The UK’s charity sector is under significant pressure. Funding is stretched, demand is growing, and the technology challenges facing these organisations are the same ones reshaping the commercial world. The difference is that charities rarely have access to the calibre of leadership needed to navigate them. ConnEx was built to change that, and on 12th February at the Natural History Museum, it delivered something that exceeded every expectation we had set for it. 

ConnEx at the Natural History Museum

Four hundred of the UK’s most senior technology and transformation executives gathered in one of London’s most iconic venues to hear directly from charity leaders about the strategic challenges they are facing in 2025 and beyond. This was not a panel discussion or a networking event. It was something more purposeful than that. Action for Children, MHA, Parkinson’s UK, RNLI and RSPCA each presented their most pressing transformation challenges to the room, giving executives the opportunity to apply to become part of their advisory board on a fully pro bono basis. 

Thirty advisory roles were on offer across the five charities. Over 400 people from across a wide range of organisations had already put their names forward before the evening took place, which speaks to the appetite that exists within the senior executive community to do something that genuinely matters with the expertise they have spent careers building. 

What the response tells us

The scale of interest reflects something important about where senior leaders are right now. Technology and AI are reshaping every industry at pace, and experienced executives understand that pressure better than most. But the impact does not stop at the technology function. The knock-on effects of technological change are being felt across finance, people strategy, organisational design and almost every other aspect of how enterprises are run. Senior leaders are navigating all of that simultaneously, and what is increasingly clear is that many of them are actively looking for ways to apply that breadth of knowledge and experience beyond their immediate commercial responsibilities.

Almost half of UK charities reported difficulties in recruiting and retaining senior expertise in 2025. The gap between the talent available in the commercial sector and the support accessible to the third sector is significant and growing. ConnEx exists to bridge that gap without placing any financial burden on the organisations that need it most.

What happens next

The matchmaking process is now underway. Each of the five charity partners will work through their preferred approach to selecting advisors, and the La Fosse Executive team will be closely involved throughout to ensure the right connections are made. This is not a placement exercise that ends once a match is agreed. The intention is to track how these partnerships develop and to understand the real impact they create for the organisations involved.

For the executives who registered and have not yet been placed, the process is far from over. We are actively exploring how to deploy more of our sign-ups across additional organisations, and we will be in contact as that develops.

Where ConnEx goes from here

The February event was a relaunch, not a conclusion. Later this year, we will be developing a sponsorship and partnership framework for ConnEx Round II, reaching out to aligned businesses to explore how they might want to support the next chapter, and looking across the La Fosse network for the right partners to help shape what version 2.0 looks like. 

The model itself does not need to remain fixed. The founding principle of ConnEx is about mobilising leadership for good, and there are multiple ways to deliver against that ambition. We are open to where that leads and to the conversations that will shape it. 

A final thought

What the event at the Natural History Museum demonstrated is that there is no shortage of talent or willingness in this country. What has sometimes been missing is the infrastructure to connect the two in a meaningful and structured way. That is what ConnEx provides, and the strength of the response to this relaunch confirms that the appetite for it is very real indeed. 

If you were in the room, thank you for being part of it. If you are interested in being involved in what comes next, whether as a charity partner, corporate sponsor, or executive who wants to contribute, we would welcome the conversation. 

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Ross Tanner is Managing Partner at La Fosse Executive, a specialist executive search and interim management firm focused on technology and transformation leadership. To find out more about ConnEx and how to get involved, contact Ross.Tanner@lafosse.com