UK Trustees and Patrons

Rose Longhurst is the Unit Manager for Democratic Renewal in the Open Society Europe and Central Asia Programme, leading the work on democratic innovation in Europe. Prior to this she was involved in FundAction, The Edge Fund, and the EDGE Funders Alliance, and worked for nonprofits including Womankind Worldwide and Bond. She is a trained yoga teacher and facilitator and is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at LSE.

Lauren is a manager at a professional services organisation, working exclusively with international bilateral and multilateral donors and grant-giving charitable foundations. She is a qualified chartered accountant, and her work involves overseeing the provision of assurance work over grant funding, capacity building of key partners, and forensic investigations across the world. Lauren is currently completing a graduate diploma in international development and development economics with the University of London (LSE). She is committed to supporting initiatives to reduce inequalities and provide agency to local communities in the sphere of development and humanitarian funding.

Laura is a Mexican feminist who has advocated for human rights, social justice, and civil society throughout her career. Before joining Global Greengrants, Laura served for seven years as the Executive Director of Fondo Semillas, a Mexican nonprofit organization that finances grassroots organizations to achieve gender equality. Laura has vast experience in grassroots philanthropy, human rights, and movements for social justice, and she has co-created networks to promote community philanthropy in the Global South. She holds a Master's Degree in International Peace and Security, from King’s College, London. She currently serves on the boards of Oxfam Mexico, Co-Impact, and the Global Fund for Community Foundations.

Aditi is the Director of Climate Philanthropy at Impatience Earth where she helps donors become more confident in giving away their wealth to climate solutions. Prior to joining Impatience Earth, she worked at various social enterprises and nonprofits across food systems, social justice, and education sectors, with a focus on building out their operations and strategy. She's passionate about how we can use business as a force for social justice and environmental regeneration, with particular expertise in sustainable food systems and racial justice work.

Ali Torabi is a senior leader with deep experience across movements, philanthropy and trade unions. As Head of Funding Development at the National Lottery Community Fund, he helps shape strategies for distributing £3 billion across England by 2030. His work focuses on equity-based approaches, including creating a £50 million intersectional justice equity fund. Previously, Ali was the Movements Lead at the Lankelly Chase Foundation and Programme Manager at the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, where he led the human rights and racial justice programme. Earlier in his career, Ali worked with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as a Brexit Lead and Senior Campaigner, managing campaigns on workers' rights. His diverse experience includes time at the tech startup Look After My Bills and as a campaigner at 38 Degrees, coaching grassroots activists.

Elisa Peter is the Director of Civitates - a pooled, grant-making philanthropic fund for democracy and civic space in Europe. Before joining Civitates, she was the executive director of Publish What You Pay, a global movement campaigning to hold the oil, gas and mining sector to account. Prior to that, she spent 5 years living in the Arctic coordinating an international network to protect boreal forests and forest peoples' rights. She also headed the United Nations Non Governmental Liaison Service to foster greater public participation in and oversight of the UN's deliberative processes. She joined the board of Global Greengrants UK in July 2022.

Liam is the Director of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s environment programme, supporting work across the UK. Before joining Esmée, Liam held senior roles at the Lake District National Park Authority and was a Non-Executive Director of National Park Partnerships LLP. Prior to this, Liam established a successful marine environmental consultancy business and held a Non Executive Director role with the Gardline Environmental Group. Liam started his career in the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs working on a range of domestic and international environmental policies. Liam is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Churchill Fellow.

Marion Atieno Osieyo is an environmental leader and founder of Black Earth Podcast. Her work focuses on the social dimensions of nature regeneration and how to foster intersectional, interspecies, and culturally diverse solutions for nature. She has previously worked with a number of organisations including the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) where she served as the Head of Inclusive Conservation and Advisor to the Global Conservation Director. At WWF, she also established and led a global innovation network to embed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in WWF's strategy and operations. In 2023, Marion launched the award-winning Black Earth Podcast which is an interview podcast celebrating nature and black women leaders in the environmental movement. The podcast has been recognised by outlets such as Spotify US, Guardian, and Resurgence. Marion is an Oxford University alumna graduating with a Master of Science in Global Governance and Diplomacy. In addition to nature, Marion loves outdoor sports, science, and positive psychology.

Olivier Hoedeman (Dutch/Danish, MA Political Science at the University of Amsterdam), is the research and campaign coordinator at Corporate Europe Observatory, which he co-founded with three colleagues 21 years ago. He is also co-founder of the Alliance for Lobby Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) and several other civil society coalitions on issues ranging from trade policy to water privatisation. Olivier Hoedeman has co-authored books like 'Europe Inc.' (2000), 'Reclaiming Public Water' (2007), and 'Bursting the Brussels Bubble' (2010). He is an advisor to the Isvara Foundation (since 2007), a progressive grantmaking foundation supporting civil society campaigning on issues like trade and investment policy, climate change, environmental sustainability and biodiversity, corporate power and alternatives to neoliberal policies.

Mary Robinson served as the first woman President of Ireland (1990-97), and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-02). Mary is the President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, a member of The Elders and the Club of Madrid. She previously served as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa (2013-14), as Special Envoy for Climate Change (2014-15), and as Special Envoy for El Nino and Climate Change in 2016. Mary is known for her passionate work on gender equality, women’s participation in peace-building and human dignity, and as an outspoken advocate for the need to tackle climate change.

Kumi became involved in South Africa's liberation struggle at the age of 15. Police harassment by the apartheid government eventually forced him to go underground, but he returned to South Africa after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. Formerly the CEO of Johannesburg-based CIVICUS, International Executive Director of Greenpeace, and Secretary General of Amnesty International, Kumi continues to speak truth to power across the range of social, economic, and environmental justice campaigns. He is the founding chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, has served on the boards of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the Partnership for Transparency Fund, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Earthrights International.

Fay Milton is a drummer and film maker from South East London. With her band, Savages, she has recorded two Mercury Prize nominated albums, ‘Silence Yourself’ and ‘Adore Life’ and has toured extensively in Europe, America, Japan and Australia. As a filmmaker, Fay has made documentary and live music films with many artists and currently produces an interview series on climate change called Very Important Things.