Sector figures paid warm and heartfelt tributes to erstwhile Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind last night as the regulator’s annual public meeting doubled up as a leaving reception.
Commission chair Dame Suzi Leather bid a touching farewell to Hind after the official business of the meeting had ended, describing him as “a man of robust integrity, quietly efficient, absolutely on top of the detail as well as possessed of the broader picture, a very serious, modest man, utterly unflamboyant, and with a deep understanding and commitment to the sector."
“We admire you greatly and we admire what you have achieved,” she said.
During the applause that followed, Hind impulsively ran on stage and gave her a hug.
Later, at the drinks reception, Sir Stuart Etherington said Hind had modernised the Commission, made it more transparent, and improved its effectiveness and response times. He had overseen the difficult task of devising guidance on public benefit when politicians had refused to define it in law, and he had been a rock for Dame Suzi when she was being vilified in the national press.
“Both at policy level and managerial level you have made major, major impact on the Commission and on the sector as a whole,” Sir Stuart said. “You’ve done a fantastic job and it’s been a real privilege to work with you.”
Hind, who also happened to be celebrating his birthday, responded by thanking his wife Tina, the Commission staff and board, and the sector. He said: “The thing I am most proud of is that there is now widespread acknowledgement among almost all the stakeholders inside and outside this room, about the vital contribution the Commission makes to a flourishing civil society.”
Two things led to this welcome state of affairs, he said: the long journey that was started more than ten years ago to deploy new technologies to modernise the Commission, and the creation of a philosophy that is now understood by almost all staff, that the people they are charged with regulating generally have a genuine intent to do good and that the Commission has a “huge responsibility to contribute to a precious and vital part of our society”.
“Our staff now recognise the context that trustees work in every day, which is to make this voluntary contribution to making the world a better place,” he said. “If the regulator recognises that it has to chime with all the organisations that it regulates then that is very potent.
“We are not part of the sector, we are not a cheerleader for the sector, but we do have common cause,” he concluded.
Dame Suzi then wrapped up the formalities by presenting Hind with a booklet posing as Commission guidance, mocked up with his photo on the cover and the title The essential chief executive.
