Charities urged to review subcontracted fundraising

The Fundraising Regulator has published the findings of its first market inquiry into the use of subcontracting in face-to-face fundraising by charities and fundraising agencies.  The regulator’s recommendation to charities includes that subcontracting firms are monitored more closely and should receive appropriate training. Charities and agencies also need to be satisfied that the payment model for fundraisers is appropriate and does not lead to bad practice.

The market inquiry highlights how robust monitoring and oversight of subcontracted relationships are essential. Oversight should be rigorous enough for both charity and agency partners to be reassured that fundraising is being carried out safely and in line with the contract and the Code of Fundraising Practice. Charities are ultimately responsible for fundraising carried out in their name, and therefore for the actions of all third parties they use to fundraise at each point in the supply chain. 

While the Fundraising Regulator accepts that different charities will need different contractual arrangements, the report recommends that charities must have explicit discussions about whether subcontracting will be permitted in the contract with the main agency they contract with and expressly prohibited if not. If subcontracting is permitted, charities and agencies must ensure that any subcontracted services are provided to a standard that is no less than that agreed in the primary contract. 

Training and monitoring should not be sacrificed or stretched for commercial considerations. Fundraisers must be well trained and able to manage campaigns to a level that minimises the risk of poor behaviour and non-compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice.  

The market inquiry report also includes a recommendation to charities to ensure that fundraisers collecting on their behalf are remunerated in a way which reflects their skillsets and the values of the charity. While the Fundraising Regulator is not prescriptive about payment models, it remains the case that it is preferable that fundraisers should receive a living wage for their work.

The inquiry also concluded that good fundraising partnerships should have a spirit of partnership which promotes positive behaviours, good workplace culture and oversight of the subcontracting supply chain.

Face-to-face fundraising is a valuable and successful method for charities to raise money and to inform the public more about their cause. Nonetheless, the inquiry has concluded that there are important issues which need to be addressed by the fundraising sector. Charities and subcontracted agencies should review their processes and take action to mitigate risks of poor practice.

Donors motivated by very specific considerations

A quarter (26%) of the public has donated to charity recently because they wanted to support a charity which had been criticised in the media or show political support for a cause, according to the latest research from Enthuse, the digital donations, fundraising and event registration platform. Its Donor Pulse research provides insight into people’s giving habits, the public’s perception of how much political parties care about those in need, and the need for fun for fundraising event participation. 

THE POLITICS OF GIVING. In a general election year, says the research, more than a quarter (28%) of the public are already making their opinion known on social media about political issues, and the number of people taking action has also risen. One in six people (17%) have given when a charity’s actions were criticised in traditional or social media - a phenomenon known as “inverse giving”. And an identical number have donated to show solidarity with a cause - also known as political giving. 

This desire to support charities may stem from a lack of belief in the government’s ability to support those in need. More than half (57%) of the public think the Conservatives do not care about disadvantaged people, scoring them between 1 and 4 out of 10. Other political parties are not immune from this assessment either; 34% believe Liberal Democrats and Reform do not care about the disadvantaged and 29% say the same about Labour. 

On the other side of the coin, nearly a third (31%) believe Labour cares a lot (8 or more out of 10) about helping the less fortunate. This drops to 24% for Reform, 21% for Liberal Democrats and 15% for the Conservatives. 

PUTTING THE FUN INTO FUNDRAISING. Enthuse says that with a fraught political landscape and cost of living crisis feeding into a low national mood, it’s perhaps not surprising that enjoyment is a priority for people. Encouragingly for charities this may come in the form of fundraising. 44% of the public say they’re likely to get involved in a fundraising event this year. Split by age, 57% of under 45s are keen to take part, with 18-24 year olds leading the way at 61%. This drops to 31% for over 45s. 

