We believe that excellent leadership, as epitomised by Shackleton, has the potential to create opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable, ultimately improving people’s lives and enabling them to reach their full potential. We look for individuals, often with lived experience, who display those same characteristics of courage and resilience who have a big, bold idea to help others.
Our mission is to support inspirational and courageous leaders who have innovative solutions to issues affecting young people experiencing disadvantage in the UK today. We fund early-stage organisations run by social entrepreneurs who have developed a new model or approach to a social problem.
What sets us apart from other funders is the projects we support are often considered too risky or too early-stage. True to the spirit of Shackleton himself, we take calculated risks in providing support at such an early stage, helping to turn these concepts into a reality when many social entrepreneurs find it challenging to secure funding without a proven track record.
We are a small charity - run by a diverse, voluntary trustee board with a wealth of expertise from across the business and charity sector, plus a part-time administrator.
Charlotte is a freelance brand and marketing consultant with extensive experience and knowledge across creative and analytical disciplines. She has worked from both a client and an agency perspective and on major international consumer brands, with a particular passion for retail. To equalise her love of baking, she cycles wherever possible.
Paul has over 20 years of leadership experience in the social enterprise, philanthropy and impact sectors. He started his career at Water Aid, the UK's leading water and sanitation charity and then spent seven years at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor. He is passionate about the role seed funding and risk capital can play in getting great ideas off the ground and now works as a consultant, supporting start-ups, enterprises, philanthropists and investors to build impactful portfolios and scale their operations.
Karen is the CEO and founder of Ren Organisational Consulting, combining experience and knowledge together with psychology-based insights to help individuals take their performance to higher levels and for organisations to be a greater success. Karen speaks conversational French and Cantonese, and is passionate about travel, hiking and baking.
Plum is an experienced freelance philanthropy and impact consultant with a particular focus on early -stage ventures. She advises donors and funds on impact management and measurement and helps foundations and individuals use more of their assets for impact. She was previously Head of Impact Investing at New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and started her career in equity research for Merrill Lynch.
Steph is CEO and founder of Gympanzees , a multi-award-winning charity that provides services for disabled children and young people. Steph is a previous Shackleton grant recipient in 2018 and joins us as our Leader Trustee representative. Steph is a highly specialized paediatric physiotherapist based in Bristol. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Gympanzees has won a host of awards, including a Queen’s Award for Innovation, and Stephanie has recently won a Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award, one of only two awarded in Bristol.
View more about our outcomes in our latest impact report:
Published 19 December 2024
