Graham Allcott

Graham Allcott is a social entrepreneur, consultant and trainer, specialising in youth engagement, volunteering and voluntary sector issues.

Graham’s social activism has taken him from running kids’ projects in inner city Birmingham, to setting up HIV/AIDS education projects in rural Uganda, and advising Government departments on youth engagement strategies.

In 2004 he became one of the sector’s youngest leaders as Chief Executive of the national charity, Student Volunteering England at the age of 25: a role he held for three years, overseeing significant expansion of the service during this time.

Prior to this, Graham established the Involve volunteering service at the University of Birmingham, doubling the number of volunteers in 3 years. He also co-founded Intervol, an organisation sending student volunteers on international summer placements in a dozen countries in the developing world.

Graham was the founding Chairman of READ International, an international development charity recycling English curriculum textbooks by sending them to Tanzanian schools. The charity won ‘Best New Charity of the Year’ at the 2007 Charity Times Awards. He was also Chair of Volunteering England’s national student volunteering advisory group and is a faculty trainer for CSV’s Institute of Advanced Volunteer Management.

Last year, Graham was also named 'Future100 Young Entreprenuer' for demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in progressing a responsible business venture; one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success.

Graham's latest venture, Think Productive, provides time management training, email training, email etiquette workshops and facilitation training. For fans of David Allen's system, Getting Things Done, it is the closest thing to GTD training available in the UK.

In his spare time, Graham is a mentor for a young person in foster care, through the charity NCH. He is also a Fellow of the RSA, a keen musician, and despite an intolerance of failure elsewhere in his life, an Aston Villa season ticket holder.