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Kew charity appoints Murdoch couple to share trustee post

Governance | Tania Mason | 1 Jun 2009

The Kew Foundation, the charity that fundraises for London's Kew Gardens, has appointed two high-profile husband-and-wife teams to share trustee duties on its board.

James Murdoch, son of billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and his wife Kathryn Murdoch, will take up one trustee post, while Mick Davis, chief executive of Xstrata plc and his wife Barbara Davis, will share another.

The husband-and-wife trustee model was instigated by the Foundation's chief executive Shannon Callahan, an American who was accustomed to having such teams on the board of Indiana University where she was a major gifts fundraiser. Such a model had proved very successful for US fundraising organizations where trustees are expected to use their network of contacts to drum up financial support.

Callahan told governance magazine: "In the case of a married couple, both in their own right have the capacity to be very helpful to the organisation, but are also both very busy.

"If they share an appointment there is double the chance of getting one or both or them to a meeting, and you can engage both of them in a meaningful way."

"Both sets of trustees are deeply passionate about what we do and so have a significant amount to contribute."

‘Proxy' clause in articles of association

Callahan said the charity was able legally to appoint two trustees to one position because there was a clause in its articles of association that allowed for individual trustees to appoint a proxy.  "This allows one of them to legally vote on behalf of the other," she said.

She added it had not yet been decided whether the teams would share all trustee duties or if these would be divided up into particular subjects.

"We haven't had that level of discussion yet. Neither person was appointed for their expertise in any particular area so we haven't worked out yet where they will all sit in our committee structure."

The Kew Foundation was established to fundraise for the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. The two are separate charities though the chair of each sits on the board of the other.

‘Passionate environmentalists'

Murdoch (pictured) is currently the chairman of News Corporation Europe and Asia, and his spouse Kathryn is head of strategy and communications at the Clinton Climate Initiative.  They were described by Marcus Agius, chairman of the Kew Foundation and also chair of Barclays Bank, as "passionate environmentalists and have a strong record of supporting the green agenda".

Xstrata is the major sponsor of the Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens and contributed to its Millennium Seed Bank partnership.

Both appointments will run until 30 April 2012.

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