Dean Horridge has a word of warning for any entrepreneur thinking of setting up a charity: doing so is as hard as everyone says it is.
Horridge, a former head teacher of PE, founded Fit For Sport in 1991. The company develops high-energy activity programmes for children in primary and secondary education.
He then set up the Fit For Sport Foundation, which pays for financially disadvantaged children to take part in Fit For Sport initiatives.
Horridge says: “It was very difficult to establish a charity. I was determined to do it, even though people warned me against it.
“The difficultly is that the charity needs to be run by trustees, and the most difficult job is finding the various trustees who have the right expertise and who can operate it during their spare time and on a voluntary basis.”
The good news is that running a charity is worth the effort you put in. “We established the charity and work very hard with [former England and Arsenal footballer] Ian Wright, who is our patron,” Horridge says.
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