Clare Cook is a senior charity leader with almost 30 years’ experience across fundraising, communications, governance and organisational growth in the charity and arts sectors.
Clare was Chief Executive of Future Talent from December 2022 to November 2025, leading the organisation through a period of increased ambition, visibility and growth.
During this time, Future Talent expanded the number of young musicians it supported from around 100 to more than 150 each year, diversified its income base, strengthened governance, and developed a more genuinely national, regionally rooted approach through regional partnerships and clusters. A key moment in this journey was the charity’s 20th anniversary and the delivery of RISE: Past, Present and Future Talent, a youth-led creative campaign that placed young people at the heart of artistic decision-making while also raising the charity’s national profile and engaging new audiences and funders.
Clare is now UK Director of Fundraising and Communications at The Dollywood Foundation UK, home of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, where she is leading the growth of one of the UK’s largest early-years literacy programmes.
Previous roles include CEO of Soundabout, Deputy Director of Fundraising and Communications at Missing People, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Child Bereavement UK, and Head of Fundraising Publicity at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.
As a member of Future Talent’s Advisory Group, Clare brings strategic insight into organisational growth, income diversification, governance and youth-led practice, and continues to support the charity’s mission and long-term impact.
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