Our journey

Founder and Chair

Allan English, AM

Allan is a Brisbane-based entrepreneur who founded ASX listed Silver Chef Limited in 1986. In 2010 Allan stepped down as CEO of Silver Chef and transferred 50% of his shares to form the capital base of the English Family Foundation.

Allan has been nationally recognized for his continued work in the Philanthropic sector. In 2020 he was honoured by being awarded with an Order of Australia AM for Philanthropy and services to the community. In 2014 he received the inaugural Philanthropy Leader of the Year Award from Philanthropy Australia and in 2012 he was awarded Philanthropist of the Year by Queensland Community Foundation.

In 2017, Allan was included in the Australian Financial Reviews list of 21 True Leaders who are changing Australia for the better.

He is a former recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Allan currently serves on QUT’s The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies Advisory Board and on the Board of World Tree. He also mentors many leading social entrepreneurs.

Director

Rachel English

Rachel has worked on many sides of the social sector, fundraising, service delivery and granting in Australia and the UK. By day, she is a philanthropic advisor at Mutual Trust, assisting families with their giving and strategies. By night, she is a Director of both the English Family Foundation and the Inner North Community Foundation which strives for a prosperous, connected, cohesive community in Melbourne’s Inner North, where she lives.

Making philanthropy more accessible and appealing is core to all of Rachel’s work. She served as co-Chair of NEXUS Australia from 2017 – 2021, a global network uniting young investors, social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to accelerate change. She was also a founding committee member for the Australian International Development Network (AIDN), which encourages ‘more & better’ international development by Australians.

Chief Executive Officer

Belinda Morrissey

Through her role as our CEO Belinda works closely with social enterprises to develop and support their sustainable business models for delivering social outcomes. She has a particular interest in developing the social enterprise ecosystem and has led systems wide initiatives such as the Social Enterprise National Strategy. She is passionate about the concept of the engaged philanthropy model in Australia and in the role of the philanthropic sector in supporting the social enterprise sector to obtain the “right capital at the right time”.

She has spent the past decade in the philanthropic and for purpose sectors. Prior to this Belinda had an extensive career in investment management spanning three continents, she holds a BA in economics and has completed postgraduates in philanthropy, applied investment and in financial accounting. Belinda holds several not-for-profit board positions – she is currently Deputy Chair of ActionAid Australia and on the Board of Scaling Impact, she Chairs the Advisory Council for the Social Enterprise National Strategy, and is on the Advisory Boards of the Social Enterprise World Forum (within White Box Enterprises), and of the Social Impact Hub.