When St. James's Place's founders decided to make giving back part of their purpose, little did they know that some thirty years later the SJP Foundation would be one of the biggest corporate giving organisations in the country.
The foundation currently raises a staggering £10mn a year, a third of which comes from regular donations which are matched by SJP.
Head of the foundation Catherine Ind puts this down to an unfaltering willingness from staff and advisers to give back, even in times of crisis.
About 85 per cent of SJP's partners and employees donate on a monthly basis. Many also engage in fundraising activities from golf days out arranged by partner firms down to raffles and bake sales.
In the beginning "it was all about the community of SJP coming together to fundraise," says Ind. And this fundraising element continued to grow each year. "We're now the third largest corporate foundation based on our giving."
But it's not just about the money, she says, "it's also about giving time and skills".
It really builds that community cohesion. I hear from partners and employees it's why they often join SJP."What we often do with many of our charities is provide volunteer support, or we have people mentoring the charity leaders, or just giving time.
"A lot of the work we do is with young disadvantaged children, or young people, so it's about giving mentoring support to them or potentially financial education, which is obviously core to the SJP business."
The foundation picks its charities predominantly based on the impact it believes the work will have and how SJP can help them fulfil their particular needs.
"When we are looking at a charity we're looking at what's that real transformational impact it can have with the people that it's working with," says Ind.
There are a number of core themes the SJP Foundation gives to, such as children and young people, hospices, mental health and cancer support organisations.
Recipient charities are often small, and at a local level SJP offices are free to donate small amounts to charities of their choice.
The larger grants given out centrally often go to longer term projects and often involve vast amounts of money. For instance, it could be paying a youth worker's salary over three years or a specialist therapy for a child with special needs.
So far the biggest single grant the SJP Foundation has awarded was £1.4mn for a capital project building a hydrotherapy pool for children with special needs at a school.
My most memorable campaign: Onside Youth Zones
"Onside are really transforming youth provision in communities and disadvantaged communities.
"And us partnering with them to really help them deliver their goal, which is really to have a youth zone in all communities across the UK, we are seeing absolutely that transformation, changing lives for the better for the youngsters who do use these facilities.
"These youth zones are not simply somewhere to go, it's very purposeful because they have access to employability skills, CV writing, just that general welfare support that they may not be getting at home because they are often from challenging backgrounds. But what we can do is help them keep on a positive pathway rather than a potentially negative one.
"For me helping them achieve that is a great way to really have impact."
Giving back, getting back
Just like some of its peers, SJP too believes there are benefits to be gained from running a charity in house.
"[Giving to charity] builds that social capital amongst the people of that organisation and bringing them together in a positive way," says Ind.
"What we know from internal surveys, the community of SJP are really proud of where this charitable foundation has now got to in terms of that giving back.
"And it is important for any business, I think, to give back and have that positive impact in their community over and above whatever the core business is."
She adds it's also a good way for the people of SJP to build on their own skills.
"When we talk about mentoring or coaching, it's about them building their own confidence as well as being able to pass that on to their the charity or the beneficiaries that we work with.
"It really builds that community cohesion I think. I hear from partners and employees it's why they often join SJP."
Impact of a recession
Ind believes it could become harder for charities to raise funds as the country faces economic headwinds in the coming year.
But she believes even in a recession "people will still want to give", though it may not be at the same level.
SJP raised £1mn for the NHS in a special covid appeal, for instance, and £1.4mn for Ukraine.
"It's great if you can give money. Sometimes if you can't give money you can give time," she says.
"It is about that collective coming together. During covid we really missed that being able to come together and building that community spirit amongst everyone.
"This year it has been quite a welcome relief to get back to some of that just coming together and doing something positive."
carmen.reichman@ft.com
