Voluntary Action Fund

Meet the Team

Keith Wimbles,
Chief Executive
keith.wimbles@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Keith joined the Voluntary Action Fund in 2008 as Chief Executive. He has worked in the voluntary sector for over fifteen years including with Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector and SCVO where he developed and managed a number of grant programmes and initiatives to support the community and voluntary sectors. Keith also has wide experience of European funding, transnational programmes and regeneration work. Prior to working in the voluntary sector, Keith worked in the private sector managing employment programmes across the UK to help people into employment, training and volunteering. In addition to overseeing all funding programmes, policy and the management, Keith's role in VAF involves representing the organisation on a number of groups and fora including the Scotland Funders Forum, The Scottish Grant-making Trusts Group and the Volunteering Round Table. Keith is currently a trustee of Evaluation Support Scotland.

Moira McVay,
Office and Systems Manager
moira@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Moira has newly joined VAF as the Office and Systems Manager. She is responsible for the smooth running of the office as a whole; including the development of office systems, line management of the Programme Administrators, management of facilities and support to the Chief Executive. Moira initially worked in the private sector, then in managerial posts within local government central services for almost 20 years. Most recently she worked as a Business Manager for Fife Council providing support services to a High School and primary cluster.

Steven Paxton,
Business Development Manager
steven.paxton@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Steven joined the Voluntary Action Fund as Business Development Manager in August 2011. His role is to broaden the funding, resource and support base for VAF through the development of new partnerships with agencies and individuals such as government, the corporate sector, independent funders and philanthropists.
Prior to working at VAF, Steven worked as a volunteer and latterly Programme Manager for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) based in Tanzania building the capacity of community groups, through partnership with Randstad and developing funding partnership. He also, through VSO, worked for the Aga Khan Foundation on Zanzibar on civil society capacity building and consultancy work for the UNDP and UNICEF. Previously, Steven also worked at Scottish Enterprise where he developed European Funded Projects, inward investment solutions and partnership working with local councils, including community planning and regeneration plans; and for North Ayrshire Council and Strathclyde Regional Council where he provided committee administration services and worked with local communities in Ayrshire.

Equality Grants Programme Team

Patrick Mbullu,
Equality Grants Programme Manager
patrick.mbullu@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Patrick Mbullu joined the Voluntary Action Fund as the Equality Grants Programme Manager. His role involves managing our Government funded programme with equalities groups. An essential part of the work is to provide dedicated ‘Investment Support' to the organisations we fund - strengthening their development and capacity, encouraging shared learning across the voluntary sector in Scotland, and facilitating the dissemination of good practice. Most recently Patrick worked as the Developing Capacities programme manager with Khanya-African Institute for Community-Driven Development (Khanya-aicdd), a highly respected institution based in South Africa, working with partners in Africa to transform development systems to support livelihoods of poor people. Before then, he was the Africa Projects Manager with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund for five years.

Susan Wilson,
Equality Grants Programme Development Officer
susan.wilson@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Susan is the Equality Development Officer & her job involves assisting the Equality Grants Programme Manager in the day to day management of the Equality Grants Programme, including providing investment support to funded organizations, facilitating training sessions and network events, capturing lessons learned & promoting these ideas to a wide audience. Susan joined VAF in June 2008 but before that she worked in the NHS & the Voluntary Sector for many years supporting people with mental health problems. A volunteer herself Susan volunteers on a regular basis with a local Fife based charity.

Susan Connell,
Equality Grants Programme Administrator
susan.connell@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Susan has worked for the Voluntary Action Fund since 1987. She provides support to the Equality Team in key administration duties, monitoring/evaluation and training events which are linked to the investment support VAF provides to its funded projects. She has vast experience of all aspects of VAF's operations and along with Irene Glasgow can provide lots of background dating back to the mid 80s. Like Irene she also previously worked for the Carnegie UK Trust and prior to that it's too far back to bother about!

Volunteering and Community Grants Team

Chris Smith,
Volunteering Programme Manager
chris.smith@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Chris is VAF's Volunteering Programme Manager, responsible for the operational management of our volunteering and community grants. Chris's job covers all aspects of grant making, from promotions and pre-application workshops to assessment of applications, evaluation and support to funded organisations. His job also involves creating capacity building training programmes which are run across Scotland. Chris is also an Independent Examiner; trainer and consultant, and prior to joining VAF Chris headed up the Compliance Support team within OSCR.

Lami Atta-Ahmed,
Grant Development Officer
Community Chest, European Year of Volunteering, Equality Grants Programme
lami@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

As Grant Development Officer, Lami is responsible for promoting the Community Chest (CCP) and European Year of Volunteering (EYV) grant programmes; providing advice and support to groups considering making an application, assessing the applications received, as well as delivering the CCP capacity building training programme across Scotland. She also provides grant officer support to the Equality Grants Programme team, managing a small portfolio of grants within the team.
Prior to joining VAF, Lami worked as the Five Counties Officer with Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organization (GMCVO).

Irene Glasgow,
Programme Administrator
Volunteering Scotland Grant Scheme
irene.glasgow@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

Irene is the Programme Administrator of the Volunteering Scotland Grant Scheme and is an essential link to the funded projects and other stakeholders. She ensures the smooth and efficient operation of the Programme by assisting the Volunteering Programme Manager in the key administrative duties, monitoring and evaluation and training events which supports the learning programme VAF provides to their funded projects. Irene has been involved with the Voluntary Action Fund since it started and can provide a history of its development over the past 25 years. Before joining VAF she worked with the Carnegie UK Trust.

Patricia McKibben,
Programme Administrator
Community Chest, European Year of Volunteering
patricia.mckibben@voluntaryactionfund.org.uk

As the Community Chest Programme Administrator, Patricia's main responsibilities are to support the Grant Officer in promoting the Community Chest and European Year of Volunteering programmes to the voluntary sector in general and voluntary and community groups in particular. Supporting the Grant Development Officer in processing grant applications together with administrative support for the monitoring and evaluation process. Patricia previously worked for Scottish Enterprise Fife in the Chief Executive's Department.