Sector veteran appointed to run Mayor's Fund

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 29 Oct 2008

Boris Johnson (pictured) has appointed Chris Robinson, former head of international humanitarian charity Right to Play, to run his Mayor's Fund for London.

The Mayor's Fund is expected to launch at the end of the year as an independent charitable company and plans to target big businesses and wealthy individuals to fund grants. The grants will provide additional funds for successful voluntary programmes in London that already get London Development Agency or government funding.

Robinson, who starts this week, is a keen footballer who once managed Cheltenham FC. He is expected to use his links with the sports world to encourage athletes in the capital to get involved in projects backed by the funds.

"I'm London born and bred and proud of it," he said. "However, I know from my own early life here that it can be tough if you are poor.

"I can now use the experience that I have built up to make an impact on child poverty in the city."

Robinson has 15 years experience of working in the voluntary sector. He previously ran Chase Children's Hospice Service in Surrey and Off the Streets and Into Work, a London-based charity which puts homeless people into jobs and provides training.

He will run the charity with chairman Sir Trevor Chinn, and four other trustees who were appointed in July.

Who's Who: Vibeka Mair

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.