Meet Andrew Jermey-Boys

My earlier career was as a musician and teacher, so you might well wonder how I became a charity consultant. Alongside my professional work I was a local volunteer with the Scout Association and eventually became one of the National Team developing programmes, strategy and in particular working on supporting the 100,000 adult volunteers. I then took the plunge a good few years ago and decided to move into the charity sector as a professional, landing my first role as Volunteer Resource Manager at Action for Hearing Loss. This was an organisation and UK wide role developing and delivering the volunteering strategy for them, creating projects and seeking funding to support the work.

From there I moved to Youth Music, managing and transforming their work in the English Regions, and then to The London Community Foundation as Head of Programmes and Grant Operations. During my time there I built the Programme Team and processes to raise and deliver over £6million of grants, along with impact tools that enabled the foundation to produce its first Impact Report in 2018. 

As I tell people, that was a two-faced role: on the one hand, working with donors ranging from HNWI and large corporates to other trusts and foundations to raise money and develop their philanthropic journey; on the other, managing the grant making and supporting and advising a wide range of smaller organisations on their governance, finance, business planning, project development, trouble shooting and capacity building – what could be called our Funder Plus offer.

Perhaps this was the part of the job I enjoyed the most – helping organisations grow – and that’s why I became a consultant to help others to make a real difference.

For me there is no typical week, it’s a bit like my earlier portfolio career as a musician and teacher: no two days are the same. One day I might be assessing grants for a funder or advising a donor on their philanthropic work, eg carrying out a feasibility study into a major donation, another day I might be mentoring a Creative Director as they develop new ideas and their business case for funding or facilitating Board awaydays, as the Trustees and senior staff consider their vision and strategic direction.

My approach as a consultant is to be a critical friend and support organisations to understand the issues, explore options and come up with solutions. My aim is to always leave all the members of their team (Trustees, staff, volunteers) at the end of any engagement with a real sense of ownership of any new plans, programmes, processes etc.

It’s brilliant to leave them with a focus on the future and a clear understanding of how to build on the work we have done together and achieve long lasting outcomes for their beneficiaries.

When I’m not supporting charities and philanthropists I’m a Trustee for the Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard and love walking with my husband and two dogs on the South Downs or along the coast.