About Us
A registered charity since September 1990 with origins that go back to 1924. We are proud of our excellent reputation for providing high quality, personalised services to charities and donors to make the most of their gift.
What We Do
Our aim is to help support a vibrant and sustainable third sector by providing assistance and expertise to make the most of gifts, donations and the distribution of funds. We have excellent partner relationships with other charitable organisations and business networks.
Through our own charitable funds, we’ve funded a diverse range of charitable activities across Greater Manchester
- Homeless
- Refugees
- Older People
- Young People
- Learning Difficulties
- Children and Families
- Offender/Ex offenders
- Community Groups
Making More of Every Gift
We are a registered UK charity, which means that every penny remains within the charity sector.
To find out more about a particular service, please use the form below or contact our office direct on 0330 1330 780.
Our Team
Peter Yarwood
Grants Officer
Peter has worked within the private, public and charitable sectors and spent 19 years working for The Prince’s Trust where he was responsible for the management and delivery of engagement, enterprise and employment programmes funded by local and regional government and European funding streams. He has worked closely with Public and Private Sector fundraising teams and a wide range of partner organisations within the charitable, further education and private sectors. His interest include watching football (a Manchester United supporter), music and reading (fiction and biographies).
Chris Mills
Head of Philanthropy Services
Chris has extensive leadership experience in the voluntary sector. He started his career as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and has since worked for a range of charities. He has also worked as a Research Associate for the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) for over 10 years, authoring reports on topics as diverse as social value, grant making practices and funder program evaluations. He has a PhD in the organisational sociology of voluntary associations and an MSc in Voluntary and Community Sector Studies. He is also a non-executive director of the LTA Tennis Foundation. In his spare time, Chris is a keen hillwalker and football supporter.
Richard Dyson
Chairman
After graduating from Cambridge, Richard qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He retired from Ernst & Young in 2008 after 25 years as a partner and is a past president of the ICAEW. Since retiring from practice, Richard has devoted much of his time to the not for profit sector. In addition to chairing The Charity Service, he is chair of an academy trust which operates two large primary schools in Wythenshawe, a governor of an independent international boarding school in Staffordshire, chair of New Start which supports the programme of heart and lung transplantation at Wythenshawe Hospital and vice chair of GMCVO. He is also a lay member of Trafford CCG.
Gavin Bushell
Trustee
Gavin Bushell has been a director of The Charity Service for many years. Gavin retired from practice as a solicitor in May 2013. Throughout his career, Gavin has been involved with private client work including work relating to the legal aspects of charities. He is very happy to make his experience and skills available to The Charity Service and the third sector generally. Gavin is a keen and active scuba diver and a crossword addict but is still trying to find a way of doing both at the same time.
John Eckersley
Trustee
A graduate of Accounting & Finance, John is a former Chief Investment Officer and director of Henry Cooke Group plc and merchant and private bank Brown Shipley & Co Limited. He has over 30 years’ of investment industry experience and in 2002 founded what is today a financial services group specialising in responsible and sustainable investment – Castlefield Partners Limited – one arm of which specialises in investment for charities. In his spare time, he is Treasurer of the Rhodes Scholarship Foundation Trust and a trustee of the Halle Endowment Trust.
Paul Chorlton
Trustee
A graduate from the University of Lincoln in Financial Services, and a Fellow of the ACCA. Paul has been working within the Creative sector since joining Staniforth in 1999 helping their growth the restructure of its finances and objectives, and leading its acquisition by Omnicom in 2004, when he became Staniforth’s Financial Director. Continuing there until 2008, to ensure its transition into the global network, he is now a shareholder and Financial Director of LOVE Creative, one of the UK’s leading design agencies, heading the strategic and financial direction of the agency with a global client list. Paul is also the organiser of the Annual Manchester Ball, an annual fundraising dinner, raising money for Manchester charities.
Kathryn Graham
Trustee
Kathryn is a solicitor with over 30 years of advising charities and private clients, twenty years of which have been in Manchester and the North West. She has been a Trustee for four years and enjoys putting her knowledge into practice. In her spare time Kathryn enjoys theatre and literature.
Jane Kiely
Trustee
Jane is a sales and marketing director with over 15 years marketing management experience. She currently leads the marketing team for a consumer division of a PLC based in the north-west of England. Jane enjoys endurance running and is a passionate fundraiser for Once Upon A Smile, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of bereaved children in the North West and Headway, the brain injury association.
Stephen Griffiths
Trustee
After a career managing in the charity sector with housing , care and with health bodies Steve put his knowledge into action through membership of the management committees of local and regional charities including National Family Mediation and Cartwheel Arts. Steve joined The Charity Service to complement the skills of current members through his awareness of the requirements of working charities. He has developed an interest in older buildings through his work as a guide at Manchester Cathedral and Rochdale Town Hall.
Contact Us
If you have a question about Grant Funding or our Donor Advised Fund services, please use this form. To ensure we are able to deal with your enquiry quickly and efficiently please try to give us as much information as possible about your enquiry.