Hilary Blume

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Biographical Information

"Hilary Blume is Founder and Director, the Charities Advisory Trust (CAT). She has worked in the voluntary sector for 35 years and has established Card Aid (a supplier and retailer of charity Christmas cards); the prize-winning Green Hotel in Mysore, India; the Good Gifts Catalogue, and the much-missed Museum Store in Covent Garden.

"She has pioneered new ways of generating funds for charity. Her unique style of grant-making has earned her the description of “The funder from heaven”, both because of the flexibility and emphasis on sustainability, which has included buying a tea estate in India, and an office building in Grenada, as endowments. Through CAT’s graduate intern programme, Hilary Blume has trained over 1000 people in their first jobs in the voluntary sector, and through the annual Development from the Inside course in India, shapes the attitudes of those wanting to work in development. She has also published books on fundraising, charity trading, and is currently working on a book on the Ethics of Charity. "

"Career 1969: Jewish Care Week organiser; 1970-74: fundraiser, War on Want; 1974-78: fundraiser, Shelter Housing Aid Centre (Shac); 1979: director, Charities Advisory Trust.

"Public life 1999-2000: lottery commissioner; 2000: patron, Trees for London." [1]

"At age 8, she remembers her first experience of fundraising, “shaking a bucket, collecting for the planting of trees in Israel for the JNF.” Her interest in horticulture continues to this day, as a patron of Trees for London and proud winner of the Best Front Garden in Camden Award." Her son, Toby Blume, is also in the charity world, Chief Executive of the Urban Forum. [2]

She is married to Michael Norton.

Affiliations

• Co-Chair, Finnart House School Trust
• Founder, Happy Givers