Multidisciplinary autism centre ‘akin to a butterfly’

Trudi Beswick, CEO of Caudwell Children, describes the background behind, and meticulous thought, expertise, and imagination that have gone into, the design and construction of the new Caudwell International Children’s Centre at Keele University in Staffordshire, ‘the UK’s first independent purpose-built centre dedicated to multidisciplinary autism diagnosis, support, and research’, which is set to open later this year.

Caudwell Children is a national children’s charity based in Staffordshire that provides practical and emotional support for disabled children and their families, founded in 2000 by the entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Caudwell, whose pioneering vision was to create a charity which offered life-changing support to its beneficiaries, balanced with complete transparency to its supporters. By pledging to cover the charity’s administration and management costs through an annual personal donation, John Caudwell enables us to deliver our promise that 100% of direct donations will go directly to help the children and families we support – a promise that stands us apart from many other charities and NGOs.

As the former director of Executive Projects for the Caudwell Group (Phones 4U et al), John Caudwell asked me to write the business case and strategy, and then structure and deliver his vision for the charity. Doing so set me on a journey which would shape the next 18 years of my life and beyond. At Caudwell Children we pride ourselves on our efficiency; with our roots firmly in the commercial sector we value the need to offer our supporters the best possible return for their philanthropic investment – delivering as much help as possible for every pound they generously donate.  As such, we celebrate the fact that our unique relationship with our founder, as well as our commercial approach to fundraising and service delivery, have enabled us to consistently deliver over £2.14 worth of services for every £1 donated – effectively doubling the amount of good that each donation we receive is able to make.