Gary Phillips: business development for charity.

CAN Mezzanine, which specialises in providing office space to the third sector, recently appointed Gary Phillips as its first head of sales. The post that was created to develop new sales initiatives and increase occupancy at the award-winning social enterprise’s newest building in East Road, London N1.

New phase

The appointment marks a new phase in the development of the original CAN Mezzanine model to provide high-quality, affordable office space for charities and social enterprises.

Amongst the 120 customers currently renting office space in CAN Mezzanine’s three London buildings (charity ‘hubs’) are well-known organisations such as the Social Enterprise Coalition, the Charity Finance Directors Group, the British Youth Council and the Charity Bank, together with small charities employing less than ten staff such as Magic Bus, Four Paws UK, MyHeartLog and recently-established victim support charity Who Cares?

Survey

The work will involve expanding CAN Mezzanine’s sales opportunities to a diverse third sector. A recent telephone survey of around 700 charities and social enterprises in London (conducted by CAN Mezzanine) revealed a segmented marketplace, from new start-ups to large established charities. Needs ranged from organisations wanting permanent office space for the whole team, to ones with staff working from home requiring an occasional London base, or those looking for stop-gap solutions such as ‘hot desks’and a ‘virtual office’ facility.

Experience

Phillips has over 30 years’ experience in sales, marketing and business development at a senior level, predominantly within the media and telecoms sectors, working for companies like the Yell Group, NTL and Cable & Wireless.

He tells ModernSelling.com: ‘What attracted me to the post was the opportunity to use my commercial experience to develop business opportunities within the Third Sector for an organisation like CAN that has ethical principles at its core. My parents’ involvement in the Salvation Army has shown me the real value that charities and social enterprises can bring to the communities that they work with.’

Unprecedented demand

Chief executive Andrew Croft adds: ’We want to expand our social enterprise CAN Mezzanine and support the third sector to scale up and maximise its impact. Economic times are tough, but we have experienced an unprecedented demand for office space in our three London buildings. Having a head of sales on board will help to drive our business forward in new directions.’

CAN was formerly known as Community Action Network and is recognised as one of the UK's leading organisations for the development, promotion and support for third sector organisations,social entrepreneurs and social enterprises. It runs CAN Invest, CAN Engage, CAN Advise and CAN Mezzanine (its own social enterprise) which has three office buildings in London – two in London SE1 (1 London Bridge and 32-36 Loman Street) and one in London N1 (49-51 East Road, off Old Street). CAN Mezzanine London Bridge has 414 desks, CAN Mezzanine Loman St has 281 desks and CAN Old Street has 480 desks.