The National Lottery Community Fund appoints new England Directors

The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, is delighted to announce the appointment of two new England Directors, with joint responsibility for the over £450 million a year funded to projects and communities across England.

Phil Chamberlain will have responsibility for strategy, partnerships and engagement, and Emma Corrigan will oversee programmes, operations and regions. The new Directors will play an instrumental role in the Fund’s recently launched Strategy Renewal process, which will shape how it supports people and communities to prosper and thrive into the future.

Most recently, Phil was Executive Director for External Engagement at City Lit – London’s largest adult education college – and before that held a number of senior leadership positions at the Youth Sport Trust, Legacy Trust UK and at The National Lottery Community Fund’s predecessor, the Big Lottery Fund*. Additionally, Phil spent 10 years within the Civil Service, working on a range of policy issues and international campaigns, as well as directly within a Minister’s private office. He will take up his new role at the Fund in June.

With over 20 years’ experience in grant making, Emma was most recently the Head of Design and Delivery at BBC Children in Need, ensuring the successful delivery of the fund across the UK and leading multiple major change programmes for the charity. Prior to that she worked for a diverse range of funders, including Community Foundations and Housing Associations, gaining significant experience in charity governance and compliance. Emma will join the Fund in late June.

Emma Corrigan, incoming England Director (Programmes, Operations & Regions) said: "I am delighted, as someone whose career has centred around quality grant making, to be able to join the Fund to support work of such scale and breadth. The capacity available to enable communities across the UK is humbling to me, and I am ready to listen to the wealth of knowledge and expertise of the organisation to enact positive and meaningful change where it is needed most."

Phil Chamberlain, incoming England Director (Strategy, Partnerships & Engagement) said: “I am fortunate enough to have been informed by all my experiences, and I am excited to be re-joining The National Lottery family – to help lead and further champion the work of The National Lottery Community Fund to best support the communities and individuals it serves.”

This recruitment news follows the appointment of Stuart Fisher as the Fund’s new Finance Director in January of this year. Stuart previously spent time working in accountancy, audit and professional services with KPMG’s public sector division, and more recently spent over 11 years working in social housing as a Finance and Corporate Services Director.

On his appointment, Stuart Fisher said: “I feel privileged and proud to be able to work for The National Lottery Community Fund, an organisation which helps to improve people’s life chances and facilitates change and impact, leaving a legacy of sustainable and inclusive communities. During my time working in social housing I saw first-hand the significant importance of developing and maintaining thriving communities; and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to ensure supporting communities across the whole of the UK is at the heart of everything we do”.

David Knott, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Phil and Emma bring a wealth of strategic and grant-making experience to the Fund, and they join us at an exciting time as we engage with communities as part of our Strategy Renewal process. I’m delighted to welcome them, along with our recently appointed Finance Director Stuart Fisher, to the Fund and its new Senior Management Team. As a team we’ll be working to ensure National Lottery funding supports people and communities across the UK to prosper and thrive.”

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players, who raise over £30 million** each week for good causes across the UK. In the last 12 months it has given out nearly £600 million to 12,500 organisations reaching every local authority and constituency in the UK.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk