Trustee spotlight: Geoff’s story of joining the Together Trust and fighting for a better world

Between November 4 and 8, charities across the UK mark Trustees' Week. This celebrates the dedication and achievement of nearly one million trustees, and the vital skills and support they provide to their charities. 

At the Together Trust we are very lucky and grateful to work with a fantastic team of passionate trustees who are responsible for setting our strategy and working with our leadership teams to shape our direction and budgets. 

Despite helping charities make important decisions, their work often goes unnoticed, so we’re putting the spotlight back on their amazing contributions.  

Geoff joined our team of trustees in 2022 and is the current Chair of the Supporting People Subgroup. On top of that, he is keen to help out wherever he can, like compering the annual Music and Performing Arts Festival or occasionally assisting the fundraising team with accessing grant funding or opportunities such as the bucket collection at Stockport County.

But to him, it’s all about the impact: “Although sounding like a cliche, it is about giving your time voluntarily to help make a difference to an absolutely wonderful charity.” 

Many of our trustees are passionate about our cause and want to use their professional experience to help. This is something that Geoff echoes. He brings with him over 35 years’ commercial, marketing and fundraising experience, primarily in the sports sector, including Manchester City FC and Lancashire County Cricket Club.

He says, “There have to be some benefits of getting older, and using the experience built up in business, fostering and life in general to help others is extremely fulfilling.”  

On top of passion for helping, there is also an emotional link between many trustees and the organisations they volunteer for. Geoff and his wife Nikki have been fostering for 9 years and their current role is that of Mockingbird Hub Carers in Stockport. Together Trust has been running fostering services for over 20 years and we are proud to have helped thousands of young people thrive by providing loving homes and making sure their voices are listened to through campaigning.  

Geoff says, “It was actually the campaigning arm of the Together Trust which I initially spotted on Twitter when they were backing a particular campaign which I was passionate about. Realising their offices were just ‘up the road’ from where we live, I thought I would contact them to see how I might be able to get involved and they happened to have a Trustee vacancy for which I applied.”