About us

The Kiltwalk fundraising platform (underwritten by The Hunter Foundation) has been designed to turbocharge fundraising.

Kiltwalks are mass participation walking events that raise much-needed funds for Scottish charities and projects. Every year our events take place across Scotland - Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

Kiltwalkers can raise funds for any charity of their choice and thanks to the generosity of Sir Tom Hunter and The Hunter Foundation, all funds raised will be topped up by 50%*.

Our Story

Read through the Kiltwalk timeline

2019

Forbes magazine (Aug 16, 2019) highlighted the Kiltwalk as an example of Peer-to-Peer fundraising in Britain which the US market could learn from.

A new Pop-Up event was added, the 6-mile Dumfries Kiltwalk in November, where nearly 500 local heroes walked and raised over £31,000 of much-needed funds for 83 charities.

Kiltwalk has it’s BEST YEAR to date with 25, 417 walkerswho raised £5 million plus £2 milliontop-up, raising a total of £7millionfor 1,302 charities all over Scotland.

Since 2016, our Kiltwalk heroes have raised £11.4 million and The Hunter Foundation have added £4.2 million – that’s a total of £15.6 million for over 2000 charities.


2018

The Kiltwalk continues to grow with 20,000 walkers taking part, raising an astonishing £3.6 million for 1,156 charities, plus the 40% top up, £1.45 million – a record-breaking £5.85 million.

This took us to the “Top 5 in the UK’s Massive Charity Events list”. In even more ace news, Judy Murray OBE joined the Board after leading-off and loving the Edinburgh Kiltwalk.


2017

Sir Tom Hunter surprised the Third Sector and the wider public with the news that every charity in Scotland could take part and benefit from the Kiltwalk. With a significant twist; The Hunter Foundation would add 40% to all fundraising. This game-changing news allowed us to rise to Sir Tom’s challenge to raise £10 million within five years, with two years to spare.

Second year of events attracted 14,000 walkers raising £1.94 million plus £720,000 from The Hunter Foundation – a total of £2.66 million for 700 charities and we jumped 12 places in the UK’s Top 25 Massive events.


2016

New sponsors stepped-up: The Royal Bank of Scotland and Arnold Clark signed-up for 2016 and beyond and Chartered Accountants, Johnston Carmichael came on board to support the Kiltwalk's mission.

Meanwhile, the Kiltwalk received celebrity support from some of Scotland’s most loved faces including Kevin Bridges, Lorraine Kelly, Gerry Butler, Judy Murray, Take That, Thierry Henry and many more thanks to friends of Sir Tom’s like ITV’s Hollywood correspondent, Ross King and Sky’s Mr Transfer Deadline Day, Jim White

This year's events attracted 7,400 Kiltwalkers and raised £860,000 for children in Scotland. The Kiltwalk was ranked No. 25 in the UK’s “Top 25 Massive Charity Events” list.


Sir Tom Hunter

West Coast Capital and The Hunter Foundation

Sir Tom Hunter is a seasoned entrepreneur and philanthropist. Tom made his first fortune when he sold the sports retail chain he built up from scratch, Sports Division, for £290m in 1998.

He set up his private equity business, West Coast Capital in 2001 and combined this opportunity with a significant commitment to philanthropy, having invested in excess of £50m to date into social causes through The Hunter Foundation.

Tom sits on the Presidential Advisory Council for President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Tom was knighted in 2005 for services to entrepreneurship and philanthropy and was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2013.

Behind the Kiltwalk

The Kiltwalk is governed by a board of Trustees and powered by The Hunter Foundation. Find out more about the people behind the Kiltwalk Fundraising Platform.

Ewan Hunter

Kiltwalk Chairman

Kiltwalk Chairman

Ewan Hunter

Kiltwalk Chairman

As CEO of venture philanthropy, The Hunter Foundation, Ewan is responsible for managing a $200m portfolio of philanthropic investments.

Responsible to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation including Sir Tom and Lady Marion Hunter and President Vartan Gregorian, he provides strategic advice to a number of charities supported by The Hunter Foundation.

Paul Cooney

CEO

CEO

Paul Cooney

CEO

Our CEO Paul Cooney joined Kiltwalk with 35 years of experience working in Radio and TV and public service.

Paul is a former Managing Director at Bauer Media, owners of Radio Clyde, Forth, West Sound and Borders and launched Capital FM for Global Radio in 2011. He was involved in the successful Cash for Kids Appeal and served as Chairman for two years. In his spare time, he was Chairman of the all-party Scotland Against Drugs and a director of Scottish Enterprise Glasgow.

Paul has 4 children and 9 grand-children who all regularly take part in Kiltwalk.

Lynn Hendry

Advisor to the Board

Advisor to the Board

Lynn Hendry

Advisor to the Board

Lynn has worked for 20 years within and alongside the not for profit sector. She has worked with the Hunter Foundation since 2006 and in that time managed a range of projects focused on education and wider service reform in Scotland.

The Foundation partners with a number of broadcasters including STV and BBC to raise awareness of the issues associated with child poverty and invest in interventions that enable change at the root cause.

Sean Tracey

Trustee

Trustee

Sean Tracey

Trustee

Sean is an Honours graduate of Caledonian University and Alumni of the Year.

He worked in the leisure industry for 20 years and stepped down as Chief Executive of Powerleague Europe’s largest small sided soccer operator after 13 successful years leading the company, both as a private and public company.

Sean is a mentor for start-up businesses in Ayrshire, and is also a fundraiser and supporter of the Gillian Saltire Appeal which offers respite accommodation in his home town Largs, for families from all over Scotland who suffer from the impact of cancer.

Mark Harvey

Trustee

Trustee

Mark Harvey

Trustee

Mark Harvey is now a Senior Executive with the Arnold Clark organisation.

Until recently, he was EY’s Managing Partner for Scotland having worked with them for more than 20 years in Belfast, Glasgow, London, California and Edinburgh. He previously led EY’s audit practice and Entrepreneur of the Year programme in Scotland.

Mark lives in Dollar, is married to Karen and has 2 children, Sophie and Jack. He enjoys playing tennis and golf and raising money for Leukaemia Research.

Judy Murray OBE

Trustee

Trustee

Judy Murray OBE

Trustee

Judy is one of Scotland’s best-known faces: popular tennis coach, mother of tennis Grand-Slam superstars Andy and Jamie Murray and star of Strictly Come Dancing!

She was awarded OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list of 2017 for services to tennis, women in sport and charity.

And she is a trustee of the Judy Murray Foundation which aims to widen access to tennis all over Scotland. Dr Judy has 5 Honorary Doctorates; a sure sign of her positive contribution to sport.

Judy’s appearances at Kiltwalk prove extremely popular as she helps Lead-off our walkers and she often walks with supporters of the Judy Murray Foundation.

Current Vacancies

Thank you for taking an interest in working at the Kiltwalk!

Current Vacancies

Sorry, we currently have no vacancies. Please keep checking this page for updates.

If you would like to get involved in the Kiltwalk, why not apply to be a Kiltie Volunteer.