name

Kate McNally

age

27

volunteering with fws because

I wholeheartedly believe in fws's ideas, concepts and actions, and I find their founding members incredibly inspirational. I fell in love with fws after attending a fundraising event in Brisbane a year or so ago, and kept pestering them until they finally gave me something to do!

fws title

fws Sponsorship Program Manager

responsibilities

Since starting my role in May 2009 it has been full speed ahead, rolling out fws's very first 'official' sponsorship program, Families for Families. It’s a very unique concept, that involves partnering a 'family' of 12 sponsors (which could be from a sponsor’s own family, a group of friends, some people from their work, netball or football team or just a bunch of random fws supporters that I’ve hooked them up with) with a Kesho 'family' (consisting of one house mama and five children, some are her own and some who are orphans).

I’ve been working closely with members of the fws board, Kesho Leo ground crew, writers and graphic designers, to shape the concept and develop the materials required to promote and maintain the program (i.e. updating website copy, creating spreadsheets and timelines, developing an info brochure and sponsor intro letters etc).

We recently launched it and I’m now up to one of the best bits, where I get to respond all our supporters' enquiries and get them signed up and excited about learning more about their Kesho Family!

favourite thing about fws

The volunteers – they are such beautiful, inspiring personalities and I am just in awe of how much time, effort and energy they all put into their roles. I really enjoy the team vibe – I feel particularly close to some of the volunteers that I have been working with on this sponsorship program. Which is quite bizarre, as I have never met them in person and we communicate via email from different parts of the world (I am in England – they are in Australia and Tanzania)! The quality and calibre of the volunteers that fws attracts really says a lot about the organisation.

my day job

London office manager for ONE – a global advocacy and campaigning organisation committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases, in Africa and other developing countries.

passions

• My gorgeous husband Marc (he’s been my sweetie for 11 years)
• Cheese – mmm
• My RSPCA foster cat, Puffy (he’s not always nice to me because I think he may have had a hard life before he came to me, but I am determined to break him down with love and cuddles)
• Ethical clothing – I love learning about organic/sustainable and innovative materials that can be used in clothing, and I am enjoying the challenge of trying only to make purchases that have fair-trade and eco-friendly credentials (admittedly it’s much easier now that I live in London).