Welcome to the latest edition of the Get to Know Philanthropy (GTKP) newsletter.  In this edition that there are no less than two case studies,(one Pro Bono and one Mentoring), news of a new relationship with the Scouting movement, two impact reports and, of course, we start with a report on the recent Charities Supper.   We also remember Bill Penney.  Thanks to all those who helped with this edition especially Mark Fox for photos. 

Charities Supper 

It was a sold out occasion on 3rd February at the Annual Charities Supper – 120 participants, members and guests, many from charities, with a waiting list of 10!  

We all enjoyed a return to the Skinners' Hall, our old home base. Since we were last at this hall, it has been beautifully renovated, and everybody recognised how very impressive it is now.  The basement level has now been stripped back to a modern haven and undercroft, while the hall itself is simply splendid. Upstairs, new meeting rooms have been created by reconfiguring the old office area and the balcony area has now been enhanced by an atrium and pavilion.

It was a full house. sitting at tables of ten.  Between courses we heard from three speakers, all Pro Bono clients, who talked about their personal journeys, their work and how they are going "onwards and upwards" following our help:

• Tori Rist:  the Founder and CEO of More Education, better known as Koala, who since 2019 have provided community and education opportunities for young people and adults across the UK.
• PO Stephanie Fisher: a volunteer officer with the Sea Cadets, whom WCoMC have supported with ProBono work and funding since our formation as a Guild in 1992.
• Helen Saelensminde: the CEO of the Snowdon Trust, established in 1981, enabling thousands of disabled people to achieve education goals and move into employment.

Without exception all three speakers inspired us with their short, yet powerful, speeches.  

As before, Patrick Chapman, the Chair of the Pro Bono Committee, acted as Master of Ceremonies throughout the evening and did his usual walk around the busy room before each speaker so that everyone was engaged.  There was a lot of good-natured chat and expert mingling and not too much barracking!

During the evening, we would normally award the Matheson Cup, which goes to a member of the Company who, in the view of the Pro Bono Committee, has made an exceptional contribution to the Pro Bono work of the Company over the last year.  The Committee always tries to keep the name of the recipient secret – running the risk that he or she might not be at the Supper.  As Patrick sadly commented, it was yet again impossible to award the Cup at the Supper – two years ago the recipient was committed to a trustee meeting of his charity in Bath – this year the recipient was in India, supporting one of his charities!  More on that in a future edition. 

(Ed: There was an Admission Ceremony before the supper at which no less than three new Junior Freeman and five, yes five, new Freeman were admitted. Full details and photographs from that Ceremony will be in the next Company Newsletter which should be with you before the end of February 2026).

New Affiliation with Scouts London  

First Warden Collette Stone reports: 
The Company is delighted to announce a formal new affiliation with Scouts London. Approved by the Court at its December meeting, this partnership represents a unique fusion of the Company’s professional knowledge and experience and the Scouting movement’s dedication to youth development.

Central to this affiliation is the introduction of a specialised Management Consultant syllabus for London’s scouts of all ages. This curriculum is designed to introduce young people to the core tenets of the profession: structured problem-solving, strategic thinking, and the "Change through Wisdom" mindset that defines our Company.

To ensure this achievement is properly celebrated, the Charitable Fund has committed a grant of £300 per year for three years, specifically to produce the new syllabus badges – see below. These tokens will be awarded to scouts who successfully navigate the challenges of the programme, marking their first steps into the world of professional consultancy.

As a Company dedicated to philanthropy and education, we are proud to invest in these future leaders. We look forward to seeing the first "Scout Consultants" wearing their badges with pride across the capital.

Ed: Of course, Collette is heavily involved in the Girl Guiding movement to this day,  while your editor was a keen Cub and Scout once upon a time (in a galaxy far far away):

Early Pro Bono Experiences 

Jonathan Shepherd, a recent joiner, shares his early experiences of working on an internal pro bono assignment.

