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The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, is delighted to announce the appointment of Shane Ryan MBE as a new Senior Adviser. The move sees Shane, who received his MBE in this year’s New Year Honours, returning to the organisation where he will report to the Chief Executive and play a critical role in shaping how the Fund will deliver great grant making for all communities. 

Shane Ryan MBE (Right)

This senior appointment comes at a crucial time ahead of The National Lottery Community Fund’s new strategy launch later in 2023. Shane will work across the organisation and closely with its Senior Management Team and Board to steer and drive key aspects of the Fund’s strategy forward, ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and young people’s voice, inclusion and opportunity are at the heart of its decision-making. 

Shane re-joins The National Lottery Community Fund from the Avast Foundation, where he was Global Executive Director. His previous roles include Deputy Director and Senior Head of Partnerships at The National Lottery Community Fund and Chief Executive at multi-award winning charity, Future Men. 

Shane has spent over 25 years working with communities and continues to be a regular adviser, speaker, consultant and author. He has been Strategic Consultant to the Grenfell Response Unit and a Corporate Consultant on Ethical Leadership, male wellness, employee experience, engagement, and diversity initiatives. 

Shane will start his new role in February 2023.

David Knott, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Shane arrives at a critical time as we set out a new strategy to best serve communities in the UK. His wealth of experience will be vital as we look to build on progress, deliver ongoing improvements and embed change that will ensure we and our funding are fit to support communities into the future.

“Our vision is to enable all communities to benefit from National Lottery funding and to unlock the remarkable potential particularly of young people. I’m thrilled to be working with Shane again and excited to see what his energy, advocacy and entrepreneurial drive will enable us to achieve in the years ahead.” 

Shane Ryan MBE, newly-appointed Senior Adviser at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “It’s a pleasure to be returning to the organisation at this pivotal time. There is real recognition that more needs to be done to ensure that all communities can benefit from life-changing National Lottery funding regardless of their starting point.

“My role will be to support the Fund as it seeks to ensure its work is rooted in communities now and shaped for the challenges of the future. Key to this is to ensure that diverse voices, including that of talented youth, are reflected in our future thinking and decision-making.” 

Welcoming the move, Stephen Bediako OBE, Co-founder Pathway Fund, Black Global Trust and The Social Innovation Partnership, said: “As one of the largest single funders of charitable social good in the United Kingdom it’s essential that The National Lottery Community Fund is continually striving to provide quality support for communities to thrive, empowering communities to deliver action, and enabling those communities to deliver meaningful impact for people. 

“It is both a positive step forward, and reassuring, to see Shane Ryan returning as a Senior Advisor at this time. His experience, insights, and perspective will only strengthen The National Lottery Community Fund’s ability to engage and create impact with its stakeholders in the crucial years ahead. Shane’s commitment to innovative approaches to philanthropy and harnessing the expertise of young people to full effect, will be exciting for the future. In particular I look forward to working with Shane, National Lottery Leadership and other colleagues in driving the use of innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurial spirit to deliver impact for our communities over the coming months and years.”

Yvonne Field, Founder and CEO, The Ubele Initiative and National Convenor, The Phoenix Way, said: “I am absolutely thrilled that Shane Ryan is returning to The National Lottery Community Fund; he has demonstrated a lifelong and authentic commitment to the promotion of social and racial justice for communities who often experience marginalisation and exclusion. 

“His change agency skills and experience acted as a key catalyst for the establishment of the Phoenix Fund during the pandemic. His continued support of our vision has seen our work flourish and grow into The Phoenix Way. I and Phoenix Partners look forward to working in close collaboration with Shane and his National Lottery Community Fund colleagues over the forthcoming year.” 

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players, who raise over £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. In the last 12 months, thanks to National Lottery players, it has awarded almost £600m through over 14,000 grants, delivering life-changing funding to communities across the UK.

Equity, diversity and inclusion is a key priority for the organisation and it has already made significant strides it aims to build upon. Over the last 5 years it has awarded over £606 million to support children and young people, representing 21% of all funding, and distributed £269m through almost 8,000 grants to support ethnic minority communities. In the last financial year alone (21/22) it made £98m in grants supporting ethnic minority communities - the highest amount in 7 years. 

As well as supporting people and communities to cope with the impact of cost-of-living pressures, in 2023 The National Lottery Community Fund is looking forward to welcoming Awards for All applications for community activities to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Windrush and the huge contribution Windrushers and their families have made to the UK. 

It is also looking for applications aimed at supporting the Ukrainian community here in the UK, recognising the challenges they face and reflecting the fact that the UK is hosting the Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine this year. 

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Notes to Editors