Our mission is to provide a sustainable source of funding for exceptional small charities.
Our focus is small charities working with young people.
Our Story
How time flies. It was back in 2014 that Ed Wethered and Chris Kirkland were on a plane back from Denmark and got chatting about how they wanted to give to a children’s charity. They knew the big names but wondered if there were smaller charities out there that might need the money more.
After a bit of digging, they found there weren’t just a handful but hundreds. The more they looked, the less the situation seemed to make sense; tons of small charities doing great work but the bulk of donations going to the big names.
This wasn’t just a case of supporting the underdogs. The more Ed and Chris thought about how small charities work, the better it sounded. Small, passionate, agile businesses, experts in specialist areas, that didn’t come with the bureaucratic baggage of larger organisations.
They got talking to friends about what Raise Your Hands might look like and the same conversations came up again and again. People wanted to give but weren’t sure how well their money would be used. They didn’t want to be stopped in the street or be called asking for more money.
It was out of these frustrations, and a desire for change, that Raise Your Hands was born. A model that helps exceptional small charities have a real impact. A model that offers people who want to give a positive experience.
Giving on your terms.
Ed Wethered
Ed began his career at Merrill Lynch, where he was a member of the hedge fund group. In 2008, Ed moved to Zambia where he worked for a venture capital company, starting, investing in and running a wide range of businesses. Aged 26, Ed returned to London to co-found a hedge fund as its COO.
Ed was awarded the Extra Mile award by eFinancial News in 2016 and was nominated for the Beacon Award in Innovation 2017.
Slaney Wright
Slaney joined Raise Your Hands as a Director with a wealth of experience in the charity sector; she started her career in South America, running a volunteer project in children’s home in Bolivia. She then worked for the national youth charity, Fairbridge, where she took on various roles; moving from the “front line” (programme delivery) as a Centre Manager to the “dark side” (fundraising!) as Head of Philanthropy Development.
In 2007, Slaney co-founded the criminal justice charity, Switchback – which has a strong track record of delivering meaningful, real impact for young adult offenders.
Madelaine Jones
Madelaine started as Development and Partnerships Manager in late 2022. Madelaine began her career working in marketing and advertising but quickly realised she wanted a role working within the not for profit sector. She has over 10 years of experience working in fundraising roles for a number of charities, both large and small, including Oxfam and Amnesty, in Australia, the UK and even the Philippines.
If you want to find out more about partnering with Raise Your Hands, Madelaine is always open to have a chat
Our Trustees
Our Board of Trustees meets once a quarter and guides the strategic direction of Raise Your Hands.
Chris Kirkland
Chris works for a family owned construction and real estate business based out of central London. He started his career at Knight Frank where he was an advisor in the capital markets team. He then moved into development working for Landid Property Ltd on a variety of schemes across South East England.
Chris is chairman of the board at Raise Your Hands with a specific focus on wider strategy and fundraising within the organisation.
Federica Cucè
Federica has over 25 years of experience in finance across M&A, private equity, public equities, and hedge funds. After more than 10 years in different investment banking roles for BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank in Paris, New York and London, Federica spent more than 14 years in London as a senior Investor Relations executive at Marshall Wace, a leading global alternative investment manager with a philosophy of entrepreneurship and innovation. Today Federica is an independent Asset Management and Sustainability consultant.
In her free time, Federica teaches Yoga and volunteers for selected charities that focus on improving underprivileged children’s lives.
Federica is a languages, travel, philosophy and sports enthusiast.
Nick Burlington
Originally a chartered accountant by training, Nick has spent the last 14 years in private equity investment with the likes of Triton Partners, Permira, Impax Asset management and most recently Arrow Global Group covering institutional relationships, investor relations and fundraising.
During his time at Impax, Nick was responsible for defining the Impact led investment strategy, and has been heavily involved in the implementation of best practice ESG initiatives across all his recent roles within the asset management industry at a time when ESG increasingly becomes a fundamental element considered in everything that money managers do.
Nick is a passionate endurance sports enthusiast and a Freeman of the City of London. He sits on a charitable board of the Girdlers’ Livery Company, which is focussed on making meaningful donations to a selected number of charities. He has also involved himself on a personal level raising funds for mental health charities which are very close to his heart, for the last 7/8 years.
Hannah Baker
Hannah is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and has worked in finance at Goldman Sachs for the last seven years. She became involved with Raise Your Hands through competing in Midnight Madness in 2018 and 2019, before joining the board of trustees in 2021. Hannah has previous experience on the youth boards of The Funding Network, a live crowdfunding network, and Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity.
Hannah has a passion for health and fitness, and has previously competed for England in karate. More recently she ran the London Marathon, and has used her time during lockdown to become a qualified Personal Trainer and Exercise to Music Instructor.
Adam Lawrenson
Adam is Executive Creative Director of Albion, an innovation consultancy based in London. Albion is famous for designing the Skype brand and product experience, inventing the disruptive telco GiffGaff and scaling Candy Crush from facebook game to global phenomenon.
Adam spent his early career in advertising, creating campaigns for BMW, Sky, Gov UK and Bupa. He then ran a product design studio where he led long-term innovation projects for leading brands. And he did a long stint as Creative Director working on the global rebrands of Jaguar, Land Rover and Vodafone.
Adam has sat on the digital advisory board for WPP. He’s won a Bafta and an Emmy for a real time documentary with Channel 4. And rather bizarrely had a poem exhibited at the V&A alongside poet laureate Andrew Motion.
Rossa Shanks
Rossa is a marketeer with a 20-year career that spans creative advertising agencies, News UK, Dow Jones and cybersecurity investment company ISTARI, where he is currently Chief Marketing Officer. He has worked with a variety of well-known brands including BT, Mercedes-Benz, The Economist, PepsiCo and Greene King.
His entrepreneurial spirit led him to found Great Little Place, a mobile app for finding hidden gems to stay, recommended by users.
Rossa believes there is nothing more exciting than unlocking the potential of a child by investing early in their future.