Pick of the Month - November 2025

Welcome to November's Pick of the Month! We’re excited to feature individuals who are making a real impact in the charity world. From creative social innovators to tireless charity leaders, their work is all about driving change and improving lives. We’ll take a closer look at their unique paths, the challenges they’ve navigated, and the incredible contributions they’re making to communities across the UK. Come join us in celebrating their inspiring efforts! 

Trustee of the Month - Emma Wilder, Howfen FC and Wood Street Mission

Howfen FC is a grassroots football club based in Westhoughton, Bolton. Wood Street Mission is a children’s charity helping children and families living on a low income in Manchester and Salford. The charity provides practical help to help meet children’s day-to-day needs and improve their life chances. It helps provide struggling families with children’s clothes, bedding and baby equipment, and toys and books which are important for children’s wellbeing and development.

We spoke to Emma Wilder, the current Treasurer at Howfen FC, and Wood Street Mission Trustee.

Emma told us a little bit about her work and what her mission is:  

"I’m Treasurer at Howfen FC and a Trustee at Wood Street Mission. Until September 2025 I also served as Treasurer for Bolton Cancer Voices. By day, I’m Managing Director of Beyond Profit, supporting charities with practical finance and governance. My mission across all these roles is simple: make finance feel human, useful and confidence-building. When leaders can see the story behind the numbers, in plain English, they make better, calmer decisions that protect people and programmes."

We asked Emma how she got to where she is today and what her roles involve:  

"I’ve spent my career helping charities put proportionate systems in place: clear budgets, simple controls and reporting that gets used. In practice, I translate complexity into everyday language, with no jargon, so non-finance colleagues feel in control. At Howfen FC that means grassroots-ready budgeting and cashflow so volunteers can say “yes” to opportunities without risking stability. At Wood Street Mission, it is governance, reserves and risk conversations that keep the focus on children and families rather than spreadsheets."

Emma shared some advice for aspiring leaders: 

"Don’t be afraid of finance. Start with three rhythms: a monthly cashflow check-in, a living risk register, and a simple reserves plan you genuinely use. Ask curious questions, write decisions down, and slow things just enough to see financial and mission risks side by side. Most importantly, speak plainly. If your update can’t be understood by a busy volunteer in five minutes, rewrite it."

Finally, Emma discussed what she’s passionate about seeing change in the sector:  

"First, honest full-cost funding, because core costs aren’t optional extras. Second, braver board diversity, with lived experience shaping decisions. Third, practical tech adoption, including AI, to give time back to people work, since tools should lighten the load, not add to it."

Read more about the work at Wood Street Mission. 

Charity Leader of the Month - Sheila Scott, Shelter from the Storm

Shelter from the Storm is a completely free emergency night shelter providing bed, dinner and breakfast for 36 people who have experienced homelessness every night of the year. Its mission is to house and support the homeless in London whoever they are, wherever they come from. Its vision is of a society where charities like Shelter from the Storm are no longer necessary.

We spoke to Sheila Scott, the CEO and Founder of Shelter from the Storm.

Sheila told us a little bit about her work and what her mission is:  

"People often ask, “What do you do at Shelter from the Storm?” well that’s easy; we help people change their lives.  When people come to us, they are broken - their homes, their relationships, their jobs, their health, are all fractured. What we do is simple; every night we chop, we cook, make beds, fold laundry, listen to stories of heart-breaking sadness, horror and loss. Their lives are harsh and complicated, with many layers of trauma and rejection to be unpicked and dealt with. But that’s what we do. 

Most of our guests will have experienced a period of considerable trauma – some will be refugees who will have made terrifying journeys, escaping wars, discrimination and torture. Many will have been sleeping rough. Some are victims of modern Slavery. Plenty have just been evicted from their tenancy and fallen through the cracks."

We asked Sheila how she got to where she is today and what her role involves:  

"I worked with our local Church to provide shelter one night a week in the church hall, we soon obtained our own premises and were operating 365 days a year. We raise all our own money without any government funding. I have a pretty hands-on role with the day to day running of the shelter and fundraising. 18 years on, we’re finding it much harder to find services and housing for our guests. Referrals are up as we’re one of the very few options for people without priority need."

Sheila shared some advice for aspiring leaders: 

"Just go for it! We can’t wait for the changes we need in our society, so sadly it is often left to charities to do the work."

Finally, Sheila discussed what she’s passionate about seeing change in the sector:  

"The major issue affecting the people we support at Shelter from the Storm is access to truly affordable permanent housing where they can live and thrive independently. With our Move on Up Project, we’ve developed a beautiful scheme of eleven - one-, two- and three-bedroom appts nine of them to be rented on long renewable tenancies at truly affordable rates."

