About War Child



We are an international charity that protects children living in the world's most dangerous war zones.

We currently work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda and D.R. Congo.

Watch the video or click on one of the links below to learn more about what we do...

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Publications
Our Friends


Our vision

We look forward to a world in which the lives of children are no longer torn apart by war


Our Mission

War Child’s mission is to support and strengthen the protective environment for children who, as a result of conflict, live with a combination of insecurity, poverty and exclusion.

History

War Child was founded in 1993 by British filmmakers Bill Leeson and David Wilson, when they returned from filming the war in former Yugoslavia. Shocked by what they had seen, they raised enough money to return later that year with a convoy and mobile bakery to help provide for the children affected by the conflict.

The War Child family soon grew as War Child Holland was formed in 1994 and War Child Canada started in 1998 - all under the umbrella of War Child International.

Our first album 'Help' was launched in 1995 in order to raise money and awareness for the children affected by the bloody conflicts in the Balkans.

After more than 10 years we handed over our music therapy programme and the flagship Pavarotti Music Centre to a local organisation that will continue to serve children in to the future.

During that time we have expanded our programmes into the four countries we work in today - Iraq, Afghanistan, D.R. Congo and Uganda. We have also released four more critically acclaimed albums; most notably 'Help! - A Day in the Life' in 2005 and 'Heroes' in 2009.

Staff

Although we've worked with some of the biggest names in music history, we're actually quite a small organisation.

We employ 15 full time staff in our Head Office in London, and rely on the invaluable support of a small team of unpaid interns.

Current Head Office staff members:

Name Position email address
@warchild.org.uk
Mark Waddington CEO mark
Ben Knowles Music Director benk
Nivi Narang Campaigns Director nivi
Florian Maehler Finance Director florian
Wayne Bleier Programmes Director wayne
Matthew Wilson Deputy Programmes Director matthew
Katie Taylor Iraq & Afghanistan Programmes Manager katie
Marieke Hounjet Iraq & Afghanistan Programmes Assistant marieke
Sophie Hug Williams DRC & Uganda Programmes Manager sophie
Mafalda Marchioro DRC & and Uganda Programmes Assistant mafalda
Sara Bowcutt Head of Corporate & Donor Fundraising sara
Charlotte Minvielle Fundraising Officer charlotte
Catherine Gledhill Music Projects Manager catherine
Wendy Aldridge (currently on maternity leave) Head of Events wendy
Caroline Nicholson Schools Manager caroline
Trudy Stone (currently on maternity leave) Media & Artist Liaison Manager trudy
Nikki Morgan Media & Artist Liaison Assistant nikki
Ben Blankley Online Manager benb
Erika Hamer Office Manager erika
Adewale Ajadi Finance Manager adewale
Harriet Holder Programmes Intern harriet
Clare O'Reilly Advocacy Intern clare
Matt Browne Communications Intern matt
Jessica Sutton Fundraising Intern jessica
 

The photogenic staff of War Child. (i.e. everyone except Mark and Sara!)

In the Field

War Child UK runs projects on the ground in four countries:

  • Afghanistan
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Iraq
  • Uganda


War Child helps protect children by:

  • Reintegrating child soldiers with their families
  • Getting children off the streets, after war has forced them to leave home
  • Separating children from adults in prison
  • Rebuilding schools destroyed by war

Finances

Last year our turnover was approximately £1.6m


Q: It looks like you ran quite a big deficit last year. Is War Child in financial difficulty?

A: No we aren't. Like a lot of charities, our income and expenditure does tend to fluctuate year on year and some grants may arrive in one financial year and then are spent in the next one. We also invested money last year in diversifying our income streams (see question below).


Q: Who do you get grants from?

A: We receive a couple of large grants from Comic Relief and DFID. We also receive funding from a number of smaller trusts and funds.


Q: That looks like a large proportion of money to spend on generating income?

