Welcome to the latest edition of the Get to Know Philanthropy (GTKP) newsletter.  In this edition there is an update on the Charitable Fund and recent grants, a Pro Bono case study, two articles from PM Chris Sutton and more about the Future Professionals Summer School (FPSS).  

Charitable Fund - Update  

As Chair of the Charitable Fund, I was asked to provide an update to the Summer Court  and the following are the highlights of what was only the last six months activity since the last report. In that time, we made several grants as follows: 
•    Future Professionals Summer School (FPSS) - An application received from City St George’s University aimed at providing pupils aged 13 to 15 with an understanding of a range of professions including Health, Law, Business, Science and Technology, Politics and the Creative Industries. This application was supported and indeed sponsored by PM Kanan Barot.  The Trustees agreed a one-off grant of £10,000.  As we go to press, I can report that I attended the “Graduation Ceremony” for those young people participating in the programme.   See the report below.
•    Sea Cadets - The Trustees approved another grant of £5,000 for the Sea Cadets as part of our ongoing long-term relationship. PM Chris Sutton, along with other members of the Company, have been working with the Feltham branch to secure funds to purchase a replacement minibus for the branch’s use - See more below. PM Andy Miles (currently Master Carmen) helped  the team at Feltham to secure a minibus at a good price.

A second application from the Sea Cadets, was being assessed at the time of the Summer Court. Subsequently the Trustees approved a further Grant of £5,000 for the Feltham Sea Cadets.   The request relates to the funding of specified cadet-attended events in London Area in 2026, aimed at giving a good head start to their young people.
a)    To support the Annual Summer Camp and Annual Carol Service - £2,500
b)    To support the National Awards Celebration Dinner - £2,500
The Trustees have had several discussions about the challenges associated with measuring the impact of grants such as this. As a result, First Warden Collette Stone was asked to carry out a thorough assessment and to push hard on that issue. She met  with Lt Cdr (SCC) Cliff Lewis and has been diligent in understanding the rather complex story around the impact of events like their annual dinner.  The following is a brief summary: 

The Summer Camp funding would help provide extra off-site activities for cadets beyond volunteer-led training, improving their social experience and giving volunteers some respite. The Carol Service is a prestigious event at the Old Royal Naval College, offering cadets the chance to participate and speak publicly in an impressive setting. The National Awards Dinner recognises cadets and adult volunteers who have achieved awards, with efforts being made to increase cadet attendance.  

To conclude, it is worth emphasising that there is no “quid pro quo” involved in the decisions about any grant application to the Fund from the Sea Cadets. Each and every one is evaluated on its merits and without consideration of the wider relationship between the Sea Cadets as an organisation and the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants. Every application is given a thorough assessment, following our well documented process and we have in recent months been quite robust in our challenge of the Sea Cadets ability to demonstrate social impact.   See below for more information on the wider relationship with the Sae Cadets. 

Other Fund Matters:  The Fund itself has shown significant growth over the past six months simply reflecting the rather buoyant market. 

Unfortuantely we have made no progress in updating our bank account and our banking arrangements remain rooted firmly in the late 20th century. This remains a source of deep frustration as we hase been trying to update our bank mandate and banking arrangements for four years.  The Trustees will now attempt to open a new bank account with a Bank that specialises in supporting charities. 

Conversely, we are making good progress in reclaiming the Gift Aid on Members' donations. This is thanks to the efforts of Trustee Alexei Samarenko supported by Treasurer Geoff Berridge.

XLP Impact report   

The Trustees have received an excellent impact report from XLP based on the grant funding we made to support their "Ready to Work Project" -  September 2023 to August 2024. Here is a summary:

“We are very grateful to the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants for their generous grant of £5,000 awarded in September 2023. This enabled us to support five young people to complete our Ready To Work (RTW) Project, improving employment prospects and life skills. We hope this update on the project progress and our wider work during the year is of interest. 

