From student project to national charity

When Luke founded Make A Smile nearly a decade ago, it began as a small, student-led volunteering project in Cardiff. Today, it is a registered charity operating across the UK, bringing joy to children in hospitals, hospices and disability settings through visits from beloved children’s characters. Alongside his full-time work as a doctor, Luke now serves as Chair of Trustees. As the organisation grew, he realised that passion alone wouldn’t be enough to sustain it. Here, Luke shares how Reach helped Make A Smile bring in the skills and experience needed to move from enthusiastic beginnings to a more professional, resilient charity. 

“Make a Smile operates across the UK, providing enrichment to children in hospitals and children with disabilities in the community, mainly through visits from princesses and superheroes. Some of our events are in really tough environments, like children’s hospices. 

“We started around nine years ago as a small, student-driven project in Cardiff.  But because we were primarily run by students and recent graduates, we lacked experience.  As we expanded, it became clear that if we wanted to move from a volunteering project to a sustainable, professional charity, we needed people with deeper expertise.

Enabling growth with professional expertise

“That’s why we turned to Reach. We were looking for professionals – people with real experience in finance, fundraising, governance, video production – who could bring knowledge we simply didn’t have. At one point, most of our trustees were in their early twenties. There was enthusiasm in abundance, but not always the professional experience you need to run a national charity.

“Through Reach, we’ve recruited around 30 volunteers over three years, and about half of our current trustees originally came through the platform. That’s had a huge impact. It’s shifted the balance of the organisation. We now have trustees in their thirties, forties and fifties alongside younger volunteers. That mix has helped us mature. There’s more focus, more professionalism, and a lot less of the ‘student society’ feel that naturally comes with a very young board.

“What I value about Reach is the emphasis on skills-based volunteering. On other platforms, you often get people who are keen to start volunteering, which is wonderful, but they may not yet have the experience for highly skilled roles. Reach connects us with people who already have that professional background and want to use it for good.

“Because we’re entirely volunteer-led, we genuinely wouldn’t be where we are without skills-based volunteers and trustees we’ve recruited through Reach. Even volunteers who are no longer with us have left behind systems, materials and processes that we still use today. Their contribution doesn’t disappear when they move on. It becomes part of the charity’s foundation."