Your IndustryFeb 3 2023

Evelyn: Charity work not up for discussion in economic downturn

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Evelyn: Charity work not up for discussion in economic downturn
'Most shareholders want to be seen to be doing the right thing,' says Charley Davies (credit: Carmen Reichman)

Evelyn Partners will not be cutting its charitable work even in an economic downturn, said Charley Davies, group general counsel, who chairs the firm's charities and communities committee.

Davies hopes corporate fundraising as a whole will not suffer as a result of a possible recession, though she agreed times could be tough as pockets are pinched further.

"We are very respectful of the fact that people are struggling," she said. "And so there is a point where you have to know that you can't overdo it in terms of the ask."

But she added: "I see shareholders generally being very very supportive of charitable efforts. Certainly every organisation that I have worked for has said 'that is protected'.

"The same is true of the shareholders that back Evelyn Partners. The charitable stuff is not up for discussion, which I think is fantastic. Most shareholders want to be seen to be doing the right thing, that's what it boils down to."

Evelyn Partners has a charitable trust as well as making direct corporate donations, and sometimes non-budgeted one-off contributions to special causes.

For instance, in 2022 it gave money to Ukraine aid as well as to its ongoing partner, social mobility charity Impetus. In total in 2022, the trust raised about £500,000 for charity.

Social mobility is linked to our values, one of which is 'we go further together'.

Evelyn staff also engage in volunteering with communities and through Impetus, while the trust matches funds raised through individual charitable activities such as triathlons or marathons up to £500, as well as payroll giving.

Davies said Evelyn was heavily focused on social mobility within financial services. 

"We think it's really important to have a corporate charity that we support because we're very strong believers in social mobility within the financial services sector and we are trying to encourage people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to come into this industry," she said.

"But we found that employees also engage better with charitable efforts if they're also able to support their own charity as well," Davies added. "Because people have a charity typically that's close to their own heart."

Evelyn currently has a three-year arrangement with Impetus, which acts as a support provider to 25 other charities, all of which must tick the social mobility box.

The firm's staff help with activities such as CV writing, workshops about going to university, and introducing children to its offices and the work the company does "to try and encourage them into financial services".

"It needs to be a charity that's trying to further the education of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, to either support them in school or to support them in obtaining a job. And there are some incredible charities that they support," said Davies.

She pointed to Think Forward, which helps people with CV writing, and Football Beyond Borders, which takes children who have been excluded from school and leads them through intense courses to get them to achieve their education and career goals.

"It's linked to our values, one of [which] is 'we go further together', and we are very strong believers in the fact that if you partner with 14 to 18 year olds and get them interested at the earliest opportunity then together you will enable them to achieve their ambition."

Diversity in financial services

Davies said it was Evelyn's ambition to get more people from diverse backgrounds into wealth management, an industry which may not have moved as much with the times as one might have hoped.

"If you want to be a lawyer or a doctor you've got a clear career path but people wouldn't naturally think 'oh I want to go into investment management'.

"But also what we are really keen to do is to support people throughout the whole life cycle of their wealth... so that's what we want for our people as well, to get people in on graduate programmes and to be able to grow and develop them so that they can ultimately go on and be really successful.

"Doesn't matter what background you are from, you should always be able to achieve that."

The rewards for Evelyn are plenty, particularly when it comes to team building during volunteering days, said Davies. "You have an activity that's free and it's adding a huge amount of value and so I think that drives a real sense of purpose as well because we all want to give back."

You have to really continuously raise awareness within the organisation.

She said volunteering also revealed some real leadership skills in employees as well as driving engagement within the business.

Finally, there's brand awareness. "We've changed our brand recently...showing that we're making this effort is really fantastic for the brand."

For 2023 the focus is on raising awareness of Evelyn's charitable work within its workforce. The firm gives its employees two volunteering days a year but these are not always used up, she said, despite 314 colleagues having done 2,355 hours of volunteering between them.

"The majority will take one, to get people to take two is really difficult," she said. "You have to really continuously raise awareness within the organisation to make sure that people are aware of the fact that they've got these two days they can take. But also aware of the benefit that it brings."

So this year the group will run a series of videos about volunteering work and how valuable it is.

In terms of fundraising, Evelyn has donated more than £3mn to date and £500,000 last year. Of this £100,000 was given to Impetus and another £100,000 to Ukraine.

Payroll giving raised £52,800 for various charities, which was matched with £26,700, and through fundraising employees raised £160,000 in the year, which was matched with £64,000.

"The level of engagement of our employees in terms of their own fundraising is amazing, they are very busy," said Davies.

carmen.reichman@ft.com

Applications are now open for FTAdviser's Diversity in Finance Awards. The awards, now in their fifth year, aim to showcase the best initiatives, campaigns and success stories over the past 12 months when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the financial services sector. Click HERE for information about entering the awards.