When asked which words best describe their ideal charity event, the top answer given by the public was “fun” at 53%, followed by “sociable” (40%), “a well known cause” (32%) and “easy to sign up to” (28%). The idea of fundraising events being fun is something that tracks across all age groups, peaking at 58% for 44-54 year olds but only dropping to 49% for 18-24 at the lower end of the scale.

When it comes to event type, over two fifths (42%) of participants want to take part in challenge events and a third (33%) want to participate in large group events such as fun runs.

The sociability element comes across when asking the public what would motivate them to sign up. The top answer was taking part as a team (40%). Information on how their money would be used (39%) was also seen as important as well as encouragement from family (33%) and ideas for fundraising (23%). The biggest barrier to participation was a lack of fitness (45%).

Decline in donating by Payroll Giving

Charities are missing out on millions of pounds as fewer employees donate through Payroll Giving according to research by the Charities Aid Foundation. Despite its benefits to charities and for responsible businesses, fewer employers are now offering Payroll Giving to their staff. 

Employers have the option to provide staff with a Payroll Giving scheme, also known as Give As You Earn, which works in a similar way to salary sacrifice by providing employees with a simple and tax-efficient way to make regular donations to charities.

The total amount donated to charities via the scheme fell 7% year on year from £137 million in 2021 to £128 million in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. The latest data shows the number of employees using Payroll Giving has fallen by 13% since 2020, to just 516,000 employees. But, says CAF, there are currently 30 million people on PAYE who could be eligible to give through Payroll Giving. 

Only around 4,000 organisations currently provide this facility, including the likes of Tesco, AstraZeneca and government departments, although there are more than 45,000 employers in the UK who could offer the scheme.

However, there are clear opportunities to turn this downward trend around. Polling commissioned by CAF shows that 59% of people have not heard of Payroll Giving, pointing to a need to increase knowledge and understanding among the general public.

CAF’s research also shows the opportunity is greatest among the millennial generation of employees and jobseekers who increasingly want to work for a company with a social purpose. Younger employees are the most likely to say they would use a Payroll Giving scheme (36% of 16–34 year olds). Although affordability can be seen as a barrier to giving, employers can take steps to encourage take-up such as making it easy to opt in and out, and matching donations.

Workplace volunteering makes productivity sense 

Workplace volunteering has the potential to boost productivity, improve employees’ wellbeing, and generate billions for the UK economy, according to a report by Pro Bono Economics (PBE). The report - Triple dividend: How workplace volunteering can make us happier, healthier and more productive - which has been produced for business volunteering charity Pilotlight, found that net productivity gains of between £1.6 billion to £2.8 billion could be unlocked for the UK economy by expanding workplace volunteering opportunities.

PBE’s analysis revealed that 17-23 million employees currently do not have access to workplace volunteering, and so are missing out on the health benefits of volunteering and the opportunities to learn new skills. By expanding workplace volunteering opportunities to cover all employees in the UK, the current untapped potential could generate £1.2 billion to £3.6 billion in wellbeing benefits per year to the individuals themselves. 

It could also reduce levels of absenteeism, with research showing that participation in a workplace volunteering scheme provides an average reduction in absence of around 0.9 days per year for each member of staff volunteering.

Turning to the productivity benefit overall, the PBE report points to studies which have suggested the productivity impact of workplace volunteering is sizeable, with high-skilled individuals who volunteer experiencing an estimated £2,300 boost to earnings. If the estimated productivity increase was applied to all the 1.4 to 2.5 million additional volunteers who participated from workplace volunteering to all employees, it could provide a gross productivity increase of between £2.2 billion and £3.9 billion.

PBE says there is a clear appetite from employees from the expansion of workplace volunteering. Analysis by NCVO suggests that between one quarter and a third of employees would take advantage of workplace volunteering when it’s available. This means that between 1.5 million and 2.8 million additional people might volunteer if workplace volunteering schemes were expanded across all employers.

While boosting workplace volunteering would have some costs to the employer, the benefits more than outweigh those costs. For the employer, workplace volunteering schemes such as those run by Pilotlight, could deliver between £1.50 and £3.60 of benefits for every £1 spent. 

