Bank's charity funder appoints new CEO

Social and Community Capital, the social funding charity arm of NatWest, has appointed Victoria Papworth as its chief executive.

She joins from Coutts, which is also owned by NatWest, where she was most recently director of its philanthropy team.

Papworth replaces Megan Virrels who has led the charity since 2014 and will remain at Social and Community Capital to support Papworth in a part time advisory role.

Since its 1999 launch Social and Community Capital has approved £10m in loans to 80 good causes. It offers business loans of between £30,000 to £750,000.

“As an advocate for the power of communities and pro-social businesses to shape and build a better future, I am thrilled to bring my passion and curiosity to Social & Community Capital, said Papworth.

“I’m looking forward to strengthening the support we offer businesses, in turn helping them make a lasting and positive impact to resilient communities.”

Papworth joined the NatWest Group three yeas ago to support its work with family trusts and high net worth donors.

She is a former programme and development director at UK Community Foundations and spent four years at Locally in senior roles.

NatWest Social and Community Capital chair Andrew Harrison added: “Victoria combines strong experience of the charity and community support sector with a track record of growing businesses, and we are delighted to be working with her as we seek to grow our presence for this vital group of businesses across the UK."

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