Meet the team: Frankie Smith, Chief Finance and Operations Officer
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Coming back refreshed after the festive break, I found myself reflecting on the last calendar year as I approached my first anniversary at Bookmark Reading Charity.
WHAT HAS BEEN A STANDOUT PART OF YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH BOOKMARK?
After a year of fast-paced and high-impact work, key threads stood out. Bookmark provided the highest number of volunteer-led reading sessions in the charity’s history, delivering more literacy resources to schools than ever, and transforming our digital landscape. We’ve been able to achieve so much and it’s hard to pick a standout moment! If I was to focus on one, it would be launching our new tech platform which is making it easier than ever for our schools and volunteers to engage in our reading programmes.
WHERE WERE YOU WORKING BEFORE COMING TO BOOKMARK?
I’m a chartered accountant and I trained at KPMG. I worked in audit and primarily focused on a portfolio of charity clients, working with international NGOs, UK based charities in the heritage sector and charities linked to UK sports institutions. I left in 2021 and went to work for The Zoological Society of London, where I supported a range of teams including the on-site animal teams, finance and legal. I worked alongside our estates team by supporting the financial reporting on our large-scale capital projects.
HAD YOU WORKED IN THE EDUCATION OR LITERACY SPACE BEFORE WORKING AT BOOKMARK?
Literacy was a new area for me to work in. I loved reading as a child, particularly non-fiction books focusing on animals and the world around us. As a child, I would drag an encyclopaedia of animals around the house, picking a new favourite every day and reeling off all the facts I knew to my parents. I read well at school, and it didn’t cross my mind that so many children around me were struggling, nor were they without the literacy resources at home. As an adult, the pandemic lockdown reinvigorated a love of reading through a book club of ex-colleagues where we meet every six weeks to discuss a rotating selection of books.
DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER EXPERIENCE IN THE CHARITY SECTOR?
I’m a volunteer myself at a number of other charities in a range of different roles. I’ve been a Trustee at The British Youth Council, an organisation centred around amplifying the voice of young people in the UK through youth voice and participation and I’m currently a Trustee and the Treasurer at Rewilding Britain. There we’re working to see rewilding flourishing in Britain, reconnecting us with the natural world, sustaining communities and tackling the extinction and climate crises with a focus on seeing 30% of Britain’s land and sea restored and connected by 2030.
I also volunteer with The Scout Association, supporting their grant work and sit on the Audit and Risk Sub-committee at NCVO.
I’ve found that all of these experiences really support my work here at Bookmark by bringing a range of insights into our own governance and processes.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT WORKING AT BOOKMARK?
Bookmark exists to change children’s life stories through the joy of reading. One of the things I’ve enjoyed over the last 12 months has been the clarity this brings to the day-to-day. Having a North Star like this creates a unified direction and means collaborative working thrives as we all aim for the same end goal. We’ve sent Your Story Corner packs to three locations, most recently our most extensive support package to Sheffield. We delivered Story Corner Magazines nationwide to our partner schools and community settings in the thousands and piloted new projects like our comic book club. In particular, I’m proud we’ve transformed our digital platform to improve our School and Volunteer user experience, making getting children into our volunteer-led reading programme easier than ever.
WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE PROGRAMME AT BOOKMARK?
Our volunteer-led reading programme provides dedicated time, space, and attention for children to explore reading for pleasure. Children can grow in confidence by focusing on stories they want to read and improve their reading skills. We find that 95% of teachers saw increased reading confidence and an 80% increase in skills when children participated in our programme. Changing children’s life stories is only possible thanks to the support of our volunteer community. We aim to have 1,000 volunteers supporting children for the first time this month, which means over 1,000 children will be sparking the joy of reading in January.
If you have two 30-minute slots in your diary each week where you can support a child in discovering the joy of reading, please check out our volunteer opportunity.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2024?
The upcoming calendar year will continue to have its challenges. Still, with like-minded colleagues working towards that North Star, I am confident we will see more children reading in 2024. I’m also looking forward to working with all the teams at Bookmark to improve the way we work to bring the best out of each team to provide more literacy support!
A FEW QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS
What is your favourite book?
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
Do you have any hobbies or pastimes?
Baking for the office, particularly a birthday cake New York style cookie
What is your favourite quote?
‘Well done is better than well said.’ ‑Benjamin Franklin
