Richard Hawkes has been Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust since 2015. He was formerly Chief Executive of Scope (one of the largest not-for-profit organisations in the UK), International Director of VSO and Chief Executive of Sense International. He has worked for the United Nations and been Chair of a number of sector bodies, including Bond (the umbrella body for UK international NGOs). He is on the Board of UNICEF UK, Chair of Motivation (an international disability NGO) and on the Advisory Boards of the World Humanitarian Forum and the UK’s Charity Bank.
Richard has a vast experience of social finance. As CEO of Scope he was responsible for launching the first social investment bond in the UK, a £20m bond that was listed on the Luxembourg Stock Market, and for Scope being listed on the Social Stock Exchange. The British Asian Trust is at the cutting edge of development finance, where traditional philanthropy meets innovative finance solutions and in 2018 launched the world’s largest education Development Impact Bond. This has been followed by further social finance initiatives in India and Pakistan. In October 2020, Richard was awarded an OBE for his contribution to the not-for-profit sector.
Posts
Bond – here’s to the next 30 years!
As we celebrate 30 years of Bond, former Chairs Richard Hawkes and Caroline Nursey reflect on Bond’s history of uniting members for global change and look ahead at what is to come.
Social finance: we can’t change education outcomes if we don’t innovate
Key lessons from the world’s largest education development impact bond. How did it work and what did we learn?