Getting Started with Pro Bono Consulting

I joined the Company in June 2025, not least because I was keen to get involved in the Company’s Pro Bono work. Following conversations with Patrick Chapman, I was given the opportunity to do just that – by getting involved in a critical project to upgrade the Company’s own website, an assignment that truly matched my management and technical consulting skills.

Project Involvement and Approach

I quickly became engaged in the project and, other than a somewhat dispiriting trip to Australia to watch some Test cricket, I have spent the past few months working as part of the small project team. This comprised Steve Cant, Bob Harris, Patrick and myself, guided by our project manager Simon Davey – whom I only finally met in person at last week’s Charities Supper. Early on, we decided to adopt a “user personas” approach, viewing the site and its content from the perspective of several different users – for example, a charity seeking Pro Bono support or a prospective member finding out more about us. This provided us with valuable insights and really highlighted the importance of the whole site presenting content from the outside in, rather than just broadcasting information outward.  (Our old site was a hybrid in this regard and needed refreshing.)

Content Review and Team Collaboration

This approach helped us to make content far more user-focused and – in some areas, such as those related to the Charitable Fund – persuaded us that a localised rewrite was needed. However, most of the website simply required a thorough spring clean involving pruning back content and functionality in quite a few areas. The workload was divided among the team, supported by several other Company Members contributing from a user and testing perspective.

Outcomes and Reflections

I could not have asked for a better project to deepen my understanding of the Company, of what it does and how it operates and one that gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of longstanding members and to learn from their expertise. I felt I was able to make a positive contribution, even though new to the Company, whilst also really enjoying the experience. (Ed: in our careers, many of us have taken on internal projects with some trepidation – you are not on the clock – but within our voluntary membership environment, there are no such fears!)

Website Launch and Ongoing Development

The new website structure was created by our contractor team from Circle Interactive, and the WCoMC team worked diligently to populate it in preparation for its launch. The process was successfully completed in December 2025, on schedule, and our team is now focused on future developments, such as keeping the website current and enhancing its functionality, alongside ensuring it is appropriately documented.

Governance and Future Plans

I have been tasked with further developing ideas around the website’s governance and content ownership and I am delighted to have the opportunity to stay involved. I have found the whole experience hugely rewarding and educational and am looking forward to continuing my work on the website whilst also hopefully getting more involved in mainstream Pro Bono activities throughout 2026. (Ed: absolutely!)

Mentoring with the Local Village Network  

Building Access to Opportunity: Treasurer Jeff Herman reports: 
Members will be well aware of the role that confidence, networks and transferable skills play in shaping successful careers. These same attributes lie at the heart of the Amplify programme delivered by the Local Village Network (LVN)—and are precisely what many young people lack access to at a critical stage in their development.

I was delighted to take part in the programme as a volunteer mentor, alongside Lisa Preuveuneers, at Beacon Hill School in Kentish Town. Over six weekly 50 minute sessions, we worked with a group of around twenty Year 10 pupils (aged 14), boys and girls from a wide range of backgrounds.

The Amplify Programme in Practice

LVN’s mission is clear: to build access to positive networks by bringing communities together to tackle inequality and improve social mobility. The Amplify programme translates this ambition into a practical and engaging format for pupils beginning to think seriously about their future education and career paths.

Each session was delivered to the whole group by an LVN facilitator, supported by a team of volunteer mentors—seven of us drawn from different professional backgrounds. While mentors were not required to attend every session, typically five to seven were present each week, ensuring continuity and strong engagement with the pupils. Our role as mentors was twofold: first, to share our own career journeys, demonstrating the many routes into professional life; and second, to support individual pupils as they worked through the programme’s activities and challenges.

Developing Confidence and Capability

A major focus of the programme was on soft skills—areas that many professionals take for granted, but which can be transformational for young people.

Pupils were encouraged to develop confidence in introducing themselves in both social and professional settings, to make small talk and engage constructively with others, and to understand the value of building rapport and networks. Alongside this, the programme addressed more tangible skills. Pupils identified their interests, strengths and transferable capabilities, and began developing their first CVs.

The programme culminated in a final session in which each pupil delivered a short presentation reflecting on their experience. This provided a powerful illustration of the progress they had made, with many demonstrating a level of confidence and articulation that had been absent at the outset.

