Major Donor Group Committee

Carolina is passionate about building long-term relationship with donors who feel deeply connected to Karuna Trust's work to overcome poverty and discrimination through locally led projects focused on gender equality, education, and sustainable livelihoods for some of the most excluded communities in South Asia. She has worked in the international development sector since joining The Karuna Trust nine years ago, where she established the Major Donor programme from the ground up. I joined the CIOF Special Interest Group Committee in December 2021 as an Events Officer and was honoured to offered Chair in August 2023.

A fundraiser with 17 years' experience working in the not for profit sector, Julia currently manages the major partnerships programme at Concern Worldwide, an international development and humanitarian aid agency. She has been a member of the Major Donor Special Interest Group for over 4 years and her current role is Treasurer.

Grace has worked in fundraising for over 7 years, and is currently Philanthropy Lead at British Red Cross, securing six and seven figure transformational gifts to support humanitarian action across the globe.

Elisa joined the Major Donor Special Interest Group in 2021. An experienced fundraiser with knowledge of major giving, legacies and international grants, she has worked in the cultural sector for sixteen years and is currently Head of Philanthropy at Serpentine, London.

Simon is Director - Fundraising Appointments at Peridot Partners, an executive search business that supports organisations with a social focus to recruit senior managers and leaders. He leads a team responsible for fundraising and communications and also support charities to recruit professional fundraisers onto their trustee boards.

Emma is a Philanthropy Manager at UK for UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency, securing five and six figure gifts to support refugee protection and durable solutions across the globe. Here she’s focused on the identification, cultivation and stewardship of individuals able to give at the six and seven figure level, including those sat on UK for UNHCR’s inaugural Advisory Board. She also leads on the management of the Emergency Fund – an initiative aimed at raising flexible income to drive UNHCR’s emergency response to new and under-reported crises.