will mark “a real step change” for the university’s development office. The yet-to-be announced fundraising campaign will work to raise money for an ambitious capital buildings programme as well as for Leicester University research projects.

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