Andrew Hind wins outstanding achievement award 2008

Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind has been revealed as the recipient of the outstanding achievement award at the 2008 Charity Awards.

Accepting the award before 1,000 of his peers at a glittering gala presentation dinner, an emotional Hind paid tribute to his wife and three sons, to the minister for the third sector Phil Hope - who presented him with his trophy - and to several sector colleagues.

He said one reason he was so overwhelmed by the prize was because some “legendary voluntary sector names” had won it in the past.  “It is a huge honour to follow in their footsteps,” he said.

Thanking Hope for the award, he said: “People of all political colours can see your commitment to the sector shining through.”

He gave special thanks to Charity Trustee Networks chair Rodney Buse, who gave him his first job in the sector in 1986, as finance director of Action Aid.  “I got my dream job and I was on my way.”

A later mentor was Sir Roger Singleton, himself last year’s outstanding achievement award winner, who Hind described as “one of the towering figures in the sector”.

“Roger taught me the imperative of striving for improvement in a charity year after year after year, because that is the least your beneficiaries deserve.”

He went on to compliment previous Charity Commission chair Geraldine Peacock, and paid tribute to incumbent Dame Suzi Leather, who he said had proved to be an “absolutely inspiring chair”.  He said he viewed the award as “recognition of the remarkable contribution to the sector that the Commission has made in recent years”.

And he concluded with a tribute to the sector in general: “It is a huge privilege to spend one’s working life associated with this sector.

“It is precious, distinctive, unique and adds immeasurably to the quality of life of our country and our world, and inspires huge levels of public trust and confidence.  Our job at the Commission is to keep it that way.”

Dame Suzi dabbed her eyes as Hind was honoured with a standing ovation, and said: “I’m so, so pleased – it’s a great tribute to everything he’s done. He’s such a star.”

An illustrious career

Hind qualified as a chartered accountant in 1979. He worked in practice in Kenya and became interested in the voluntary sector while working on development issues. “Having seen at first hand that aid agencies really do convert donations to activity on the ground and make a difference,” he said, “I wanted to be part of that.”

Attitudes to careers in charities were very different then and recruitment professionals questioned why he wanted to ‘throw away’ his career. Undaunted, Hind joined ActionAid in 1986, and says that the single biggest change since then is that no-one would now hold such an opinion.
 
From 1992, he spent three years as director of finance and corporate services at Barnardo’s before becoming chief operating officer of the BBC World Service. While at the BBC he continued his links with the voluntary sector as a trustee for Voluntary Service Overseas and honorary treasurer for both Unicef UK and the Diana Fund. 

Hind co-founded the Charity Finance Directors’ Group in 1987 and was its second chair from 1992-94. In 1995 he published The Governance and Management of Charities, which is widely considered to have made a major contribution to good practice in the sector.

In 2004 he became the first chief executive of the Charity Commission and has steered the organisation through a significant period of change, generating respect from both within and outside the sector for leading the creation of a regulator which is fit for purpose in the 21st century.

In a statement issued after the event, Dame Suzi added: “Andrew’s impact on the sector has been far wider than his current role here as chief executive, but it is characteristic of him that he sees this award as reflecting on the Commission generally.

“Andrew’s commitment to the sector and his unshakeable belief in its importance to society permeates all that he does here and I am thrilled that this has been recognised externally and at such a key event.”

20 June 2008