The umbrella body UK Community Foundations has appointed Rosemary Macdonald as its new chief executive.
Macdonald, who has been acting as interim chief executive of UKCF since March, previously spent 12 years as chief executive of the Wiltshire Community Foundation.
She succeeds Fabian French, who stepped down in April after five years in the role.
Macdonald, left, spent six years on the board of UKCF, which is the membership organisation for the network of 46 accredited UK community foundations, stepping down in 2018.
She held the positions of vice chair for three years and chair of the membership committee for three years.
Macdonald said that she was “so proud of the work community foundations did in quickly getting funds to those who needed it on a local level when coronavirus took its toll”.
On her vision for the future of UKCF, she said: “We will champion local philanthropy, bringing more resources to local communities as we enter challenging fiscal times.
“We will continue to be the voice of local communities in national forums, providing the insight through our local lens.
“We will continue to develop our members’ skills and capacity, learning from experts across the UK and internationally.
“We will also put diversity, equality and inclusion at the heart of what we do, providing training for UKCF and its members to understand the needs of marginalised communities to ensure that we deliver equitable grant-making.”
Jerome Booth, chair of UKCF, said Macdonald “brings enormous experience of the community foundation network and a passion for the work”.
He said: “Rosemary performed extremely effectively in what has been a high-pressure period as the network responds to the coronavirus pandemic across the UK.”