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.

Grants
Trust Management

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.

Grant Fund

The Charity Service Grant Fund​

Grant funding is available to registered charities, CICs and voluntary organisations working with disadvantaged people. Grants have many uses including support for projects that deliver access to activities or amenities to improve general welfare or to purchase equipment not supplied by the NHS. Find out more

Cinderella Fund

Cinderella Charitable Fund

Applications for funding are invited from groups or individuals for grants to support the cost of a short holiday or a day out to visit an attraction for children who are disadvantaged, disabled, sick and/or convalescent whose family are unable to afford the costs. Find out more

Trust Management

Charitable Trust Management

We provide a flexible, tax-efficient and simple way to manage your funds. Using our administrative systems, tax status and compliance processes for Trusts, leaves donors free to concentrate on their charitable cause.

 Find out more

We’ve funded charity projects for many diverse groups and varied uses around Greater Manchester

  • Community Groups
  • Offender/Ex offenders
  • Homeless
  • Learning Difficulties
  • Refugees
  • Older People
  • Young People
  • Children and Families

Making More of Every Gift

Taking advantage of technology, we are a virtual organisation so our running costs are very low and efficient. As a charity we seek to deliver secure, cost effective, up to date and relevant solutions to charities and donors. We aim to cover our costs each year and to remain sustainable, rather than to accumulate reserves. 

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.

Policies: Anti-corruption and Bribery Policy, Complaints Policy, Fraud Policy, Grant-Policy, Investment Policy and Safeguarding Grant Policy

Community Activities

Our Team

Peter Yarwood

Project Development 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).

Lee Barker

Company Secretary
Lee is an accountant with over twenty five years’ experience of working in the charity and public sector including the Rural Development Commission and most recently as interim Chief Exec of an emerging GP Federation. She spent seven years as Regional Director for the Prince’s Trust and ten years as Chief Executive of Saint Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough. She has served on a number of regional and national committees and was a Trustee of Hospice UK chairing the Finance and Major Grants Committees. She is currently a Trustee of Coast and Vale Community Action and Company Secretary of Hospice Care Kenya. Lee also provides emergency and respite foster care.

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 a considerable part of his time to the not for profit sector. In addition to chairing The Charity Service, he is currently the 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.

Shazia Nazir

Trustee
Since graduating with a degree in Business and a Masters in Information Systems, Shazia has spent most of her career working in the public and charity sector, largely working to improve the lives of children and young people. She served on various grant making committees and 2 terms with BBC Children in Needs Regional Advisory Committee, helping to distribute around £14 million each year across the North of England. She has worked as a Company Secretary since 2016 and has been a Trustee with the Charity Service for 4 Years.

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 Trust Management 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.

Scroll to Top