Alice Garrad background

Alice joined Save the Children's Corporate Fundraising Department in 1987, one of a pioneering team of three recruited to bring commercial marketing skills to fundraising. At that time corporate fundraising was new to the UK and the team succeeded in achieving market leadership in the field.

Alice went on to head up the department and under her leadership income reached £5 million per year. In this role Alice was responsible for working closely with the Industry and Commerce Group, a small group of global business leaders chaired by Save’s President, HRH The Princess Royal. The group proved highly effective in maintaining Save the Children's position as 'market leader'.

In 1993 Alice pioneered Save the Children's entrée into 'Big Gift' fundraising to mark the charity's 75th Birthday. This involved starting from scratch in devising, planning and implementing a campaign to persuade wealthy individuals to make major donations. This included a programme of high level cultivation dinner parties at Buckingham Palace hosted by HRH The Princess Royal. The appeal ultimately grew into a highly successful ongoing major donor programme which remains today.

Alice went on to set up her own consultancy business specialising in the strategic development of fundraising, mentoring and training. In 2003 Alice Garrad established Training People with Trevor Gill to provide high quality fundraising and personal development training. Training People and Alice Garrad Consulting work hand in hand providing an integrated service to clients.

Since 2014, Alice has taken on interim and project specific leadership positions, the highlight of which has been her role as Appeal Director for Mencap’s Big Step Forward Appeal. The task was to raise £2.5m to match government funds to build, equip and run a new centre for children with a learning disability and their families. Working with Appeal Chairman, Brian Ambrose OBE, CEO of George Best Belfast City Airport, the target was met in less than 2 years, winning the Institute of Fundraising’s (NI) Team of the Year award.

Since 2016 Alice has combined her consultancy with a part-time role as Campaign Director for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Fund (hosted by Community Foundation for NI), leading on high value fundraising and donor stewardship.

Alice Garrad’s commercial experience was gained working in brand management for Courage. She later moved to Wines from Spain, an agency funded by the Spanish Government, where she was one of a small team responsible for developing a major advertising and promotional campaign to change the image of Spanish wines in the UK.