To make the most of the opportunity, research by the charity has suggested that employers should take steps to help employees around the options for volunteering. More than a third of employees surveyed (38%) said that an obstacle to volunteering is a lack of guidance from their employer. Of those currently involved in workplace volunteering, 79% believe that businesses themselves benefit from the practice.

Foundations need to improve on diversity

Charitable foundations need to do more to improve on diversity, according to the annual Foundation Practice Rating, although overall ratings continue to rise. The report, published by Friends Provident Foundation, focused on accountability, transparency and diversity. The assessment found that diversity - which includes the accessibility of information to those with different needs - is the domain where improvements are most needed.

Danielle Walker Palmour, director of Friends Provident Foundation, says: “We are delighted that a slow revolution is underway in the foundation world and the general trend of improvement is positive. However, it’s important to say even the foundations doing well have much to do to improve practices around diversity to catch up with other social purpose organisations.”

Areas singled out for improvement include foundations’ websites, with some having no websites at all, with others being limited, poorly designed and failing to provide access to key information – a significant problem for visitors attempting to assess if a particular foundation is suitable to apply to. The report also suggests a need for foundations to do more to show how effective they are by publishing some quantitative analysis.

Walker-Palmour says: “The funny thing is quite a few foundations appear to have done some great work around how they’re performing, but in many cases had not published it. Sharing this kind of information is really important in terms of transparency, and accountability. Most importantly it helps applicants for grants or jobs to make better decisions about their fit with the work of the trust.”

Don’t send spam marketing texts

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered a charity to stop sending unsolicited marketing texts to people without their consent, at the same time reminding all charities of their legal obligations.

Penny Appeal, based in Wakefield, sent more than 460,000 unsolicited texts over a ten10-day period to 52,000 people who had never provided their consent, or who had clearly opted out. The texts were sent between April and May 2022 to coincide with Ramadan, encouraging people on a daily basis to donate to the charity’s appeals.

This resulted in 354 complaints to the ICO and the Mobile UK’s Spam Reporting Service. Complainants reported their requests to opt out were ignored and described the texts as “intrusive”, “unwanted,” and often received late at night.

The ICO’s investigation found that the charity had created a new database where requests to opt out were not recorded and messages were sent to anyone who had interacted with the charity in the last five years.

The regulator has been engaging with Penny Appeal since 2020, after receiving complaints about a similar marketing campaign. Following the ICO’s intervention, the charity committed to improving its compliance with direct marketing law. However, further complaints revealed it was still sending illegal marketing texts. While still under investigation, Penny Appeal sent further spam texts over Ramadan, which led to even more complaints.

The ICO has now issued an Enforcement Notice, ordering Penny Appeal to stop sending marketing communications without consent within 30 days.

Following this action, the data protection regulator is reminding all charities that it is against the law to send marketing texts, calls, or emails without valid consent.

Fundraising Levy to be increased

The Fundraising Regulator is to increase the fundraising levy (the levy) and registration fee following a review. The levy constitutes the majority of the Fundraising Regulator’s funding and sees charities which spend over £100,000 on their annual fundraising activity pay a voluntary contribution to fund the Regulator’s services. The regulator stresses that the levy has always and will continue to represent a small fraction of a percentage of a registered charity’s total fundraising expenditure.

The changes will take effect over two years to mitigate the impact of the increase. Following the staggered increases in September 2024 and September 2025, further increases will be tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure they are more gradual, with charities given advance notice before rises come into effect. In September the registration fee for charities outside the levy will also increase from £50 to £60.

Charity sector sick days skyrocket

Analysis has revealed that the charity sector has seen one of the biggest rises in sick leave over the past year. The Sick Leave Report conducted by HR systems specialist Access PeopleHR shows that the average UK business reported 128 days of sick leave in 2023 - up 6% compared to 120 in 2022, and up 55% since 2019. Overall, the number of sick leave days taken in the charity sector have soared by 8% in the past year, from 134 days of sick leave in 2022 to 145 in 2023.

