Michelle Rothwell, Kristina McGuirk and Sarah Horne have joined the board of charity that supports community groups and young people across Manchester.
A charity which has been supporting community groups and young people across Manchester for more than 20 years has appointed three new trustees to its board.
We Love MCR Charity, which was previously known as the Lord Mayor of Manchester’s Charity Appeal Trust when it launched in 1997, has recruited Michelle Rothwell, Kristina McGuirk and Sarah Horne to its board.
Ged Carter, We Love MCR’s Charity Development Manager, said the trio of appointments will take the organisation to the ‘next level’ of its growth story.
“In the shadows of the towers and cranes of our thriving city, the potential of some of our young people remains unfulfilled,” he said.
“Over 40 per cent of Manchester’s children are still growing up in households that are in poverty and the resulting ‘opportunity gap’ is even greater than this income gap.
“An absence of exposure to quality work experience, and a shortage of social capital, too often restrict the opportunities of young Mancunians. We aim to address this through the work of We Love MCR.
“To be able to add Michelle, Kristina and Sarah to our board of trustees at the same time will be transformational. They’re all experts in their field and are well connected in the business community.
“When I joined the charity last year one of my first ambitions was to strengthen the board so for all three new trustees to become available at the same time was an incredible opportunity to take We Love MCR to the next level.”
Rothwell is the founder of Manchester property development and investment firm Watch This Space and said she was delighted to get involved.
“We Love MCR is the beating heart of the city,” she said. “It’s for people and communities that want to change their lives. There’s so much talent in Manchester and sometimes people just need a little bit of help. I’m delighted to become a trustee because I want to give something back.”
McGuirk has spent more than a decade in marketing and media, working with global brands including L’Oreal, Compare The Market and Morrisons. Prior to launching her own consultancy she was a marketing director at UKFast.
She said: “I’m so honoured to be joining We Love MCR. I am excited to be part of a charity that focuses on helping young people and ambitious communities to thrive.”
The third new trustee is experienced accountant and tax adviser Sarah Horne, who spent seven years as the Co-op’s head of tax. She said: “I thrilled to join the board and I’m excited to see how we can grow our support Manchester’s young people and communities. As a charity we’re all about making sustainable changes – not sticking plasters. For example we recently supported a qualified young seamstress who found herself living on the streets. Once she got back into a tenancy, she couldn’t get credit so we helped buy her a sewing machine for £650 to enable her to resume her career and avoid falling back into homelessness.”
Their appointments have swelled the number of trustees to nine, six of whom are female.
We Love MCR was first registered in 1997 with the aim of ‘improving the lives of the citizens of Manchester’ but rebranded in 2011 and more recently has focused on three key areas.
The first is to provide financial support to community groups to improve their own communities. This is done through the Stronger Communities Small Grants Fund, with grants available for between £500 and £2,000.
The Stronger Communities Large Grants Fund has grants available of between £15,000 and £70,000 for organisations helping address a range of issues including combatting loneliness and social exclusion.
We Love MCR also operates a new £100,000 Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund, which offers grants to disadvantaged people aged between 16-24 to help them to fulfil their potential in education, career and training after leaving high school. The average award is £700.
