Barnardo's

The Board of Trustees, chaired by Mark Wood, holds ultimate fiduciary responsibility for the General Reserve Investment Portfolio. The charity does not publicly name a dedicated CIO or investment committee chair, but governance documents make clear the board delegates day-to-day investment management to external advisors while retaining strategic oversight. Mark Wood's concurrent role as Chair of Goodstack provides additional governance and technology-adjacent experience.

Gap Homes is Barnardo's direct property strategy to build or acquire residential accommodation for care leavers who would otherwise face homelessness. The charity holds residential assets in Lincolnshire, Birmingham, Glasgow and other UK locations. In 2025 the Katherine Martin Charitable Trust made an £18 million dedicated gift to fund further Gap Homes (per Barnardo's, 2025), converting philanthropic grants into owned social-infrastructure assets rather than short-term lease costs.

Barnardo's does not disclose the names of its external investment managers or the internal staff dedicated to the investment office. Public reporting indicates the General Reserve Investment Portfolio is externally managed, with the trustee board approving the strategic asset allocation and reviewing performance. The charity's 2025 annual report will be the first to reflect the full deployment of the Katherine Martin Charitable Trust gift into the property portfolio.

The 600-store charity shop network is treated as a commercial asset class generating unrestricted income, which flows into the charity's operating budget and, when in surplus, can reinforce the General Reserve. The shops are not held inside the investment portfolio but function as a trading subsidiary that reduces dependency on drawdowns from the endowment to cover core services.

Queen Camilla serves as Royal Patron, an ambassadorial role without governance or investment authority. The President, Natasha Kaplinsky OBE, performs a similar external-facing function. Neither position participates in investment-committee decisions, which rest with the trustee board chaired by Mark Wood.