The sector has also seen sickness leave skyrocket over the last four years, with a growth in absence of 58% since 2019. The research suggests that those charities which are more customer-facing and less office-based are likely to report the biggest growth in sickness absence, since they are less likely to rely on the ability to work remotely.

Funding to support family farms

The Royal Countryside Fund (RCF) has notched up receiving £900,000 in funding over three years from People’s Postcode Lottery, administered through the Postcode Earth Trust. This funding, amounting to £300,000 annually, is earmarked for the significant expansion and development of the RCF’s environmental farming programmes across the UK. This funding is set to strengthen the support available to family farms, with a focus on sustainability, resilience, and the advancement of environmental land management practices.

A key component of the funding will also enable the extensive rollout of environmental workshops across the UK. These workshops are designed to share practical knowledge to implement essential environmental practices, such as carbon management and encouraging biodiversity, tailored to their specific regional contexts.

The Royal Countryside Fund, established by HM King Charles III in 2010, has been at the forefront of addressing the complex challenges facing rural communities and the agricultural sector. Since its inception, the fund has invested over £12 million in more than 500 community-led projects and provided support to over 4,000 farming families through practical training and guidance. 

Learning opportunities for hospitality students

The Savoy Educational Trust has awarded almost £300,000 in funding to provide education and learning opportunities to hospitality students as part of a new college community programme for the Royal Academy of Arts (RACA).

The three-year grant will help support the RACA’s goal of supporting students across the country throughout their hospitality studies, helping them learn additional skills while improving career opportunities through connecting with RACA academicians, operators, and other industry contacts.

As the programme grows, it will also include a focus on soft skills, helping to equip students for the world of work through personal development sessions, interview skills, as well as attending recruitment days and industry events.

Lisa Jenkins, chief executive of RACA, says: “We aim to have a spread of colleges across the country alongside the six we have started working with in Northern Ireland and these will be selected based on personal recommendations from our academicians and our wider network.”

Hospitality leaders return to their roots

Hospitality Action, the trade charity for the hospitality industry, has raised £258,643 from its Back to the Floor fundraising dinner. Hosted by James Clarke, general manager of Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London, the fundraiser saw senior hospitality figures return to their hospitality roots in the role of waiter or sommelier for the evening with an outpouring of support from across the industry.

Co-founder Danny Pecorelli, managing director at Exclusive Collection, was joined by over 80 leading names from across the hospitality industry including Michael Bonsor, managing director, Rosewood London;Tej Walia, general manager, Foxhills Club & Resort; and Joanne Taylor-Stagg, general manager, Athenaeum Hotel & Residences, who returned to the floor to test their silver service skills for 500 guests.  

Affordable premises project

Community Southwark, the umbrella body for Southwark’s voluntary sector, local funder United St Saviour’s Charity and Southwark Council have come together to seek to find a way to solve one of the charity sector’s greatest challenges in Southwark: access to affordable premises.  

Southwark is home to over 1,300 registered charities which provide essential services to the community, especially to vulnerable groups. These services, which often go unnoticed, range from lunch clubs for older people to debt advice for families, holiday programmes for disadvantaged children, and food banks.

However, the rising cost of land and property in Southwark poses a significant threat to these charities, endangering both their operations and existence. A 2023 survey conducted by Community Southwark highlighted that premises affordability is their biggest concern after funding, with 46% of respondents stating their current premises are unaffordable.  

The Voluntary and Community Sector Premises Project involving the three entities aims to alleviate this challenge. The project will introduce a matchmaking service to connect charities with available spaces within the borough from both public sector and private landlords, leveraging post-Covid opportunities to utilise unused or under utilised space.

Furthermore, with the backing of the council, the project seeks to increase the supply of affordable spaces by influencing private developers and businesses to allocate space for the charity sector. 

