Richard Brewster's bio

Richard has worked with a wide range of nonprofits since embarking on consulting and training work in the US, in 2003. Current and past examples include: The Armed Services YMCA, which he supported in a major strategic planning process in 2021-22, Live It Learn It, a DC-based experiential learning nonprofit, which he helped create a strategic plan in the wake of the onset of the pandemic in 2020/21; the Association for Asian Studies, for which he conducted a governance review and helped develop a strategic plan in 2021/22; the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif,) which supports entrepreneurs of color, mainly in the District of Columbia, with capital and technical assistance, for which he facilitated a strategic visioning process in 2018 and a Chair succession and Board development process in 2019/20;  Laurel Advocacy and Referral Services, whose mission is to enable homeless and low-income people in Laurel who are in crisis to achieve stability and long-term self-sufficiency, for which he developed strategic and operational plans in 2014/5 and facilitated a refresh of the strategic plan in 2019; ChildFund, an international NGO, whose US anti-childhood poverty program he helped redesign and plan in 2014/5; and 826DC, which helps students develop their creative writing skills, for which he developed a strategic plan and facilitated a strategic plan review.

For eight years, until the program wound down in 2016, Brewster managed and delivered consulting services to four to six nonprofits each year in Arlington County as part of a County nonprofit capacity building program. He also facilitated, in the second half of 2019, a major project for Arlington County, through which County arts nonprofits were engaged in redesigning part of the County’s service infrastructure supporting arts groups.

Brewster has a particular focus on nonprofit sustainability. For example, he developed training curriculum, Building a Sustainable Nonprofit Organization, for the Foundation Center (now Candid,) and regularly delivered this and a workshop on Developing a Fundraising Plan in Washington DC, New York and San Francisco.

Before arriving in the US, in 2003, Richard held leadership positions in the nonprofit sector in the UK. For eight years, he was chief executive of Scope, a national disability charity and one of the UK's largest nonprofits, with revenues of $160 million, 4000 staff and 270 affiliates. As CEO, he oversaw major changes in governance and in the strategy of the organization, and introduced an outcome driven approach to the delivery of programs. Prior to this, he was Director of Marketing at Scope, responsible for all aspects of fundraising and substantial public relations and advocacy activity. He oversaw significantly increased fundraising activity, the expansion of the thrift store chain to more than 300 outlets, established the organization’s first corporate fundraising department  Brewster was responsible for a successful change of name of this household name charity, from the Spastics Society to Scope, and an increase in investment in campaigning activity that contributed to the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act, the UK's equivalent to the ADA.

Richard joined the nonprofit sector in 1986, when he became National Appeals Manager at Oxfam, the UK's leading emergency and development NGO, responsible for all Oxfam’s direct marketing fundraising ,  the management and development of a database of 200,000 supporters, including 70,000 regular givers, and Oxfam's branding and advocacy communications, including campaigns designed to educate donors and the general public about the causes and effects of poverty and injustice and how the agency’s programs addressed these.

Before joining Oxfam, Richard worked in commercial management for ICI, then a major multinational chemical corporation and the UK's largest manufacturing company. 

In 2003/4, Richard was Senior Visiting Practitioner at the Center of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at Georgetown University. He has been Executive Director of the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise, whose mission is to help nonprofits make wise economic decisions. He now sits on its Board. He is also a Past Chair of the Board of PRS Inc, the major nonprofit provider of services to people with serious mental illness in Northern Virginia, a past board member of Linden Resources a regional provider of employment opportunities for people with disabilities and a past board member and member of the Governance Committee of CRi, a regional nonprofit offering a wide range of services to people with disabilities and mental health issues.

Brewster obtained a BA (Hons) in Classics at Oxford University and Part I of an MBA at the Open University, both in the UK.