Ready to Work is a six- to eight-week employability course for young people not in education, employment or training, followed by a year of further support. In 2023/24, XLP delivered four cohorts to 74 young people, with 91% completing the course. The programme included one-to-one support, group sessions, company visits, CV workshops and mock interviews. A major success was the Summer 2024 cohort, where all participants completed the course and 92% moved into education or employment.

More broadly, XLP worked across 10 boroughs, 34 estate communities and 34 schools or pupil referral units, supporting 3,765 young people. Its Bus Project reached 23 underserved communities, while its schools work helped 87% of young people at risk of exclusion remain in education." 

The Trustees always require recipients of grants to provide feedback on the impact of our donation. Sometimes it works really well, as in this case. In others it can be more of a challenge. 

Pro Bono Case Study - Five Hospices   

Mark Collins reports on the Five Hospices Collaboration Programme.
"The Company was approached early last year by five West Country hospice care organisations (St Margarets, St Peters, Weston, Dorothy House and Prospect)  seeking consultancy support.  As with most areas of social care, the end-of-life care sector is experiencing the twin challenges of rising demand and escalating cost pressures.   Specifically, the hospices were looking for help to identify areas of collaboration that could lead to cost savings and other benefits. 

A team of four Company Members (Steve Mayhew, Hugh Tinsley, Lin Wong and Mark Collins) took on this challenge.  The team worked with the hospices to undertake:
•    an extensive programme of interviews with the Chair, CEO and other senior staff to get to know each hospice to gauge the level of ambition associated with a programme of collaboration 
•    a spend analysis exercise to identify the areas of the respective businesses that would deliver the greatest benefit from a collaborative approach
•    two facilitated workshops to establish the principles and governance to guide a prospective collaboration programme.  The workshops also identified a number of short-term initiatives to generate early benefits and to foster trust and develop early confidence in the process of collaboration. These initiatives were then brigaded into an overall programme plan.

The hospices agreed to take forward the following initiatives:    
•    a programme to migrate to a common financial system to standardise processes, reduce costs and increase resilience
•    a joint initiative to reduce procurement spend by aggregating purchasing across a range of categories
•    a review of corporate governance activities, to identify opportunities to share people, processes or procedures
The WCoMC team have been retained to help take these initiatives forward and to help develop the next round of collaborative opportunities. To date, this has been a very successful programme.  The hospices are already starting to see some early tangible benefits and it has been heartening to see some of the softer benefits with the hospices increasingly looking to each other to share experiences and compare notes on specific issues."

(Ed: Congratulations on a great project and many thanks to our Pro Bono volunteers.)  

Chris Sutton Walks    

PM Chris Sutton reports:  "Between February and June I took part in two major events focused on improving the criminal justice system, organised by Sheriff Robert Hughes-Penney and his consort Elspeth.
The first was a visit to HMP Isis in Woolwich followed by a sponsored walk from Isis back to the Old Bailey, in aid of the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund. The photograph is taken outside the prison and includes Robert and Elspeth in the centre, and a number of Masters and past Masters (I am in the green shirt). Also on the walk were several prison staff, and ex-offenders who come in regularly to mentor prisoners. This was the longest of six walks (others being from Brixton, Wandsworth etc) and in total the walks raised over £100,000 which will be spent on helping ex-offenders to re-start their working lives.
The great thing about a 10-mile walk is there is plenty of time for conversation and networking, all of which will help me in my role as a part-time prison chaplain.

Second, Robert and Elspeth arranged a series of talks followed by discussions at the Old Bailey entitled “Justice for All” - there were sessions Justice for the Accused, Justice for Victims, Justice for ex-offenders, and on “how do we finance all the improvements we want to see”. It was good to see PM Denise Fellows at one of them. Robert and Elspeth showed great convening power - we had speeches or panel participation from the likes of Lord Timpson, Sir Brian Leveson, David Gauke, Paul Cowley, Charity CEOs, Corporate CEOs, ex-offenders and victims. 

