Lessons from Leading a Volunteer Based Charity with Simon Errington

About this episode

Julia Felton interviews Simon Errington about the evolution and initiatives of the charity Children in Distress.

In this special Podcaston Week episode of the Impactful Teamwork Podcast, host Julia Felton speaks with Simon Errington, CEO of Children in Distress, about the charity’s 35-year journey from supporting Romanian children after the fall of communism to evolving its focus toward funding grassroots projects in the UK while maintaining legacy work in Romania. Simon shares current initiatives including Casa Maria in Bucharest for children with neurological and physical disabilities, an annual 5,000-shoebox Christmas campaign, and UK pilot programs in Hull that build community, education, and confidence through cooking clubs and heritage-language learning. He discusses the leadership challenges of running volunteer-led organisations, emphasizing trust, relationships, community, and communicating impact to engage younger supporters, and he explains how to donate or volunteer via childrenindistress.org. 00:00 Why Teamwork Wins 00:46 Podcastathon Week Intro 01:10 Meet Simon Errington 01:59 Charity Origins in Romania 03:19 Casa Maria and Shoeboxes 04:09 Pivoting to the UK 05:55 UK Projects in Hull 09:48 Key Pillars for Youth 11:59 Why Simon Volunteers 14:42 Leading Volunteers as CEO 18:43…

People in this episode

Host: Julia Felton

Guest: Simon Errington

Topics covered

• charity
• volunteer leadership
• community projects
• youth engagement
• nonprofit management

Keywords

• charity
• volunteer
• leadership
• community
• education
• nonprofit
• youth engagement
• Romania
• UK

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Children in Distress

Places: Romania, UK, Hull, Bucharest

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