Supporting vulnerable people

Village Hotels, a collection of 33 hotels across the UK, is having three official charity partners for 2024: Sense, Sue Ryder, and Carefree. This is part of its Village Green sustainability programme under which the hotel group is committed to providing tailored support to the most vulnerable people in communities. 

As well as fundraising events, Village team members will embark on a year-long programme of activities and workshops to improve accessibility and upskill their customer service offer, learning to better understand the needs of staff and customers with disabilities.

Workshops include disability awareness training, specific workshops for gym staff on connecting differently through sport and basic British Sign Language training.  Sense will also support Village on the development of its accessibility policy and its commitment to becoming a Disability Confident employer, in which action is taken to improve how the hotel group recruits, retain and develop disabled people.

Global insurance broker commits to cancer support

Global insurance broker Howden has entered into a partnership with cancer support charity Maggie’s. Employees voted for Maggie’s to be their groupwide UK charity partner for the next two years. The partnership will aim to raise £500,000 to help Maggie’s support as many people living with cancer as possible. Employees at Howden will raise funds by taking part in activities including quizzes, static triathlons and the flagship Goodwood 24-hour cycle in July.

The funding will help to deliver vital cancer support across Maggie’s 24 UK centres, including 6,500 financial support sessions and 4,000 psychological support sessions to alleviate the extreme stress and anxiety that a cancer diagnosis can bring.

Maggie’s and Howden will also be working strategically to develop cancer friendly insurance and challenge the entire insurance industry to provide the best possible service to people living with cancer who are looking to secure insurance.

Dominic Collins, executive chairman at Howden, says: "I’m so pleased our colleagues have chosen Maggie’s as our UK charity partner. My wife Caroline died at 50 years old from cancer, having been diagnosed 10 years earlier when our children were ages 9, 7, and 4. We came to understand that the social and emotional support that Maggie’s offer to those with cancer and, as importantly, to their families really does make a difference. I look forward to seeing what we are able to achieve together to help further Maggie’s incredibly important work.”

Economic inequity grants

Registered charities and CICs outside London led by and working with people experiencing economic inequity because of their race or ethnicity are being invited to apply for grants of £75,000, awarded over three years from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. A total of £3m is available.

Lloyds Bank Foundation believes small, local and specialist organisations play a unique role in helping people rebuild their lives. Their size and deep understanding of the complex issues people face make them best placed to reach, engage and support people. To ensure small and local charities can thrive beyond the lifetime of it funding, the foundation’s funding programmes combine unrestricted funding with tailored development aimed at helping strengthening knowledge, skills and capabilities of staff and trustees.  

First tranche applications should be in by 30 May, 5pm. 

Poor data leading to charity revenue leakage

Data consultancy Sagacity is highlighting that UK charities are leaking £5.97 billion every year, including £139m in unclaimed Gift Aid caused by donations which cannot be matched to donors. Its own research has found 18% of charities cannot accurately state how and where individual donations are spent. These data-related issues are causing concerns amongst charities: 58% worry this could put people off donating, worsening the current donation crisis; 46% are concerned they could be in breach of Charities Act reporting rules.

However, the Sagacity research suggests charities could increase donations if they get a better handle on data, with 62% of respondents agreeing they could double donations if they could better prove where money is spent.

Lack of oversight, poor processes, governance and controls was one of the mains causes of revenue leakage with £835 million each year lost to it. 68% of respondents admitted their team is too focused on the cause and not the numbers, leading to charities deprioritising returns. One of the most cited or costly causes of leakage included charities having incorrect payment details for donors (86%)

There were also complaints about mistakes or issues caused by third-party fundraising partners, namely fundraising partners passing on new donors with missing data (66%); money wasted paying fundraising agencies for donors who only donate once, rather than long term givers (96%).

Other negative consequences cited by the Sagacity report were £776m lost to human error (e.g. decimal points in the wrong place leading to undercharging), and £597m lost to billing issues caused by inaccurate or incomplete data.

