School Food Matters: From Parent Campaign to National Movement - with Stephanie Slater MBE
Description
Welcome back to The Charity Show - the charity podcast that lifts the lid on life inside UK charities, with real stories, expert tips and the behind-the-scenes moments that make the sector tick.
This week, Tim and Piers are joined by Stephanie Slater MBE, founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, the charity that has been transforming children’s experiences of food in schools for almost two decades.
What began with one frustrated parent asking why school meals had to be so poor has grown into a national movement influencing policy at the highest levels. Along the way, Stephanie has earned an MBE and built a team changing how children learn about, eat and value food.
In this episode, we cover:
🍽️ The early days of campaigning as a parent and how it snowballed into a fully-fledged charity.
🥦 Why hands-on food education—growing veg, cooking meals, market stalls—remains central to School Food Matters’ mission.
🎓 Leadership lessons from 18 years of scaling a charity while staying mission-led.
📊 The recent policy win extending free school meals to more families—and why it’s only part of the bigger picture.
🥕 The charity’s 2030 strategy: “better food on every plate” and tackling systemic barriers in school catering.
💡 Stephanie’s advice for new founders, chief executives and parent campaigners who want to change the system.
In between parts one and two of the interview, Tim and Piers dig into the latest charity news:
CAF’s research revealing that three-quarters of UK businesses give nothing to charity - what this means for funding, and why corporate giving must change.
The Great North Run medal blunder - how 60,000 runners ended up with a souvenir featuring the wrong map.
And of course, the Small Charity Spotlight shines this week on:
- Women’s Aid North East Lincolnshire – supporting women, children and male victims through refuge, outreach, and a new domestic abuse hub.
- Sharewear Clothing Scheme – tackling clothing poverty across the East Midlands, supporting 25,000 people a year while saving hundreds of tonnes of clothing from landfill.
👉 Whether you’re passionate about food policy, curious about how local campaigns scale into national movements, or looking for leadership wisdom from experienced charity experts, this conversation with Stephanie shows how persistence, optimism and storytelling can transform lives.
Useful links
School Food Matters – schoolfoodmatters.org
Stephanie Slater MBE on LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/stephanie-slater
School Food Review – the coalition pushing for better policy on school food: schoolfoodreview.org.uk
CAF Corporate Giving Report 2025 – cafonline.org
Great North Run – official event page: greatrun.org/events/great-north-run
Women’s Aid North East Lincolnshire – womensaidnel.org
Sharewear Clothing Scheme – sharewearclothingscheme.org
The Good Studio – Tim’s new creative venture for charities: thegoodstudio.co.uk
The Good StudioThis show is now produced by The Good Studio - a new creative partner for charities. Founded by The Charity Show’s Tim Beynon, it helps charities tell their stories through powerful content, podcasts and campaigns - without the big agency price tag.Get involved and get in touch
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