Director of Fundraising at Beating Bowel Cancer, Graham Kelly, talks about Christmas beard growing, cattle ranching, and Lottery dreams.
How and why did you get into the voluntary sector?
After working for two years for BT as a new graduate, I decided to travel the world with my now wife Alison. On returning to the UK, I knew I wanted to do something more worthwhile. A friend I had made while travelling, Angela Boyd, employed me as a temporary legacy officer at Save the Children. Twenty-two years later I still love working in the sector. Thank you Angela!
What are the most important things you’ve learned in your fundraising career?
Fundraisers are highly motivated and talented individuals, and if you give them the right tools and trust them to get on with the job, they will do amazing things.
What do you get up to in your spare time?
I try to keep our four boys out of mischief and keep my wife happy. After that I enjoy the cinema, being a founding member of a Wimbledon film group. I’m currently growing a beard for our Decembeard campaign, which is saving me time in the mornings as I don’t have to shave!
What is the most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve ever done?
Working as a station hand on a cattle ranch in North-West Australia and living on beef for three months.
What’s been the best moment of your career?
In terms of individual highs, when I heard the news that my team at Age Concern had secured Tesco Charity of the Year. For sustained pleasure, delivering sizeable year-on-year income growth at Beating Bowel Cancer.
What do you love most about your charity?
We have a fantastic team of talented individuals, who are committed to seeing the charity grow so we can support many more of the 40,000 people diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, as well as campaign to raise awareness of this type of cancer, which is very treatable if diagnosed early enough.
What’s the most exciting new thing your charity has coming up?
We’re regionalising our services to meet the specific needs of people in their own communities. Our regional officers will work in parallel with our home-based community fundraisers, which will enable us to deliver more charitable work and help us to develop regionally focused fundraising products.
If you won £20m on the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Keep £10m for myself, and use the other £10m to set up a grantmaking trust offering unrestricted grants to a range of charities I believe in - including, of course, Beating Bowel Cancer.
Graham Kelly is director of fundraising at Beating Bowel Cancer.