There are systemic challenges in the criminal justice system and fixing them is hard. In this context, it was uplifting to witness so many people in the City and beyond, who see the value that efforts in rehabilitation bring to individuals, the economy, and society as a whole."

Our Affiliation with the Sea Cadets   

PM Chris Sutton reports, again:  "Our affiliation with the Sea Cadets continues to be strong. We have now been affiliated for three years with Feltham and Hounslow Sea Cadets, where we are the only affiliated Livery Company, and with London Area Sea Cadets, where we are one of a number of affiliated Livery Companies and have perhaps one of the highest profiles.

We attend training evenings quarterly in Feltham, which allows us to see at first hand the progress that is being made, and award prizes and certificates. The unit commander of another Sea Cadet unit recently commented to me that, after some years in the doldrums, the Feltham unit is now very much back on the map and is performing well. 

Our Charitable Fund’s contribution of £5,000 meant that the unit has now been able to purchase a new minibus to replace an ancient vehicle that was no longer roadworthy. 

This is a vital enabler for the unit to participate in off-site events, such as a rowing competition against seven other units on the Thames on 13th June. The Feltham girls came in first, the under 12s came in second, and the boys 4th - a great achievement for a unit that is not based by the river. Feltham are wearing light blue in the photos. PO Stephanie Fisher who leads the Feltham unit, accompanied by PO Albert Waldmeyer, was a speaker at this year’s Charities Supper. Also at the supper was Commander James Nisbet, head of London Area.

At London Area level, various members of the Company have joined in with Carol Services, Award Dinners, Annual Camp (all three of which our Charitable Fund supports with a grant of £5,000), Trafalgar Day celebrations and of course the Lord Mayor’s Show. Our presence at the Lord Mayor’s Show costs our Company nothing – if we wanted the same level of presence without our Sea Cadets connection it would cost us well over £10,000.

We presented the Satjit Cup to the top scoring (nationally) Sea Cadet adult volunteer. Lt Cdr William Pascoe from South Tyneside, at the Installation Dinner.

Finally, looking ahead but not far, the Company will be signing the Armed Forces Covenant at the London HQ of the Sea Cadets at HMS President near Tower Bridge on 22 July.

Aside from the Lord Mayor’s Show which is well advertised, opportunities to participate in Sea Cadet visits and events tend to be at quite short notice. Hence, we advertise them within a WhatsApp group. All are welcome - please contact me if you would like to be added to the group.

Future Professionals Summer School (FPSS) – Graduation

On 10th July your editor was delighted to attend the first of the “Graduation Ceremonies” for the FPSS. I was joined by Second Warden Jim Foster (a Trustee of the Charitable Fund) and Chair of the Education Committee - Nick Bush. I made a short (but impassioned) speech about opportunity and career readiness and then presented certificates to pupils from City of London Academy Highgate Hill (COLA HH). (Our Company has a relationship with COLA HH - we support their participation in the Sheriffs’ Challenge - debating for 6th formers). Also present were representatives from the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers (PM Lorraine Parkin) who also support the FPSS programme. All the students were turned out in gowns and mortarboards and they all looked very smart and were very engaged. There was a short networking event afterwards and it was clear from individual conversations with students that everybody had found something inspirational during their very varied week on the programme.

The Trustees await an impact report from City Saint George's, in due course.

And finally … A new Banner   

I am pleased to announce that the Charitable Fund has acquired a promotional banner as you can see from the photo. This has been discussed for some time and, mainly due to the efforts of First Warden Collette Stone and Suzanne Harris who  designed it and arranged for its production, the project was completed recently. We will display this promotional banner out at Company events to give a plug to the existence of the Fund and what its aims are. Please keep an eye open.  For the record and transparency, I paid for the banner personally - my donation in kind to the Fund this year.

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Thanks for reading this far and special thanks to those who contributed articles and photos for this edition  – PM Chris Sutton, Mark Collins, Second Warden Jim Foster, Nick Bush and Mark Fox. 

Steve Cant
Editor