text: CEO of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (Australia)
  Catherine Brown is the CEO of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, which has been responding to the critical issues facing the Melbourne community since 1923. Catherine is committed to maximising philanthropy’s role in supporting positive change within the community. In addition to thoughtful grantmaking, the Foundation is an active participant in a number of initiatives and cross sector collaborations, uses research to gain a deeper understanding of community challenges and, through strategic communications, brings people together and grows knowledge about community issues and philanthropy.
  The Foundation funds social enterprises working in its key impact areas at all stages of development: from testing ideas, business planning, piloting and scaling up. The Foundation has also invested in three impact investments including two social enterprises.
  Catherine is a lawyer (LLB/BA (German), University of Melbourne) who has also studied business management and is undertaking a PhD in practice related research at Swinburne University related to philanthropic foundations and innovation.
  She has worked in law, not for profit management, consulting (strategic philanthropy, NFP organisational development and governance) and on a variety of government and not for profit Boards, including as Chair of both the Queen Victoria Women’s Trust and the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust. She is the author of Great Foundations –a 360⁰ guide to building resilient and effective NFPs (ACER Press, 2010).