Glyn Benson has stepped down from the OCF Trustee Board after 17 years. All of the team and Board wish to thank Glyn for her long contribution to OCF and for continuing in her voluntary and dedicated role on our Grants Panel.
Glyn is a trained midwife and has always been involved in and cared about her her local community, with over 20 years as a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor and as a magistrate. She has been a trustee of both Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital Charity and Family Mediation. She has also been a member of the Appeals Tribunal Service for over 25 years. Her background in the community, health sector and tribunal services has made her an extremely effective and invaluable member of the OCF Grants Panel, a role she has had since its inception! Glyn has been a real stalwart of our our grant assessments, back to when we launched our Surviving Winter campaign in 2009, started as a way for people to donate their winter fuel allowance and direct the funds to local groups supporting vulnerable people.
We are grateful for Glyn’s continued dedication to the Grants Panel going forward. She has extensive knowledge of local Oxfordshire charities, a real understanding of injustice and welfare, of the sorts of problems and issues that lead people to seek advice or support. Through her experience and involvement in assessing grant applications, Glyn helped us decide who to invite to some of our first webinars, where we shared stories from around the county of community support and response. The Grants Panel has been particularly busy over the last 18 months, with our Community Resilience Fund responsible for over £1 million in grants in its first year, and it continues to fund frontline support – including our two most recent grants rounds for homelessness prevention and young families.
A huge heartfelt thank you goes to Glyn for all her dedication to OCF (including the bunting she made us which last featured at our Open Office in February 2020!) and the continued commitment and experience she brings to our grant making. There will be a few new faces joining the OCF Board of Trustees over the coming weeks and we look forward to sharing news of them as they are confirmed in post.
See our current Board of Trustees