Our story
Dignity Boxes’ founder, Isabel Dosser, qualified as a registered nurse in 1976 and worked in various hospital departments before moving into palliative care in 1996 and then nursing education in 2004. Isabel had a growing concern about the impact of poverty in health and well being and in 2018 she established Dignity Boxes to provide free toiletries to those in need, an initiative that was based around the principle of preserving and promoting the dignity of all individuals.
What we do
Since becoming a registered charity in December 2018, Dignity Boxes established many connections with recipients and donors of dignity boxes across West Lothian and the City of Edinburgh. Our network continues to grow and our dedication to promoting Dignity of all through the provision of free toiletries remains at the heart of everything we do.
Recently winning the Edinburgh Napier 2023 Alumni Impact Award, Isabel has been recognised for epitomising Edinburgh Napier’s values as an inspiration and a role model. Read more about the 2023 Alumni Impact Award article below.
Meet the board
Isabel Dosser
Founder & CEO
Isabel is the founder of Dignity Boxes and has worked as a nurse for 30 years before moving into teaching as a nurse lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University. Isabel retired in September of 2019 and will be working on expanding the charity over the next few years. She considers herself fortunate to have had a rewarding career and is looking forward to this new chapter in her life.
Nick Fannin
Chair
Nick is the Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Napier University. He is passionate about giving people the time, space and support to develop themselves and their ideas to the point where they can have a commercial or social impact. Hopefully both! For the last 20 years Nick has been engaged in various roles in the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem and has worked with over 1000 entrepreneurs in that time.
Heather Darling
Treasurer
Heather is a qualified accountant who, since qualifying, has worked in the charity sector and is now a senior finance business partner in the public sector. She also previously held a trustee position with another Scottish national charity before joining the board of Dignity Boxes.
Mark Wilkinson
Trustee
Mark has worked in a wide variety of roles across the voluntary and public sectors for over 30 years. His experience has included supporting adults with learning disabilities to maintain their tenancies in the community, literacy tutoring and a variety of community-based adult education roles. Since 2000 Mark has worked in a number of higher education settings and is currently Head of the Student Wellbeing and Inclusion service at Edinburgh Napier. He is interested in the environment, social justice and tackling poverty at home and abroad. Mark has previously been a Trustee with Scottish Education and Action for Development (SEAD) and is now committed to ensuring Dignity Boxes is able to fulfil its vision.
Norman Gill
Trustee
After a 30 year career in Financial Services, latterly as a Management Consultant, Norman is now Chief Operating Officer at Street Soccer Scotland. Passionate about the role of the 3rd sector in Scotland, Norman has worked with a number of organisations as well as local and national government to promote this work.
Megan MacDougall
Secretary
Megan works in higher education, providing executive administrative support to senior management. She has a background in public relations and marketing and volunteered for Dignity Boxes for a couple of years before joining the Board.
Shelley Kerr
Patron
Shelley Kerr MBE is a UEFA Pro Licence coach, former player and football consultant. Shelley has also worked in the media profession and often delivers keynote presentations at wide ranging events from football to corporate and charity. She is extremely passionate about supporting local communities in various capacities and none more so than supporting Dignity Boxes as a charity to help those who need it the most.