The past few months have seen a number of new and exciting developments within both the Community Foundation for Merseyside and Community Foundation for Lancashire. Both community foundations, which are separately registered charities, are delighted to announce the appointment of Cathy Elliott as the Chief Executive for both charities, as of Monday 3rd August.

Cathy joined the Community Foundation for Merseyside from Scope in 2007 as the Development Director. In the past two years she has been promoted to Assistant Chief Executive and is now set to take on the Chief Executive role. On her appointment, Cathy said: “I feel extremely passionate about the work of community foundations and am really looking forward to this challenge. Both community foundations are constantly developing and growing and this is a really exciting time to be working here.”

The Community Foundation for Merseyside has also seen new appointments to their Partnerships and Philanthropy Team. Phil Taylor and Annie Gosling have joined the Community Foundation in a job share capacity as Senior Assistant Managers for the team. The role focuses primarily on raising income from the public sector to enhance the funding streams available to local community and voluntary groups.

Phil has joined the Community Foundation having worked as the Arts & Development Manager for Liverpool City Council during the 2008 Capital of Culture Year. Annie, who is currently working towards her PHD, has recently undertaken a large scale research project with the Community Foundation to establish the social needs on Merseyside and will be looking to identify, through her new role, ways in which the Community Foundation and public sector organisations can work towards tackling these issues.

Speaking on the recent appointments, Community Foundation for Merseyside Chairman Andrew Kellaway commented: “As a board, we are delighted to appoint Cathy Elliott as the Community Foundation’s new Chief Executive. Over the past 12 months the Community Foundation has raised more funds for endowment than previous years and distributed grants into the heart of Merseyside’s communities. We believe that with Cathy’s appointment as well as the addition of other staff members, we will continue to increase the amount of income generated year on year to distribute into communities to meet local need and tackle social issues.”