Roger Drennan has served as a trustee and chair of Catalyst’s Finance, Remuneration and Investments Committee since 2017, and as a director of its social enterprise subsidiary, Alpha Community Outreach Ltd, for a similar length of time.
After completing a law degree, Roger worked for 3 years as a solicitor, and then had a long career in commercial finance management including working as Financial Director of a group of UK companies. On retirement, he was looking for a new interest to fill his time. Despite living in North London, he made a connection with the Surrey charity, Catalyst Support, through a friend who had served as a trustee for over a decade. Catalyst was grateful to be offered Roger’s expertise and elected him Finance Chair shortly after his appointment as a trustee.
Within two years of his joining the charity, the world was hit by the covid pandemic. He says: “it was a huge challenge trying to help pilot the charity through that time of great upheaval. All our services had to be delivered remotely. We had to gear up to do that behind the scenes, so that people could continue receiving the support they needed. It’s a great credit to the entire Catalyst team that they were able to maintain and even develop those services pretty seamlessly.”
Even with these unprecedented challenges, Roger is pleased with the charity’s success: “The charity has grown enormously. It’s doubled in size in the last seven years both in terms of the number of its employees and volunteers, the income that we generate, and the range of community and outreach programmes we now provide.”
He goes on to explain why he believes Catalyst Support has been so successful: “Catalyst is very well regarded in its community. Warren [Rockett, Chair of Trustees] and Sue [Murphy, CEO] have been at the forefront of developing that profile over their many years of service. For example, we’ve recently had a five-year funding agreement for our Community Connections programme. That’s a long commitment. Our funding partners wouldn’t be doing that if they weren’t confident that we would continue to deliver it successfully.”
Roger says he learnt a lot about the importance of charities like Catalyst to individuals facing different issues. He references meeting people through the Alpha initiative who were in various mental health crises: “I visited houses that had been used as drug dens where the team would undertake specialist ‘extreme cleans,’ or people who could no longer function due to the stressful effects of hoarding, or where their previously ‘successful’ lives had fallen out of their control. These things left an impression on me. It really cemented in me the need for organisations like Catalyst in the community. It made it real.”
Roger will be retiring from Catalyst as the charity ends its 35-year anniversary. As he leaves, he is thankful for his experience in the charity: “I’ve met some really outstanding people who are doing brilliant work. I’ve very much enjoyed working with the trustees who have such a wide range of skill sets, and the senior team who make it all work.”
After seeing first-hand the positive impact of charity work in the community, Roger developed an interest in its wider importance on the country: “The charitable sector currently employs around 925,000 people in the UK and spends some £85 billion a year on charitable activities. So it is a huge contributor to the UK economy. Without the not-for-profit sector supported by so many who give their time voluntarily, there would be a huge hole in government finances. It’s a vital strand to how the country operates. It feels important to recognise this.”
As a takeaway, Roger says “Looking back on it, I couldn’t have found a better place to spend my time than at Catalyst. I learned so much from so many people and hopefully was able to contribute to the cause at the same time. It will be really sad to say goodbye.”