Watch our Video
Charity Excellence CIO (1195568) is a completely free one-stop-shop, that enables any non profit to find the funding, free help and resources it needs. With 50,000+ members, growing at a rate of 3,500 each month, we are the largest and fastest growing UK charity community. In our community feedback survey, more than half of respondents rate us either 9/10 or 10/10 for all 15 values and behaviours criteria, and 60% rate us 10/10 for trustworthiness. This video (2 mins 30 secs) explains what we do and why we do it.
Charity Excellence has been run by a Board of trustees since 2019 but did not become a registered CIO until 2021. Currently, we have 4 trustees who collectively bring substantial senior expertise in both the charity and private sectors, including technology, accounting and finance, sales and fundraising.
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Christopher Shawdon joined as a trustee in summer 2024.
His career has been in technology services, specialising for the last 20 years in air cargo community systems. He was already a charity trustee and is also a volunteer for our friends at Pilotlight, who provide mentoring for charity CEOs. |
Josephine Mann is an independent management consultant and mentor to charity managers. Her management consultancy experience includes business strategy, programme management, public sector procurement and financial management. She has also worked at senior level in industry in research, audit and finance. For many years she was a director of a small business, ran a vineyard and was a school governor. Josephine is a qualified accountant and has degrees in mathematics, economics and operational research.
Sarah Swaysland hails from the hospitality sector, and joined CEF during the pandemic. She has worked across all areas of business, but specialty is in marketing, as an award-winning marketing expert with a proven track record in developing and activating effective marketing and brand strategies in both small and large-scale businesses.
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Amit Bansal is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Founder/Partner at Accountants For Good Ltd, a specialist accountancy practice working with charities and not-for-profit organisations. He joined the board of trustees in June 2025. Amit brings deep expertise in financial management and governance across the non-profit sector. Through his practice, he supports a wide range of mission-driven organisations with financial strategy, compliance, and impact reporting—helping them to operate sustainably and in line with their values. His work is rooted in a strong commitment to purpose-led finance and the unique needs of the charity sector. |
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Ian McLintock has been a volunteer for nearly 50 years and has worked at senior management level for 30+, including numerous chair and CEO roles. He fully funded development and running costs and worked full time as an unpaid volunteer from 2016, when design work began (launch was Jun 2018) until 2023. His experience ranges from turning round multi-million pound charities in serious financial distress to helping to train leadership coaches and facilitate strategic leadership programmes, which were a lot more fun. He does not have an IT background but, for those that value them, his first degree was in pure science and he holds a master’s degree in corporate management, as well as professional qualifications in finance & accounting (ACCA) and fundraising (CIoF). |
Mini Ding and Mini Me
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Mini Ding and Mini Me are the Charity Excellence AI bunnies.
Some of our users are very vulnerable, so we needed 2 completely non threatening avatars. I was looking around my office for some inspiration, when I noticed our 2 rescue rabbits snoozing on the floor. The rest is as they say, history. |
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