Paul Amadi has quit as director of fundraising at the NSPCC to take up the same position at Diabetes UK in the new year.

Amadi, a former chair of the Institute of Fundraising, has been in charge of the NSPCC’s fundraising function for two years, having taken over from Giles Pegram in January 2010.

He oversaw a difficult period at the children’s charity, leading a staff consultation that saw several fundraisers made redundant and several more redeployed in new roles.

Before joining NSPCC, Amadi worked in a range of other charities including RNIB and Sense, as well as being a trustee of the Institute for five years, and its chair for two.

Baroness Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “Diabetes is one of the most important and urgent health challenges of our time and Paul’s skills and experience are absolutely what we need as we grow our work with people and professionals to care, connect and campaign on behalf of people with diabetes and those at risk.”

Earlier this year, Baroness Young admitted that the charity had a “small reduction” in funding last year but remained “pretty stable”.  One of her top three priorities was to “get as much funding as possible to put into research as there is a real prospect that a cure is out there”.