HELEN O'DONNELL
Trustee
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Helen is Chief Executive of Children's University, a charity which believes in the power of limitless learning beyond the classroom for all children. The work of Children's University has been independently evaluated and is proven to raise educational attainment, non-cognitive outcomes, and aspirations for the future. Last year over 112,000 participants took part in close to 4m hours of extra-curricular learning with Children’s University.
Helen has extensive experience in the third sector with a focus on education and helping young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds access educational opportunities. She has previously worked in Higher Education and independent secondary schools and as a CEO of a start-up Community Foundation.
She has been a charity CEO for 11 years and before that had a long career as a major donor fundraiser. She has managed successful fundraising appeals and established and managed development and fundraising offices. She has given evidence to the DCMS Select Committee on the social impact of participating in sporting and cultural activities and her TEDx talk, ‘Whose job is it to educate our children?” was published in December 2017. In 2019, she was named as #SocialCEOs Best Digital CEO.
Helen is a graduate of the School for Social Entrepreneurs Scale Up Programme and Common Purpose, a Fellow of the RSA, a member of ACEVO and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.
She is a Trustee of Fallibroome Trust, a 10-school academy trust and a Member of Peartree Primary School both in Cheshire.
Helen joined Getting on Board as a member of the Board of Trustees in April 2023.
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