A: It was higher than normal last year. We knew we would be affected by the economic downturn just like everyone else. Therefore last year we invested money in strengthening and diversifying our income sources so that we weren't over-reliant on any one funder or income stream.

This investment has paid off as we have managed not to have to make any financial-related cuts to our vital programmes work in the field. We also incurred costs in 2008 for the recording of our album 'Heroes', and this did not go on sale and generate an income until early 2009.

Music

War Child has an established, proud and unique relationship with music. Since our inception, music has been at the heart of what we do and continues to be the primary way we engage with the public and raise money.

Back in 1995 we released Help! - the charity album by which all others have seen judged ever since. Featuring the likes of Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Stone Roses, Massive Attack - it was recorded, mixed and on sale within seven days.

To mark the album's 10th anniversary we released 'Help: A Day in the Life'. Recorded and sold online within 24 hours, it became the fastest recorded and downloaded album in music history.

Earlier this year we released 'Heroes' - a covers album featuring legendary artists who between them have sold more than 1.4 billion albums.

Gigs

As well as our famous albums, we also have a proud heritage of hosting gigs which have supported up and coming artists and also featured some of the biggest bands on the planet - most notably our recent concert with Coldplay, The Killers, Bono and Gary Barlow

Read more about the history of War Child and music here

Board of Trustees

Gill Avis

Chair
Gill Avis is Chair of War Child’s Board of Trustees. She has been a trustee for 11 years and assumed the post of Chair 5 years ago. She retired early but had worked for the Ministry of Defence for over 30 years, latterly as a deputy director in Whitehall. Her knowledge of, and involvement in, War Child has therefore been extensive, and contributed towards its focus and development. She has recruited six new trustees over the past 12 months who have already made a positive impact on the organisation.

Neil Fenton

Treasurer
Neil is currently the Finance Director at the large childcare charity and social enterprise, The London Early Years Foundation, where he has been for the last year. Prior to this role he had spent 20 years in the music industry, having worked in various financial positions at Polygram, Virgin, EMI and finally at Chrysalis Group plc, where he was COO of Chrysalis’ music division. In that role he oversaw significant growth of the music division, setting up and buying companies internationally and also developing strategy to make Chrysalis Music one of the foremost independent music companies in the world.
He was also responsible for raising £75m through a securitisation of Chrysalis’ music publishing catalogue.
When his role at Chrysalis came to an end he decided that he would follow his passions and work in the charity sector. He is a chartered accountant having qualified with KPMG and is a member of the Charity Finance Directors Group.

John MacAuslan

Secretary
John worked for nearly 20 years in Her Majesty's Treasury, including in a range of posts as a senior civil servant, and then for 13 years in the National Gallery leading the corporate service functions including finance and the Board secretariat. He has acted as Trustee in a small charity for seven years, including five years as chair of the Trustees. He is now a Civil Service Commissioner, and works on the governance of civil service departments among other topics.

Martin McCann

Trustee (programmes oversight)
Martin is the Chief Executive of the Disaster Relief charity RedR UK since 2007. Martin is also a trustee of People in Aid in the UK and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Porticus Foundation based in the Netherlands. Martin has 30 years experience of working on international development issues at a senior level.

Tom Davis

Trustee (marketing and general management oversight)
Tom has been at Action for Children for 3 years, first as their Head of Marketing and New Business, and latterly as Marketing Director. He served as a Trustee for the Consortium for Street Children for 4 years while chairing their Marketing & Fundraising Committee, in addition to roles advising the social enterprise MyBank and the new charity Solar Aid. He worked in the Commercial Sector, marketing in finance organisations for 20 years before joining the voluntary sector in 2004.

Richard Butler

Trustee (financial and business management oversight)
Richard has spent the last 18 months putting his financial and strategic understanding to use with a variety of social enterprises and charities. His current focus is on developing the capacity of the third sector through his work on 3SC. He has a decade of financial analysis and research expertise in Investment Banking and is qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst. His prior experience is in buy-side equity research covering a range of sectors from media & telecommunications to insurance.

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