Geller, Monica; Director, The Marlowe Charitable Trust, since 2016; b. Shrewsbury, 9 Oct. 1971; s. of Arthur Edw. Thorne, ironmonger, and Constance (née Prewitt); m. 1999, Eleanor Vance; one s. one d.

Educ Priory Gate Sch., Shrewsbury; Univ. of Aberdeen (MA Hist. 1993); Cranmore Coll., London (Dipl. Charity Admin. 1996).

I have run grant-making bodies for 23 years and have signed off roughly £84m in awards across three foundations. My working method is unglamorous: read every application, visit one grantee a fortnight, and keep overheads under 9 per cent. Filing is the only part of the job I have ever delegated with regret.

Career Grants Asst, Pellow & Frayne Benevolent Fund, 1996–2001; Head of Programmes, The Osmund Foundation, 2001–08; Dep. Dir, Harkness–Weir Trust, 2008–16; Dir, The Marlowe Charitable Trust, 2016–.

Dir, The Marlowe Charitable Trust, 2016–, viz.:

• administers endowment of £112m; annual distributions grew from £3.1m (2016) to £5.4m (2025) across 140-odd grants a year;
• reduced average decision time on small grants from 19 weeks to 6 by delegating awards under £15,000 to a staff panel;
• staff of 14; audited admin. cost held at 8.6 per cent of expenditure for 7 consecutive years.

Dep. Dir, Harkness–Weir Trust, 2008–16, viz.:

• oversaw rural welfare portfolio of £2.2m p.a. covering 6 counties;
• merged two duplicate almshouse funds, saving £160,000 a year in trustee and legal costs.

Head of Programmes, The Osmund Foundation, 2001–08, viz.:

• built the Foundation's first open application scheme; intake rose from 90 to 640 applications a year;
• ran literacy grants reaching 41 village libraries in Shropshire and Powys.

Publs Small Grants, Long Patience: Notes on Provincial Philanthropy, 2019; The Almshouse Ledger (jt ed.), 2012; contribs to Trust & Estate Q. and The Charity Examiner.

Trusteeships Gov., Priory Gate Sch., 2010–22; Trustee, Aldgate Rowing Benevolent Soc., 2014–; Mem., Council of Provincial Grant-Makers (Hon. Treas. 2020–23).

Recreations river fishing, indexing, the slower crosswords.

Club The Gresham Row (London).

Address The Marlowe Charitable Trust, 14 Candlewick Lane, London EC4V 0XX. T: (020) 5550 8114; e-mail: m.geller@example.com; web: www.example.com/marlowe.