Townsley has served as a trustee or board member for a large number of health and art charities, including the Child Bereavement Trust, National Gallery East Wing Development Project, Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign, Royal National Institute for the Blind, Serpentine Gallery, St Mary's Hospital Save the Baby Fund, Trinity Hospice, Weizmann Institute Foundation and Alzheimers Research. In 2005, he chaired the CSV Year of the Volunteer. He is the principal sponsor of Stockley Academy, a school specialising in science and technology. He is the chairman of the Central Synagogue – London.