Dame Caroline Louise Mason has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation since 2013, a UK charity that supports improvement of life through strategic grants and investment.

Career

Mason (married surname Cooper) studied Spanish and Portuguese at

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

from 1982 to 1986 and after graduating she worked for the

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

news agency until 1998. After leaving Reuters she worked until 2004 as a consultant, including with Pragmetrics and Tullett-Prebon. In 2005 she was the co-founder, with Geoff Burnand, of an early UK

community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

called Investing for Good, a social investment finance intermediary. The objective was to bring together investors, social organisations and expertise so that investment loans could have social as well as financial benefits. In 2011 she was appointed as the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the Charity Bank and

Big Society Capital Big Society Capital Limited (BSC) is an independent social investment institution in the United Kingdom, which provides finance to organizations that support front-line social sector entities to help them grow. Synopsis Social investment is about ...

Ltd. The latter was set up by the UK government for social investment using money that was dormant in UK bank accounts to provide loans via intermediaries for charities. In 2013 she became the chief executive officer of the

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a registered charity founded in England in 1961. It is one of the larger independent grant-making foundations based in the UK, funding organisations which aim to improve the quality of life for people and communit ...

, which makes grants and loans to organisations aiming to improve the quality of life in the UK, especially when this does not fit within the remit of other funders. In 2020, the charity changed to only provide support for projects on the natural world, removing

structural inequality Structural inequality occurs when the fabric of organizations, institutions, governments or social networks contains an embedded bias which provides advantages for some members and marginalizes or produces disadvantages for other members. This can ...

and improving communities rather than simply responding to requests. Mason is also a member of the boards that govern the UK government's Environment Agency and the

Impact Investing Impact investing refers to investing, investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is ...

Institute.

Honours and awards

Mason was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in 2013 for services to social investment and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to the charity sector, particularly during the Covid-19 response. In November 2020 she was included in the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

Power list 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Caroline Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol British women business executives British charity and campaign group workers Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Year of birth missing (living people)