Read more about the work at Shelter from the Storm. 

Social Entrepreneur of the Month - Shgufta Anwar, Women on Wheels

Women on Wheels is a Glasgow based community cycling hub for women. A service designed and led by women, it delivers a range of cycling activities to get women back on a bike or onto a bike for the very first time.

We spoke to Shgufta Anwar, Founding Director at Women on Wheels.

Shgufta told us a little bit about her work and what her mission is:  

"The world of everyday cycling is dominated by a white male demographic. It is much less common for women to take up cycling for transport and leisure, especially women of colour. Our mission is to empower and enable women to overcome their barriers to take up cycling - for transport, to improve their physical and mental health, and most importantly, for the pure joy of it!

Through our cycling hub and services, we provide support and opportunities for women and their families to get engaged with cycling and reap the benefits. Our vision is to make women on wheels the norm, not the exception. We are a women-led, inclusive community that is striving to break down and overcome women’s barriers to cycling so that everyone can experience the joy of cycling."

We asked Shgufta how she got to where she is today and what her role involves:  

"My passion for cycling started when I ran a climate change project for a Muslim women’s charity (Al-Meezan) for nearly five years. I developed a cycling hub, working with hundreds of women and children and the project developed into a regular cycling group, the Hijabi Riders. I have seen first-hand the need for more specific support for women, particularly those from backgrounds and cultures where cycling is not the norm for women. I then spent four and a half years at Glasgow’s biggest cycling charity (Bike for Good) where my most enjoyable time was engaging women (particularly women of colour) to take up cycling, as I understand the barriers women can experience and shares how she overcame them. I then left to set up Women on Wheels 3 and half years ago and it has grown from strength to strength. We started off by working with just women and have now developed to work with families and more recently teens. My role involves heading up the charity which ranges from managing the small team, to finances, to engaging with and developing relationships with key stakeholders. You can even see me on my bike some days taking out groups for cycle lessons or led rides.  

I am also now the Glasgow Bicycle Mayor and part of, a local and global network of bicycle mayors run by #bycs_org who are about urban change, supporting & connecting local grassroots initiatives around the world, while lobbying for more cycling in the transport conversation at a global level."

Shgufta shared some advice for aspiring leaders: 

"The advice I would give prospective leaders is to take the plunge and develop their unique idea into a social enterprise or charity. There is lots of great help out there with business support from various organisations. Start small and let the organisation grow organically. We started off with a small unit, some borrowed bikes, a few volunteers and an idea. We have now moved to a larger unit in the same building, have 60 plus bikes, 2 containers and have 5 members of staff plus 20 sessional staff and 35 volunteers."

Finally, Shgufta discussed what she’s passionate about seeing change in the sector:  

"I would like to see more women cyclists in leadership roles, particularly women of colour. When I started out in cycling, I noticed how few females out there were in leadership roles in this sector and I got a lot of attention because of that. Most days I have imposter syndrome."

Read more about the work at Women on Wheels. 

Fellow of the Month - Lucy Ellis-Howell, The Music Works

Lucy is the Head of Fundraising for The Music Works, a youth charity in Gloucestershire. She moved into the role from a leadership position as she wanted to have a greater impact through focussing specifically on fundraising. The organisation uses music as a vehicle to transform the lives of young people in challenging circumstances offering a full range of activity from first access through to creative careers. Lucy works alongside the strategic team to resource multiple programme areas and the day to day running of two inclusive music hubs. The organisation's turnover is £1.9million with a portfolio of 50+ active funders from Trusts & Foundations, Statutory Services and Service Level Agreements. She manages the majority of funder relationships, from application to reporting, as well as prospecting for new funds and stewarding existing relationships. 

We spoke to Lucy about her role and the year ahead as a fellow.

Given the context of the UK right now, we asked Lucy what the key opportunities for her organisation are:  

"Securing longer term funding feels really relevant in the context of a volatile landscape of 1-year cycles of trusts and foundations. Our established programmes have a strong evidence base and robust outcomes which is enabling us to make clear asks to statutory services for longer agreements that support our youth violence and mental health intervention and prevention work."

Thinking about the year ahead, we asked Lucy what she is most looking forward to as part of the Fellowship Programme:  

"I’m particularly interested in building a network of peers to learn from and develop relationships with. I’m excited to learn more about ways to cultivate corporate relationships that align with our strategic goals and cultural fit. I'm really looking forward to developing fresh perspectives on income generation for a challenging and changing landscape."

Finally, Lucy discussed what she’s passionate about seeing change in the sector:  

"I'm passionate (but not overly hopeful) about seeing a shift in the distribution of wealth and the realisation that accumulated wealth could be having a huge social impact rather than being hoarded."

Read more about the work at The Music Works.