Call for more streamlined Gift Aid

Charities not claiming Gift Aid is being raised as an issue once again with the UK culture secretary Lucy Fraser lobbying the Treasury for a more streamlined Gift Aid scheme. Her proposals would see the tax rebate added automatically, rather than charities having to apply manually for each donation. Her initiative comes after the Charities Aid Foundation earlier this year urged charities to ensure they declare donations in tax returns earlier after if found that more than £500 million of Gift Aid was left unclaimed by charities in 2022.

The Charity Tax Group is advocating the automation of automatic Gift Aid and says that charities need to be able to find ways to easily declare donations in tax returns.

Stephen Gott of supplier The Access Group’s CRM side comments: “It’s encouraging to see the culture secretary add to discussions around how the Gift Aid system could work better for charities and their supporters alike. The administrative barriers to collecting these rebates are clearly preventing charities from making the most of this potential revenue. The good news is that there are already systems in place to streamline the process.”

Power cut support for kidney patients

More than 60,000 people in certain areas living with chronic kidney disease will be offered fuel poverty support and other targeted help through a new partnership between National Grid Electricity Distribution and Kidney Care UK. The charity will help kidney patients and those with kidney failure not only understand what support it can offer but also help them sign up to the electricity distribution company’s Priority Services Register (PSR).

Patients at drop-in clinics at renal units and kidney clinics in Birmingham and Lincolnshire will be given information packs and told about how the PSR can provide assistance during power cuts, fuel poverty support and energy efficiency advice. The PSR is free to join for a range of people with additional needs, including those with chronic medical conditions, pensioners and those who rely on electricity to run medical equipment.

Kidney Care UK’s patient support services include free renal counselling, patient advocacy support in the community through 19 Advocacy Officers throughout the UK, hardship grants, holiday grants, hospital grants, and white goods grants. The charity also provides benefit application support as well as income maximisation and money and energy advice.

As well as boosting referrals of patients, Kidney Care UK will provide bespoke training for National Grid field and contact centre teams who support customers during power cuts – ensuring they can best understand and support the needs of kidney patients.

This partnership is the latest in 19 collaborative relationships Kidney Care UK has developed with the energy and utility sector in response to the cost of living crisis.

Donating to childhood bereavement

MetLife UK, the protection and employee benefits provider, has made a £72,000 donation to childhood bereavement charity Winston’s Wish.  Over the last 12 months employees at MetLife UK have been busy raising funds for the charity. Through sponsored activities - including the South Coast 25K run, the Three Peaks Challenge, Marathons, a 7-person team sky dive over Kent, bike rides, as well as in-office team events such as bingo and charity bake off sales - employees raised £16,000. 

The funds raised were further supported by MetLife Foundation whose focus is on driving inclusive economic mobility by supporting people with low income around the world build a more confident future.  Thus MetLife Foundation made a  £56,000 donation to MetLife UK’s chosen cause and charity drive – bringing the total to £72,000. 

The donation was presented to Winston’s Wish by the company at its recent annual company meeting – after colleagues heard from a young person who had been supported by the charity after the recent loss of a parent. It was a very emotional and affirming presentation for all involved.

Successful pre-school programme to be extended

A partnership programme supporting pre-schoolers in their communication and language development at 23 settings across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), funded by local charity St John’s Foundation, has significantly reduced the number of children needing additional support in just two years. Due to the project’s success, the programme will now be rolled out to further Early Years settings.

St John’s Language for Life programme aims to increase the number of 2-5 year olds reaching the age-related expected language level. This work is purposed to level the educational playing field and ensure that all children start primary school with the level of speech and language they need.  

At the start of the 2021/2022 academic year, 84% of children assessed at participating settings were identified as needing extra support, including the majority of children in receipt of early years pupil premium (EYPP). By the end of the 2022/2023 year, this figure reduced to just 29%. 

