Charity Experience

Susie's Charity Work


Susie has over thirty-five years experience in leading, supporting and promoting charities which has resulted in raising millions for worthy causes. Her skills range from strategic direction in the set-up phase, developing a plan to ensure a high profile for the charity, through to hands-on organisation of successful fundraising events.

Her charity experience started when she was a presenter on Piccadilly Radio in the 1980s. She led many fundraising projects and supported a range of charities through her radio programme.

One of these was working alongside Neil Cliffe as an events organiser to raise funds for a 'state of the art' specialist cancer centre at Wythenshawe Hospital. She helped raise a staggering £1 million to build the Neil Cliffe Centre within the hospital grounds, the first of its kind to be built within an NHS hospital. There is even a ward named after Susie within the centre as thanks for all her work.

Susie also helped to raise £2.5 million for the Bryan Robson Scanner Appeal so that The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital could purchase a magnetic scanner and was a member of the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention start-up team. The initial aim of Genesis was to raise funds for gene research and the first project focused on the breast cancer gene called BRCA2. The programme has since gone from strength to strength.

In 2000, Susie created and led The Kirsty Appeal, with the support and clear thinking of Philip Taylor, her business partner for many years. The charitable foundation which raised over £5 million for Francis House Children's Hospice, Manchester. Its figurehead is Kirsty Howard who was born with an exceptionally rare condition in which her heart is back to front. Susie was integral in ensuring a high profile for the campaign which culminated in Kirsty presenting the Jubilee Baton to Queen Elizabeth II at the Opening Ceremony of the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. The whole project had to be run on a shoestring and it was as a result of Susie's ability to involve a wide range of well-known celebrities and to engage the national and local media that the campaign was a resounding success.

Susie's success in The Kirsty Appeal drew the attention of Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods at the time, who invited her to become the Charity Manager for the AlFayed Charitable Foundation in 2009. Based in London for five years, Susie ran the charitable foundation which supported many charities across the world. She was responsible for choosing the hospitals and hospices which should be supported by the charity. Her work involved a wide variety of functions from helping to re-build orphanages in Egypt and Mongolia to developing and delivering strategies and documents to raise both the profiles and additional funds for a range of charitable causes.

Susie continues to support charities, both local and national, by providing advice, guidance and hands-on support.

Say hello!

Find out how Susie can help your business. Get in touch for an informal chat.

susie@susiemathis.com

07899 882110

Send a message