Scottish agricultural charity RSABI has announced the appointment of Laura Young as its new fundraising executive.

Laura’s role will involve executing a fundraising strategy to support RSABI’s work to provide financial, practical, and emotional support to people involved in Scottish agriculture. With demand for the charity’s services steadily increasing, Laura’s support will help ensure RSABI has the income needed to meet expected demand in the coming years.

With a background in global brand marketing, Laura brings over a decade of valuable experience in brand management to her new role at RSABI. At her most recent role as brand manager for International Beverage, Laura was responsible for planning, managing and implementing brand strategy for two single malts within the portfolio.

Laura is looking forward to returning to her roots in Scottish agriculture. She grew up on a dairy farm near Fochabers, where her family farmed from 1979 until 2013. Prior to farming at The Den, her family had dairy farms at Arradoul Mains, Auchintae and Muirton at Buckie, as well as breeding and showing Clydesdale horses for 140 years.

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For the past eight years, Laura has enjoyed volunteering as a steward for the Belted Galloway and dairy sections at the Royal Highland Show which she took on after a number of years working in the shows Livestock and Competitions department.

Speaking about her new role, Laura said she was delighted to have joined the inspirational team at RSABI.

“I’m excited to be working in an industry I am passionate about and playing a part in the great work RSABI does to support people in Scottish agriculture. Having built up my marketing experience in the premium spirits industry, I’m really enjoying getting back to my roots in Scottish agricultural and look forward to putting my experience into practice for such a good cause.” she said.

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Laura’s role in the fundraising team at RSABI will see her join the charity’s head of fundraising, Pauline Macmillan and fundraising executive Margo Wills.

Chief executive of RSABI, Carol McLaren, said the charity was delighted to have Laura on board.

“This is an incredibly important time for the work of RSABI, with a period of change on the horizon for Scottish agriculture and many farmers and crofters struggling with increased input costs,” said Carol.

“One of the great strengths of the charity is the valuable support we receive from people in the Scottish agricultural industry and it is vital we make the most of this to ensure we can continue to deliver strongly for those in our industry who need our help to get back on track.”

RSABI offers free practical, financial, and emotional support including counselling services, delivered quickly after receiving the initial enquiry. Its free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234 555 (calls won’t show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on RSABI’s website www.rsabi.org.uk.