Community Foundation North East: Leading by example

Michael Heppell is a man on a mission. And he wants you to come along too.

The mission is typically ambitious for a man who regularly hits the global bestseller charts with his personal development and business books.

As chair of the new North East Roots Ambassadors, recently launched by the Community Foundation North East, Michael aims to help raise £1 million for the foundation, while simultaneously building a network of 100 people willing to give time, expertise and support.

The venture represents the next phase of the existing North East Roots programme, which aims to attract new donors to the foundation with links to the region, but who may have gone on to find success elsewhere.

The latest iteration takes that idea one step further by working with people who have found success in their field and have a local link, whether that’s the place they were born, where they were educated or where they work.

The message is simple: if the North East helped make you who you are, there’s an opportunity to give something back.

And Consett-born Michael is well placed to lead that conversation.

He left school at 15 fully expecting to follow in family footsteps.

Roofing was the family trade and, for a while, it was his too.

“I regretted it pretty much straightaway,” says Michael, laughing.

He adds: “I wasn’t cut out for it.”

But the seven years he spent on the roofs mattered more than he realised at the time.

He completed an apprenticeship, learned a trade and, most importantly, learned how to work with people.

His dad Bill was a master of his craft – so respected that roofing product manufacturers asked him to write their manuals.

Michael says: “He taught me that if you’re going to do something, do it brilliantly.”

That lesson has never left him.

Alongside roofing, Michael was always volunteering, particularly through the Boys’ Brigade.

That commitment led him, unexpectedly, to the 1990 National Garden Festival in Gateshead – an event that attracted more than three million visitors.

Allan Percival, a Boys’ Brigade field officer, saw potential in Michael and pushed him into organising the festival’s charity centre.

When Michael protested that he was “just a roofer”, Allan encouraged him to ask his dad for a year off.

Michael says: “My dad gave his blessing and told me I was going to find what I really wanted to do with my life.

“He was absolutely right.”

The experience opened the door to youth work and community fundraising, with Michael eventually becoming the founding director of the County Durham Community Foundation.

It also sparked his interest in the workings of the charity sector and personal development – why do some people and organisations thrive and others struggle?

In 1998, he started his own business, focusing on personal development.

After a tough start, the business grew in partnership with his wife Christine.

They set themselves a bold goal: to positively influence one million lives.

Michael says: “We had a dream to achieve through our work.

“We had no idea how we were going to do it, but that’s what we wanted to do.”

Around the same time, Michael wrote his first book, a guide to personal development called How to Be Brilliant.

He says: “Let me tell you, if my mam and two others had bought it, I’d have been thrilled.

“I just wanted to see my name on the cover of a book!”

Instead, it went straight into the top-ten business books and stayed there for more than two years, later being published worldwide in 20 languages.

Nine more books, a successful coaching career – including working with high-profile names including Davina McCall and Sara Cox – and hundreds of public speaking slots later, he has hit his million lives target alongside Christine.

And now he has a different ambition.

He says: “I’ve reached what I call the third phase of my life.

“What Christine and I do is great – but we wanted to do something more concentrated, particularly for the North East.”

For the past 20 years, the pair have channelled their charitable support for the region through their own fund with Community Foundation North East, supporting individuals and organisations from arts scholarships and refugee groups to the Gap Project, which helped women leave the sex industry.

Michael says: “Our fund is deliberately broad.

“The aim is simply to give people brilliant opportunities.”

Having made an estimated 50 grants over 20 years, he’s a strong supporter of the Community Foundation’s model.

He says: “We’re busy people.

“The team at the foundation bring us well-researched options for us to choose where we channel support, do all the checks and then come back to show us exactly what the grant achieved.

“We trust them completely.”

It was that trust – and admiration for the foundation’s professionalism and long-term approach – that led Michael to ask how he could do more.

The answer was the North East Roots Ambassadors.

With its three aims – to raise £1 million, recruit 100 ambassadors and ask each of them to build bridges and share their story – Michael hopes to build a cohort who can offer their expertise, influence and time to improving lives across the region.

He says: “The people we’re talking to are busy.

“So for most ambassadors, what we’re asking for is about one day a year.

“That feels achievable but still meaningful.”

Ambassadors might make a donation and host an event, help open doors, offer professional expertise to the voluntary sector or simply use their profile to shine a light on the foundation’s work.

And diversity is key.

Michael says: “Not everyone will be a multi-millionaire business executive, and we wouldn’t want that.

“Life experience matters.”

A series of short films will tell some ambassadors’ stories – where they grew up, how the region shaped them and what they went on to do – creating a powerful collective narrative about the North East at its best.

Michael says: “Inspiration matters. As a region, we’re still too good at talking ourselves down.

“This is about lifting people up and turning that inspiration into practical support for communities.”

It’s an ambitious mission.

But with Michael at the helm, anything is possible.

And you’re all invited to come along for the ride.

 

Community Foundation North East

www.communityfoundation.org.uk

LinkedIn: Community Foundation North East