Staring out at the Cornish coast, Amanda McLean decided she was the right person to lead the Institute of Fundraising. Celina Ribeiro catches up with her before she gets her feet under the desk to find out a bit more about the new chief executive.

Amanda McLean’s husband must be feeling pretty pleased with himself.

Applying for the Institute of Fundraising’s chief executive role was just a possibility bouncing around his wife’s head when he convinced her she was a perfect match for the position.

“I was actually on holiday when I did the application. I’d seen the adverts come out and I was mulling it over. I was in my favourite place in the world, on the north Cornish coast in a house we rent down there, looking down at the sunset over the beach and all that sort of clichéd stuff. I had some clear space and I thought, right, I can do it. He’s right. I don’t want to, I can do it,” she told Civil Society.

“I did the whole application on holiday in Cornwall and then had to drive up the hill with the laptop to get a signal to email to application off.”

Civil Society meets with McLean in the corner of a basement bar in the RSA, in central London. McLean is wrapping up a meeting with policy and campaigns director Louise Richards and chief operating officer Bruce Leeke when we arrive early.

Lindsay Boswell has left the Institute, but McLean is cautious to start showing up at the office before she actually is due to start. She wants to give Institute staff time to get used to Boswell, who had held the position for a decade, not being around before she gets started. And so most of her pre-start-date meetings have been held out of the Institute’s Vauxhall offices.