Sector leaders past and present gathered at Fishmongers’ Hall on London Bridge yesterday to pay tribute to Daniel Phelan, the late founder and editor-in-chief of Civil Society Media.

Around 200 people heard tributes and readings from Dan’s friends and colleagues before enjoying a lively reception with tea, cake and wine.  Musicians from his former school, Christ’s Hospital, played a trumpet fanfare and a flute solo and a choir sang Danny Boy.

Don Bawtree, partner at BDO and a close friend of Dan, officiated.   He said Dan was a “businessman, a social entrepreneur, and a visionary, but also a huge contradiction – he never really decided if he was running a business or a charity”. He was a “major force in our sector but always shunned the limelight”, he “presented himself as a bit of a radical but was secretly a traditionalist” and “certainly had very strong values and ethics”.

Su Sayer, founder and former CEO of United Response, focused her tribute on the Charity Awards: “Dan was a man of great vision. He realised how important it was for our sector to celebrate its work and so he created the Charity Awards in 2000.  As always Dan’s strong values shone through. Dan understood the pressures on small charities' finances and right from the start he made sure that any charity that was shortlisted would be given free places for the awards night. No potential winner was ever excluded.

“I saw Dan a few days before he died. I was able to thank him and tell him how important the awards are for all of us that try hard to make a difference. There are some amazing people doing amazing things and in his own way, Dan was one of them.”

Rachel Fletcher, founder and director of RF design, which designs Civil Society Media’s magazines, recalled how, over 20 years ago, Dan convinced her to leave her job and set up her own design business in the Stockwell offices of his then-named company, Plaza Publishing.  He even lent her the money to buy the requisite software and computer equipment, and fed her all his magazine design work.

“Dan was very hands-on with all areas of the business, and design was certainly no exception,” Rachel said. “He was a hard taskmaster, and would pace up and down the small office telling me what we were failing to achieve while giving me ever more abstract briefs to try to interpret on the page – ‘more gravitas’, ‘more vibrancy’, ‘more impact’. From time to time our opinions clashed, and at the end of a long day, this occasionally led to heated exchanges.

“But it was all worth it when we finally cracked it. Dan would stare at a print-out intently for a few minutes before a huge smile spread across his face, and I knew we were onto a winner.”

Malcolm Hurlston, former chair of StepChange Debt Charity, said that what distinguished Dan was his “love for what is good in life”.  He was also the “perfect trustee – understanding, diligent, questioning and loyal”.

Dorothy Dalton, editor of Governance, recalled how when she was chief executive of Acenvo (predecessor to Acevo) many years ago, the company that she had commissioned to publish the annual Acenvo Handbook went into liquidation, taking with it all the advertising revenue, and she turned to Dan for advice. “He didn’t just give me advice, he published the Handbook for me without charge, and I don’t think anyone else really knew.”

Jenni Cahill, events producer at Civil Society Media, began her tribute with a quote from Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda: "From the standpoint of eternity, there is hardly any difference between a 'long' and a 'short' life. Therefore, it's not whether one's life is long, or short, but how one lives that is important. It is what we accomplish, the degree to which we develop our state of life, the number of people we help become happy - that is what matters."

She then said: “If there is any truth in these words, Dan's life was of enormous importance.”

Jenni recalled how Dan had taken a chance on her by creating the new role of events producer and appointing her to it, when she had no previous experience of programming conferences. She concluded by saying: “I think I speak on behalf of everyone at Civil Society Media, whether they knew Dan personally or not, when I say that his heart lives on in the culture of an organisation which continues to reflect his integrity and values. We regularly ask ourselves what Dan would have thought of something, and whilst his opinion is deeply missed, we now have an even bigger responsibility to live up to his expectations and ensure that his legacy endures.”

Andrew Hind, former editor of Charity Finance and previous chief executive of the Charity Commission, spoke about Dan’s extraordinary vision in identifying the need for charities to be better governed and better run, and setting up an independent media and events company to meet that need.

“Dan took great pride in the fact that all this was achieved without any government money, and with no grants from foundations,” Andrew said. “He did it all through his own efforts.

“Dan didn’t often go off on one.  But many of you will remember that if he got started on a particular subject - like the millions of pounds that successive governments had poured into black holes trying to build learning resources for the sector, with no discernible end product – it could be a very long conversation…or should I say a very long monologue!  

“Dan epitomised the characteristics of the sector at its best. He was an innovative pioneer, highly intelligent, full of energy, results-oriented, uncompromising in his standards of excellence and accuracy – but it was his personal values that marked him out as such a special and wonderful person.

“He was straight and honest; unfailingly courteous and gracious; and made time for everyone – when you were with Dan it was always about you, and never about him.”

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO and a personal friend of Dan, admitted that he had been on the receiving end of those very long monologues more than once, as his organisation was one of those recipients of the millions of pounds of government funding.  He said he tried repeatedly to convince Dan that their two organisations were quite different animals, but Dan never swallowed that.  Now, Sir Stuart said, all organisations are having to sustain themselves by earning much of their income, but this was something that Dan saw first.  In fact, Dan “invented” social enterprise, he said.

Ian Allsop, freelance journalist and former editor of Charity Finance, spoke immediately after Sir Stuart and had the audience laughing out loud when he said “I’m always a bit worried about following Sir Stuart, in case I get regulated.”

In a speech peppered with hilarious one-liners, Ian said he owed his career to Dan, who had taken a chance on him by making him editor of Charity Finance several years ago.

He concluded on a touching note: “I still find myself considering what Dan would think. When writing my column, even when he wasn’t editing it, even after he had died.

“What would he think of the current fundraising mess? Corbyn? Pigs? Arsenal’s continued search for a world-class striker?

“Finally though I found myself thinking, what would he have thought of what I have just said?

“And that is the ultimate tribute I can give. To a man who constantly, whether knowingly or not, helped raise standards in the performance of not only charities but those who worked for and with him.

“I still ponder in many situations, as I did when he was alive, what would Dan think?”

Dan died on 11 February 2015 after a long battle with cancer.  Those who wish to make a donation to Bowel Cancer UK in his memory can do so on this page - please help us break through £3,000.