Visible Impact in a Short Time

The impact of the programme was striking. Over a relatively short period, pupils became noticeably more self assured, more articulate and more willing to engage. They clearly valued the opportunity to interact with professionals and to hear first hand accounts of different career paths.

Many expressed genuine pride in what they had achieved, as well as appreciation for the time and commitment offered by the mentors. Importantly, pupils are now able to volunteer for further one to one support through three 30 minute online mentoring sessions, extending the benefits of the programme beyond the classroom.

Call to Future Engagement

This experience strongly reinforced the value that professional mentors can bring to initiatives such as Amplify. There is clear potential for deeper involvement from Junior Freemen and newly admitted Freemen, whose recent professional experiences and perspectives would resonate particularly well with pupils at this stage.

For Members, supporting programmes like this offers a practical and meaningful way to contribute to social mobility—by sharing not just expertise, but encouragement, insight and access to the kinds of networks that can make all the difference.

Sea Cadets - Impact Report

In the last edition of Get to Know Philanthropy we promised a discussion of the impact of our grant and Past Master Chris Sutton has been working with Sea Cadets on this.  The Trustees agreed a grant of £10,000 which, based on a submission from December 2024, was intended to be split between:
1)    Feltham Sea Cadets (£2.5k), for unit costs
2)    London Area Sea Cadets (£5k)
3)  National Sea Cadets (£2.5k), to support London-based Cadets participation in the On The Water Programme

The following section relate to each of these areas of support: 
1)    On the support for Feltham unit Sea Cadets, Chris has worked with the Feltham unit to create a simple video, for the Trustees, on the theme of personal impact. Creating the four-minute video served as a useful learning experience for the unit and the cadets themselves.  The first part of the video contains short but very endearing statements from young cadets about the positive effects that belonging to the Cadets has had on them and their lives.  The composite image below is from the video.

The second half contains assessments of the impact from the Feltham leadership team.  (Ed: The video file is too large to load on to our website, and the IT Team are looking at future storage solutions for all forms of data, including images and videos).  Chris and his enthusiastic support team are actively engaged with the Fletham unit. 

2)    The Trustees received a report from Cdr James Nisbet VR RN, London Area Officer, (who was at the Charities Supper as the Master's guest) which can be summarised thus: “The £5000 annual grant to London Area Sea Cadets from the WCMC is greatly appreciated and is used in two principal areas: 
A) The annual London Area Awards Dinner – the dinner this year was held in the Members Dining Room Guildhall on 16 July 2025 with Master Andy Miles and Chris Sutton as principal guests.  
B) The London Area Carol Service – this continues to be a highly successful and popular event that is held in the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich. It is another key opportunity to bring together cadets, Adult Volunteers, Trustees, sponsors and supporters from across London Area and beyond. We typically get 250-350 people attend and the funding from the WCMC pays for the hire of the Chapel for the service with the MSSC paying for the reception afterwards in the Queen Mary Undercroft.” 

3)    The Trustees have not received any impact reporting regarding National Sea Cadets “On The Water” Programme, which is somewhat frustrating.

Livery Food Initiative - Update 

GTKP readers will remember that the Charitable Fund made a donation of £2,000  to the Livery Food Initiative last year, to help fund the City Harvest collection truck. The graphic below shows some statistics around what the truck has been able to achieve and City Harvest has provided an engaging illustrated impact report which can be seen here. 

Bill Penney - RIP 

Liveryman Bill Penney died in the summer of 2025 but we have only recently created a fitting "In Memoriam" page for him on the Company website which you can read here.

Bill was a founding Member, our first Chaplain and the prime mover in creating our Pro Bono Mentoring offer. One Past Master and contemporary of Bill summarised him thus: 
“An outstanding member of our Company in so many respects but, above all, one with all the attributes of a gentleman.”

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Thanks for reading this far and to all those who contributed content, especially Collette, Jonathan and Jeff. I hope you have been inspired!

Steve Cant
Editor