Small Charity Week 2024: Children’s Heart Surgery Fund
The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund's vision is to support hearts for life. We spoke to Kate Hainsworth, Interim CEO, for Small Charity Week.
Small Charity Week amplifies, supports and connects small charities across the UK. We’re proud to partner with small charities to find leaders who are inspiring, authentic and forward-thinking.
We have caught up with Kate Hainsworth, Interim CEO of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. Native of Yorkshire, Kate is the former CEO of Leeds Community Foundation GiveBradford where she developed the four active charities delivering for communities in Leeds and Bradford over the course of 8 years to become a relational funder with a strong reputation amongst communities for delivery and for pioneering work around impact, inclusion and resilience. During that time she raised collective funds available for start-up and small community activity from local philanthropists.
An experienced board member and chair, Kate is currently involved with the Local Trust and the Young Foundation as well as chairing the steering group for the West Yorkshire Mayor’s Fair Work Charter. She has also served as a Trustee at Freedom Festival Arts Trust Hull, The Art House Wakefield, and Leeds Culture Trust which became Leeds 2023.
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund’s vision is to support hearts for life and their mission is to support the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit as a world-class centre of excellence – by providing the funding and resources needed to care for a patient’s heart, mind, family and future.
The charity is based in Leeds where the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit is the Cardiac Specialist Surgical Centre for the whole of Yorkshire, Humberside, North East Lincolnshire and North Derbyshire, a population of 5.6 million people. Congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs in 1 in 125 babies and is the most common birth defect globally. Every year they support 23,000 CHD patients, heart families and NHS staff across our region 350 patients and their families facing open heart surgery, and approximately 700 experiencing other procedures – stents, catheters, and pacemakers.
Category:Health & Social Care
Written by
Bill Yuksel
Head of SME Charities
Bill Yuksel has a passion for creating environments where people can create systemic change and a real commitment to delivering inclusive, empowering and robust recruitment.
Since joining Peridot in 2016, Bill has led hundreds of chief executive, senior leadership and board appointments for charities, including appointing over 60+ chief executives across England, Wales and Scotland.
Bill also has experience leading transformation projects as a Trustee of two charities, where he secured better financial positions, led governance reform and recruited new CEOs and Trustees. Bill was also a member of the Transformation Board at the University of Suffolk Students' Union.
As a former two-year students' union Sabbatical Officer, Bill knows that many talented young people find it hard to find meaningful employment after their term of office and has offered pro-bono career workshops to empower young people and help them in their job hunts.
Bill is proud of his strong track record of recruiting women, people of colour, LGBTQ+, and disabled people into leadership positions.
Outside of work, Bill is a kinship foster carer to his young nephew. He is also a Trustee at Mindera UK Foundation, a charity providing education, funding, mentorship, and opportunities for underrepresented and underprivileged young people. He works as an Interim Co-Chair of the Small Charity Advisory Panel, supported by NCVO, and he is a Panel Member for Board Behaviours and Dynamics Working Group for the Charity Commission.
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