This month, we spoke to Chief Executive Paul Morrish, who’s been leading LandAid for over 10 years. Read along to find our more.
What brought you to LandAid in the first place?
I had applied for several CEO-level roles, but always seemed to be the fourth of four. But I had been looking for roles in my previous area of expertise – adult social care. Then I saw this job and was drawn to the fact that it was an opportunity to go back to an area I had spent much of my career working in – homelessness and specifically youth homelessness, and to lead an industry-wide programme of change. It seemed really exciting, and it was new. I hadn’t worked before in corporate fundraising, and I knew nothing about real estate or property, but I was convinced that LandAid could make a real difference and I was convinced I could too.
What’s your role, how do you help end youth homelessness?
I’m the CEO, so, working closely with the team and our Board of Trustees, I set the charity’s strategy and am then responsible for ensuring we deliver on what we say we will do, with a team that it supported and motivated. I am knowledgeable about the youth homelessness sector – its strengths and its weaknesses too – so I’m interested in the projects and programmes we support, and those we set up and run. But I’m also fascinated in the role and potential of our corporate partners, so I stick my nose into all our fundraising relationships as well. Finally, I am one of the prominent voices of the charity, so I have a key role in promoting what we do, and encouraging our supporters to do more.
What’s one project or moment that made you proud to work at LandAid?
Our SleepOut are phenomenal and a wonderful opportunity to showcase who we are and just what we can do. But I also feel a real sense of pride every single time I approve a payment to one of our charity partners – that is the point at which our fundraising turns into impact. To be fair, I also get a real sense of pride when we get great feedback from our charity and/or corporate partners – which happens a lot.
What’s one challenge LandAid faces in this work that you think more people should know about?
We talk too easily about the fact that we are in between donors and impact makers, companies and charities. The skill, the time, effort and hard work to make all those relationships work is phenomenal, and marks us out as a truly remarkable charity. Ensuring that people are aware of the skills we have at our disposal, and the expertise in the team, can often be a challenge.