The firm's Charitable Trust has supported 47 charities across the UK during the last year
*Period covers charitable donations during the year to 30 April 2021
We aim to make a difference in the communities we work in through our Osborne Clarke Charitable Trust and we're proud to announce in the Trust donated £113,995 to 47 charities during the last year. As well as donations, £24,495 of this total was made up of matched giving, where the Trust matched Osborne Clarke employees' sponsored fundraising efforts.
The Quartet Community Foundation administers The Osborne Clarke Charitable Trust. Founded in 1992, each year Osborne Clarke's Partners donate into the fund, enabling the firm to make community donations and support colleagues with matched giving.
Charitable giving
Our Osborne Clarke For Good framework is our way of making sure we’re a good corporate citizen. We do this by focusing on several For Good pillars: education, equality, environment and poverty and during the last year the following donations were made across London, Bristol and Reading.
- Five donations totalling £4,000 to charities supporting education, preparing the next generation to thrive in an uncertain future.
- 17 donations totalling £40,000 to charities supporting equality, demonstrating our commitment to organisations and charities addressing inequality and supporting underrepresented groups.
- One donation of £5,000 to a charity supporting environment, having a responsible, measurable approach to reducing our impact on the environment and promoting a decarbonized future.
- Four donations totalling £46,260 to charities supporting poverty, putting our resources into alleviating digital, relative and absolute poverty in our communities.
- 20 donations totalling £18,735 to charities supporting healthcare, supporting children, young people and adults with health issues to improve their quality of life.
Fundraising
The pandemic did not put a damper on fundraising, and despite having to take efforts online, our people still came through with many virtual events. Some of our highlights included:
Bowel Cancer UK
Following the passing of Matt Ashley, a hugely valued member of the residential development team, our people helped raise £7,000 by taking part in the Minutes to Move challenge for Bowel Cancer UK. Teams of colleagues recorded a total of 300 hours of movement over January and February. The firm donated an additional £10,000 in support, bringing the grand total to £17,000.
Smart Works
During the final stint of lockdown, 13 members of our Construction Disputes team went head to head in a running/walking/cycling challenge spanning across two weeks in March. Following some healthy competition between the three teams, they travelled a collective distance of 733km in nine days. In total £3601 was raised for Smart Works, a charity which provides clothing and coaching for unemployed women.
NHS Charities Together
Running, walking, hopping, cycling or canoeing – all were encouraged as part of The Great OC Relay where colleagues were split into virtual teams and completed 5K. As part of the challenge donations were made to NHS Charities Together with a total raised of £2,054.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is a charity which aims to support children and teens, and their families, coping with serious illness through innovative arts-in-medicine programmes. Our Thames Valley office raised £410 with an additional £500 donated from the Trust taking the grand total £910.
Fareshare SW, St Mungos and Launchpad Reading
In December we held a 12 days of Christmas challenge to raise money for three charities which serve our local communities – Fareshare SW, St Mungoes and Launchpad Reading. There were planned activities including a comedy afternoon with professional comedians, a live magic show with a professional magician, a Christmas quiz, a StepstoSanta walking challenge and a virtual Christmas Jumper Day. With employee donations and matched funding a total of £13,802 was raised.
Pro bono
We have a long tradition of providing pro bono support. During the last year our people spent 1,642 hour on pro bono work.
Our involvement in pro bono programmes is varied and includes: managing benefits appeals with Z2K, providing pro bono support to Bristol Law Centre, assisting Westminster residents with a variety of issues at South Westminster Legal Advice Centre (SWLAC), advising charities referred to us via LandAid (the property industry charity); providing volunteer advisors to law centres; and assisting a wide variety of charities and social enterprises through TrustLaw (the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service) and the Collaborative Plan for Pro Bono.
CSR
We encourage our people to use their skills and expertise for good. As part of the firm's commitment to encouraging and supporting CSR, we recognise the first 50 hours of D&I or pro bono work, as well as an additional 28 hours of volunteering time, as billable activities. These hours will be counted towards our fee earners chargeable hours target each year.
