Fozia Irfan

Fozia is Director of Children and Young People at Children in Need. Previously she was the Chief Executive at the Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation, a place-based grantmaking organisation . She is a trustee of the Association of Charitable Foundations and the Funders Alliance for Race Equality, advocating for a deeper understanding of inequality and how to effectively address it through funding. Fozia was also part of the National Steering Group of the Local Trust in its research on Empowered Communities in the 2020’s and was Commissioner for the Inclusive Growth Commission in Luton.

Fozia completed a MSc in Grantmaking, Philanthropy and Social Investment from Cass Business School in 2018 and her dissertation was completed with US Foundations. Fozia is currently leading the Diversity Equity and inclusion Coalition of 17 major foundations, implementing DEI frameworks in their work. She was awarded the Charity Times ‘Rising CEO Star’ in 2018 and named as one of the ’25 Most Influential Charity Leaders’ as well as being a Churchill Fellow and a Leadership Fellow at St Georges, Windsor.

Fozia was awarded an OBE in January 2021 for services to the community in Bedfordshire, particularly during the Covid-19 response.