There is significant academic inequality in the region, with BaNES ranking fifth worst in the country for the attainment gap at Key Stage 2. This gap is defined as the difference in academic achievement between students in receipt of pupil premium compared to their more affluent peers. 

In 2020, St John’s Foundation launched a 10-year strategy to significantly reduce the regional attainment gap across BaNES through its Foundation Fund, targeting children from pre-birth until secondary school to ensure all children have the same chances to live happy, healthy lives. The fund has supported more than 2,000 children since 2021. 

Massive boost from match funding campaign

Big Give, the match funding platform, has surpassed expectations at the end of its inaugural Arts for Impact match funding campaign. It raised £2,849,273 in support of 238 arts charities working across the UK. Between 19-26 March there were 12,386 donations made by the public to support a variety of arts and culture organisations having a social impact on their local communities, spanning music, theatre, dance, visual arts, museums, galleries and literature.

Initially aiming to secure £2.5 million in funding, the campaign went way beyond beyond its target, with total matched funds comprising £1.3 million, including Gift Aid contributions. The campaign was run in partnership with New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture (NPAC), many of whose philanthropist members contributed to the campaign as champions. NPAC supported Big Give to design the programme, and provided training and support for participating charities as well as advocacy across the arts and culture sector.

New foundation starts to award grants

Smiths Group, the industrial technology company, has made the first round of grants to be awarded to charities around the world through its newly launched charitable foundation. The Smiths Group Foundation is awarding grants totalling c. £1m to charities in several countries. Each donation aligns with Smiths’ purpose of “improving our world through smarter engineering”, through committing to the advancement of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills, sustainability, safety and connectedness in communities.

The Smiths Group Foundation aims primarily to award grants to organisations to which Smiths people can offer their time as volunteers. The goal is for financial benefits and hands-on collaboration to come together and enhance outcomes for local communities.

One of the foundation’s chosen charities is London-based Inspire, a charity which promotes social mobility and raises career aspirations among young people. The foundation’s grant will support underrepresented groups of young people from London boroughs – including women, those from BAME backgrounds and those with additional needs – to access STEM careers through tailored work-related learning and aspiration raising interventions and workshops. There are opportunities for Smiths Group employees to be involved with skills-based volunteering as mentors and coaches for the young people receiving this support.

Other charities receiving grants from the Smiths Group Foundation include:

• Asociacion Ideas en Accion – a Costa Rican charity which identifies and executes collaborative innovation programmes with high potential for impact, replicability and relevance at a global level, and which will facilitate opportunities for vulnerable women to learn about STEM subjects and create career opportunities.
• Flint Global Partners – a US-based charity which partners with individuals living in extreme poverty and equips local entrepreneurs with the tools, connections and resources to solve their own problems by creating businesses that will last.
• Fundación Mozcalti – a Mexican charity which strengthens and empowers people in vulnerable situations and will support vulnerable communities and local schools to improve their sustainable infrastructure.
• The GEANCO Foundation – a charity based in Nigeria focused on transforming the lives of vulnerable people in Africa, including providing young women with STEM career opportunities.
• Just a Drop – a charity which works to implement safe water, sanitation and hygiene solutions which are tailored to the needs of recipient communities in various African and Asian countries.
• Palace for Life – the official charity of Crystal Palace FC, which uses the power of football to change the lives of young people across south London, particularly the most hard to reach and hard to help.
• STEMAZINGKids – a UK not for profit social enterprise which seeks to raise a diverse generation of scientists, tech experts and engineers by nurturing children's natural wonderment for the world when they are young.

Further grants to more charities have been awarded in principle and will be confirmed following clearance of final verification steps.

The Smiths Group Foundation has committed an initial £10m of funding, which it intends to distribute through a series of donations over the coming years, giving the foundation what the company believes is a sustainable and long term focus. The foundation is directed by a committee of Smiths employees, which reviews applications and determines funding allocation.