Philanthropists council Archives | The Beacon Collaborative

Sir Richard Stilgoe, OBE, DL

Philanthropists' Council Member

Richard Stilgoe has spent fifty years as a performer and writer in all forms of the performing arts. On television he appeared on Nationwide, That’s Life and several series of his own. On stage he toured for many years with his one-man show and subsequently his two-man show with Peter Skellern.

He wrote lyrics for Cats, Starlight Express and The Phantom of the Opera, music and lyrics for Bodywork, Brilliant the Dinosaur, ‘Orpheus – the Mythical’ and the libretto for the community operas Road Rage and The Freedom Game. His broadcasting work has earned him the New York Radio Festival Gold Award, three Monaco Festival Prizes and the Prix Italia. In 1997 he founded the Orpheus Centre in Surrey, where young disabled people prepare for independent living through a series of performing arts courses. With his wife Annabel he administers the Alchemy Foundation, which supports fund-raisers, or Alchemists, in a variety of charities.

He owns and drives a JCB digger, and has five children and thirteen grandchildren. Richard was knighted for charitable service in the Jubilee honours list of 2012.

Sir Vernon Ellis

Philanthropists' Council Member

Sir Vernon Ellis worked at Accenture becoming Managing Partner EMEAI 1989–2000 and International chairman 2000–08. He was a Senior Adviser to Accenture 2008–10.^[3]

Sir Vernon has been heavily involved in supporting the arts in particular music, and has served as Chairman of English National Opera 2005–12 (President 2012–). He was Chair of Classical Opera from 1996 to 2009 (currently President); Chair of the National Opera Studio 2012–19 Chair of the Leeds International Piano Competition, succeeding Dame Fanny Waterman, 2015–19; Trustee of the Royal College of Music 2006–10; former Trustee of London Music Masters, Sacconi Trust and the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

In 2015, he became the inaugural Chair of the Stop MS Appeal Board. This aims to raise £100m over ten years towards MS research and at the half-way point in 2020 when he retired from this role, the appeal had raised £50m.

He has long been interested in how to increase levels of philanthropy in the UK. He took part in the Philanthropy Review in 2011–12. He is leading a major initiative with Beacon Collaborative to bring new philanthropy into Arts and Culture through its impact on health, education, wellbeing and the community.

In 2001 he established the Vernon Ellis Foundation to channel his personal giving. Up to 2020, this has distributed almost £9m. An early major donation was as the lead private support to the restoration of the London Coliseum. The focus now is on the impact that the arts can make on wellbeing, education and the community. Also, through his Foundation, he hosted around 80–90 concerts a year between 2005 and 2017 at his London home in support of musicians’ and music organisations’ development and other fundraising events. In 2013, he was awarded the Beacon award for Cultural Philanthropy.

Brian McRitchie

Philanthropists' Council Member

Brian was a successful entrepreneur with business interests predominantly in media and retail. He exited business several years ago and is currently an investor and very active philanthropist. His charity interests include homeless and youth issues and he sits on several Charity Boards.

Catherine Zennstrom

Philanthropists' Council Member

Catherine Zennström is chair and co-founder of Zennström Philanthropies, founded with her husband Niklas Zennström in 2007. Its mission is to support and engage with organisations that fight for human rights, work to stop climate change and encourage entrepreneurship to protect our natural environment and allow those who live in it to realize their full potential.

Catherine focuses her work on the human rights portfolio fighting for the respect of human rights and dignity, as well as promoting best practice in philanthropy. She serves as vice chair of the international Board of Directors for Human Rights Watch as well as Chair of the Human Rights Watch European and Central Asia Advisory Committee.

Catherine is an enthusiastic supporter of organisations working to inspire new philanthropists to engage more actively in funding human rights issues. She is a member of The Philanthropy Workshop Network group. She served as a trustee of The Philanthropy Workshop (formerly Institute for Philanthropy) and serves today on the Global Philanthropy Forum Advisory Council.

Katherine Lorenz

Philanthropists' Council Member

Katherine Lorenz is President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation (www.cgmf.org), a grantmaking foundation focusing on environmental sustainability in Texas. She is the Leader of the Next Gen of the Giving Pledge, and Forbes named Ms. Lorenz “Ones to Watch,” an up-and-coming face in philanthropy in 2012. Previously, she served as Deputy Director for the Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org), whose mission is to increase effective philanthropy in the UK and internationally. Prior to that, Ms. Lorenz lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for nearly six years where she co-founded Puente a la Salud Comunitaria (www.puentemexico.org), a non-profit organization working to advance food sovereignty in rural Oaxaca through the integration of amaranth into the diet. She continues to be involved with Puente’s work as an active board member. Before founding Puente, she spent two summers living in rural villages in Latin America with the volunteer program Amigos de las Américas and later served on their Program Committee and as a trustee of the Foundation for Amigos de las Americas. Additionally, she currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Environmental Defense Fund, The Philanthropy Workshop (Vice-Chair), and the Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, and formerly was a Fellow and later Board Chair at the National Center for Family Philanthropy, a Board Member of Exponent Philanthropy, Resource Generation, the Amaranth Institute, and a member of the National Academies’ Roundtable of Science and Technology for Sustainability. Ms. Lorenz is a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle of the Synergos Institute and serves on the Leadership Council of the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the national advisory committee of USC’s Irene Hirano Inouye Philanthropic Leadership Fund. Ms. Lorenz holds a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Davidson College.

Grant Gordon

Philanthropists' Council Member

Grant is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. Through support from the Reekimlane Foundation, established together with his wife Brigitte, he has founded & grown a small portfolio of charities. The Foundation’s mission is focused on reducing poverty and strengthening communities in the UK. The Foundation’s portfolio of grantees includes the Childhood Trust, London’s child poverty charity, the Cabrach Trust promoting regeneration in a rural community in NE Scotland, alongside investing in Thrive@Five an emerging collective impact initiative focused on early years. Grant’s prior non-profit activities include chairing the William Grant Foundation, Philanthropy Impact and he co-founded and directed the Institute for Family Business (UK).

Laura Montgomery

Philanthropists' Council Member

Laura Montgomery is the Managing Director of the Ellis Campbell Group, a family owned property investment office. She qualified as a solicitor in 2005 at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP and joined the Ellis Campbell Group in 2007 and co-founded C2 Capital Limited with Julian Carey in 2009. Laura is a Trustee of the Ellis Campbell Foundation where she recently initiated an intensive strategic review programme for the Trustees to improve the Foundation’s impact. Laura is a passionate believer that Foundations and philanthropists have a duty to ensure they are doing thoughtful grant making and having the greatest impact and is keen to bring others along on this journey. She is also a Trustee for another unrelated family Trust. Laura is married and has three young daughters.