On her 30th birthday, Princess Diana attended a gala lunch at The Savoy in London, a fundraiser for the Core Trust, for which she was patron. When we met in the lineup, the princess said, “I hope you’re using me.” One year into my fundraising career and I was already glad-handing royals.
The Core Trust, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, used holistic methods to help addicts get over their addictions, with much success. As its fundraiser, I negotiated a contract with Westminster City Council for the residential treatment of six clients. The centre’s approach was a mixture of ancient eastern and modern western: while its physical therapies were rooted in the Orient, its approach to counselling was Jungian. The Core philosophy was that body and mind are interlinked and healing the one involves working on the other. Although small, our donorbase was all rockstars.