Josephine McCartney has spent 16 years in the charitable sector, predominantly as a fundraising manager fighting for pots of money.

Those days are behind her after starting her new job as chief executive of Kent Community Foundation in Ashford in January.

Rather than jostling with other charities for grants, now she is leading an organisation which has distributed £26 million to projects in the county since it was established in 2001.

The body allocates cash donated from a network of 51 individuals and companies after vetting applications from community schemes across Kent.

“It is very different from being a fundraising director when you are continually competing for funds with another charity,” said Mrs McCartney.

“The real significant difference from the job I used to do is that we are all about supporting and helping the voluntary sector and not competing with it.”

Kent Community Foundation, one of 46 community foundations in the UK, receives about 800 applications for cash a year. It funds just over half of the requests made.

“Not everyone who applies is a registered charity and it is our job to make sure anyone dealing with us is legitimate,” said Mrs McCartney.

“We go to meet organisations and get a sense of how they operate and who are the beneficiaries. Then we can make a decision about whether it is a great project and something our funders would like to support.

“Decisions are always made by fundholders and trustees.”

The allocation of funds is led by the needs of the county.

“We know the areas which need most support and help,” she said, identifying Thanet, Dover and Shepway as the most deprived areas but also parts of Canterbury, Swale, Medway and Gravesham.

“If you look at a map of Kent there is a real divide between east and west in terms of where the wealth is,” she said.

“It’s also important to recognise that just because there is a wealthy area like Sevenoaks or Tunbridge Wells, if you look at East or West Malling, there are some real areas that need investing in that are alongside a quite wealthy community.”

Mrs McCartney wants the foundation, which employs 10 people, to sustainably give £2 million in grants each year, up from an average of about £1.5 million at present.

This would allow the organisation to make about 600 donations annually, rather than 400 now.

She hopes to meet these goals at the end of her three-year business plan, which she is just about to launch.

At present, 10 of its 51 funders are companies, including Ward & Partners, Land Securities, Crown Imperial, Port of Dover and Holiday Extras.

She would like to double the number of firms and is researching businesses operating in Kent.

“It is quite a significant jump but I think it is achievable if we can encourage companies to get involved as well as individuals.

“We are going to see a lot more applications coming to us. Charities will stop receiving government money and will not know where to turn.

“My team’s challenge is how we manage that and help as many organisations as we can.”

What is the toughest part of your job?

“The biggest challenge for the charity is proving that the money is being spent wisely and it is actually making a difference. It’s easy to just give money away but harder to see the benefits of it. It’s hard to show someone tangibly the difference their money has made.”

How does Kent compare to areas you have worked before?

“In Kent, the generosity of spirit of the people here shows there is real philanthropy at work. Sometimes people can be sceptical about why people give. That has not been my experience at all. The vast majority of people who hold funds with us are anonymous.”

Why should donors use Kent Community Foundation?

“Raising money for charity is fantastic but we are the team to speak to if a company is thinking about putting a percentage of profits back into the local community and wants someone to manage that whole process. We are professional, understand the county and can help them give their money out effectively.”

Why do companies or individuals not just donate the money themselves?

“If they were to set up a foundation in their own right, that is a significant piece of work. There’s a lot of legislation and guidance. Secondly, people don’t want unsolicited approaches by organisations. We manage their funds and can manage any introductions.”

What challenges face the voluntary sector?

“There are a lot of smaller and medium-sized charities that have been surviving on government contracts. A lot of that funding is being cut. A lot of those charities won’t have a fundraising arm to deal with that gap in income. My biggest concern is not that money being cut but what happens to the people receiving those services.”

CV

Born: 4/4/1972 in Glasgow

School: Knightswood School, Glasgow

Live: East Malling

Family: Married to Paul (not that one)

First job: Accounts clerk

First wage: £60 a week

Salary now: £75,000

Car: Kia Sportage

Book: Pride and Prejudice

Film: “I like horror films. The latest one I saw was Annabelle.”

Music: Eclectic taste

Gadget: iPhone 6

Last holiday: Budapest

Charity: Volunteers for Crisis at Christmas and supports homeless charities

Typical day

Josephine McCartney arrives at the office at about 8.30am. She will countersign cheques sent to all its grant recipients which “is a lovely thing to do”.

She sits in an open-plan office where she speaks to her team on and off all day.

She is “reworking” some of the charity’s processes and how the organisation operates.

She speaks to fund holders and will spend a lot of time preparing for meetings with them.

She also analyses the organisation’s finances.

“Some days I’m in the detail and other days I’m thinking about where we want to be in a few years’ time.”

She usually finishes at about 6pm.

In her downtime she likes to read, go to the cinema and go for meals.