# Sir Nicholas Young appointed to GuideStar UK board

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/02/03/sir-nicholas-young-appointed-guidestar-uk-board/
- Published: 2004-02-03T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Sir Nicholas Young, the Chief Executive of the British Red Cross, has joined the
Board of Trustees of GuideStar UK, the new charity that will publish an online database
of UK charities’ financial and project information.**

Sir Nicholas has had 17 years experience in the voluntary sector at Director and
Chief Executive level, including five years as Operations Director for the British
Red Cross from 1990 to 1995. He re-joined the Red Cross in 2001 after six years 
as the Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Relief. Previously he had been at the
Sue Ryder Foundation, as Secretary of Development, where he set up the Sue Ryder
Nursing Homes. In the year 2000 Sir Nicholas was knighted for his services to cancer
care.

GuideStar UK aims to promote the voluntary sector for the benefit of the public 
by the provision of information about charities. GuideStar UK will build and maintain
the first comprehensive database of UK charities providing information about their
finances and activities. This will be published at no charge to the public via a
Web site which will provide “sophisticated search facilities allowing users to track
down charities by type of work, targeted beneficiaries, location or size.”

## Advertisement

Sir Nicholas explained his reasons for joining the board: “this much needed venture
is the first of its kind in the UK and will be the principal information resource
and tool for the charitable sector. One of its great strengths is that it will provide
charities, whatever their size, with an equal opportunity to communicate their activities
and achievements to the public and the sector. As the primary source of information
will be the charity reports and accounts provided to the Charity Commission, GuideStar
UK will not to place an extra burden on charities. In fact it aims to help charities
to streamline their reporting requirements.

“For the first time, donors, charities, grantmakers, researchers and policy makers
have access to a complete source of high quality information.”

The board of trustees now comprises Brian Smouha (Chairman), Hilary Browne-Wilkinson,
Stuart Etherington, Nick Ferguson, Jennifer Moses, Buzz Schmidt, Henry Strage, and
Sir Nicholas Young.

 * **[Charity staff turnover is 22%, says large scale study](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/02/05/charity-staff-turnover-22-says-large-scale-study/)**(
   5 February 2004)
 * **[A Web content management system is… er… well…](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/02/11/web-content-management-system-er-well/)**(
   11 February 2004)
 * **[New Director of Fundraising at Trinity Hospice](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/02/12/new-director-fundraising-trinity-hospice/)**(
   12 February 2004)