100 Club: Dan Gill, founder and creative director at Dine

Dan Gill is the founder and creative director at Dine. He is a member of the Leeds Community Foundation’s 100 Club, a patronage scheme for individuals who are motivated to make a difference in Leeds.

Here, he discusses what he loves about the city, and why she’s involved in the foundation.

What is your favourite thing about Leeds? 

The green spaces, the excellent bars and food, the interesting shopping and (mostly) friendly people. I also like the fact that we have award winning theatre, dance and opera companies based in the city. Overall, I appreciate the fact that Leeds is a relatively compact city but with a great range of facilities and things to do.

 

What would you change about the city? 

I would love to be able to give everyone growing up and living in Leeds a level playing field in terms of what they can expect out of life and support them with the education and resource that they need to achieve this. I believe that there are many bright and hardworking people who often don’t get the chance to progress and succeed equally.

 

Why did you decide to join the Leeds Community Foundation’s 100 Club? 

Helen and I setup our own trust when we were married but we soon realised that the Community Foundation had such similar aims to us that it made far more sense to use their help and expertise to direct the money we had raised toward the best possible charities and organisations across Leeds. The Leeds Community Foundation team has always been proactive in advising and involving us and we are proud to be members of the 100 Club that supports such an important organisation for Leeds.

 

What community issues are important to you and/or your organisation?

We are lucky enough to work with clients, both private and corporate, all of whom are in the fortunate position to be able to invest money into entertaining and hospitality at various stages with Dine. However, it is so obvious to myself and the Dine team that there are a lot of people in the city who simply don’t have the same opportunity and experiences. To this end we have a policy of simply supporting a whole range of charitable events (often with food and drink !) and engaging with community events. In the past we have run cookery classes to help people back into accommodation so that they can be independent, given talks to schools and colleges about the value of food in the context of family and relationships and offered work placements to those looking for their first step into hospitality.

In a nutshell we simply believe in doing what we can and using the resources we have to offer support and opportunities to those around us.

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