Our Social Impact
The Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation: Advocates for a just world
The Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation was launched in Autumn 2020 to enable us to deepen our social impact and to build multi-faceted relationships with charity partners. Its main area of focus is to advance justice and help to support the most isolated and vulnerable members of society, by funding high impact social and environmental justice work.
Almost two years later, the Foundation supports five core charity partners and numerous smaller community groups local to our UK offices, tackling a range of complex issues, many of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The Firm has multiplied the impact of the Foundation's funding by providing pro bono legal and other free professional support for the Foundation's partners as well as additional funds raised by staff.
From large nationwide organisations tackling major societal issues, such as poverty and domestic abuse, through to small charities and community-focused grassroots initiatives, the Foundation has helped make a significant difference to people’s lives.
“If we've been successful, it's because we've had first class charity partners,” says Christopher Page, Partner and Chair of Trustees of the Foundation. “We spent time defining our criteria for charities with whom we wish to partner. We've been careful, and successful in our selection.”
He adds that he is proud that the Foundation’s budget and the hours of support provided by the Firm to the Foundation’s partner charities have both increased over the last 12 months, as this in turn enables these organisations to assist far more people.
“We're really proud of the impact the Foundation has had since it launched. Thanks to the financial support we have given charities and the pro bono and volunteering support the Firm has provided, they have been able to gear up and do more, which is fantastic. That's what the Foundation is all about.”
Christopher Page, Partner and Chair of Trustees of the Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation
Responsible business
“Being a ‘responsible business’ is not about sending out cheques,” says Christopher. “It's an attitude to society and the environment — this is what we mean when we talk about responsible business. The symbiotic and creative relationship between the independent charitable Foundation and the Firm that gave birth to it is a great achievement.” Going forward, Christopher is keen to see more people from across the Firm engaging with the Foundation so that it can support more charities and local community initiatives and forge long-standing relationships. He says: “It’s about putting down deep roots and making sure that we are building up partnerships with charities that will endure and grow for some time.”
“Making multi-year cash grants to charities that are having demonstrable impact is part of, but not the full, picture. The Foundation Trustees are always looking for ways that they and the Firm can leverage their skills, experience and networks to help, in addition to grants. Whether that is through direct volunteering, advising our beneficiaries or connecting to our networks depends on the needs of the charity and its beneficiaries.”
Larissa Joy OBE, Non-Executive Director and Trustee of the Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation
Local community funds
The Foundation has set up local community fund panels in our Guildford and Cheltenham offices, in partnership with the Community Foundation for Surrey and the Gloucestershire Community Fund. Applications for grants, which align with the themes and focus of the Foundation, are put forward to panels of Charles Russell Speechlys staff, which meet quarterly to decide which grants to award. Sally Ashford, a Partner in the Tax, Trusts and Succession team, has been involved in the initiative from the outset and says that setting up collaborations with local organisations has enabled the Firm to make a more meaningful contribution to local communities. “We used to get so many requests to help local charities and it is very easy to just write a cheque and not be engaged,” says Sally. “Through the collaboration with the Community Foundation for Surrey we’ve walked the walk, rather than just talked the talk. It is not just about spending money. It is about building longer-term relationships with the organisations we are supporting and looking at how we can use our business to support them in other ways.”
Developing local partnerships
Sally cites the example of Godalming-based charity “Skillway”, whose aim is to motivate and instill confidence in disadvantaged or disengaged young people by teaching them practical skills. In addition to providing financial support, “during Covid, we engaged Skillway to come into our office and fit new ‘no touch’ handles to the doors,” says Sally. “We're trying to take a much more holistic approach, including thinking about how we procure goods and services in a way that supports high impact partners.” Another Surrey-based organisation to benefit from the support of the Firm’s local community fund is youth charity The Matrix Trust, which supports vulnerable young people by connecting them to their community. In addition to an unrestricted grant from the Foundation, the Firm provided pro bono advice and assistance to the charity to negotiate a 20-year lease on a new social enterprise cafe known as The Hideaway in Guildford town centre. Profits from the cafe will be reinvested into Matrix youth projects. Ingrid Saffin, Partner in Real Estate, who helped the Matrix team negotiate the lease on a pro bono basis, says: “I was delighted to support the work of The Matrix Trust to secure this new lease for them. The work that Matrix are doing here in the local community in Guildford is really important and I hope their fantastic new cafe will be somewhere which not only provides a safe social space for youth in the community, but also enables them to generate much needed income for the work of their charity.”
Local impact
The Cheltenham community fund has adopted the same approach as the Guildford office and although the fund is a more recent addition, it has already had a significant impact locally. Julia Cox, Partner in the Tax, Trusts and Succession team in the Private Client division, says the initiative has engaged people across the Cheltenham office, with the panel being made up of a diverse range of individuals across different services.
It is still relatively early days for the Cheltenham community fund, but some of the causes already supported include the Newent Association for the Disabled, funding support for elderly men and their carers in the community who are isolated and in danger of developing mental health issues, and Read Easy Cheltenham and Gloucester which funds resources to enable volunteers to teach adults to read.
“We were recently congratulated by the Gloucestershire Community Fund for supporting a local race education initiative,” says Julia. Lives of Colour was a charity that Gloucestershire Community Fund (GCF) brought to us to consider — amongst others in the usual way — and we made an award to fund the creation of a podcast showcasing some of the powerful stories that they discovered as part of the development of their I-MMigrate exhibition for Gloucester Museum and which they felt would best be shared through conversation. GCF then re-approached us with a request for further funding to enable the project (namely a series of podcasts, not just one) to proceed. GCF felt that our increased support would also lever other donors so that the whole amount required by the charity would be secured.
"Those in the office really scrutinised this project and felt committed to it and its objectives reflecting our justice agenda that includes a diversity focus, so we agreed to make a further award. GCF fed back that they felt that amongst their partners we were pretty unique and forward thinking in that agenda and the interests that we could support accordingly, hence reapproaching us in this way. They told us that our support would be really helpful in GCF’s own journey to champion less traditional projects, as a really positive step in reinforcing the importance of such work and encouraging other philanthropists to follow our lead.”
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