An industry charity event called ‘Rock For Ukraine’ and backed by investment platforms has managed to raise over £45,000 in aid of Ukrainian refugees.
The event, held yesterday evening (February 24) in the City at Stationers' Hall, saw Nucleus, Novia, Morningstar, M&G Wealth, Quilter, and Transact all sponsor the event, alongside consultancy the Lang Cat and technology provider Threesixty.
Nucleus was the headline sponsor, while Novia sponsored the band, and Morningstar the venue.
The gig was spearheaded by three financial planners - Navigator Financial Planning managing director David Crozier, as well as Perceptive Planning managing directors Shannon Currie and Phil Billingham.
The event was held to raise money for Refugee Support Europe which is the UK registered charity providing humanitarian aid and dignity to Ukrainian families seeking refuge in neighbouring Moldova.
Held on the eve of the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, financial services industry band 'Consumer Duty' performed.
The Lang Cat’s Mark Locke has been involved behind the scenes pulling in sponsorship and organising an auction.
He said: “Rock for Ukraine has been a triumph of industry collaboration and goodwill. I was panicking at the very start wondering how I would be able to raise money through sponsorship, but I needn’t have worried.
“Nucleus came on board as headline sponsor almost immediately, and Novia and Morningstar quickly followed as band sponsor and venue sponsor respectively.
“Once we had those core sponsors in place everything fell into place, with many other fantastic firms making sizable corporate donations.”
Other significant corporate supporters include Abrdn, The Lang Cat, The Yardstick Agency, and Lifesearch.
Nearly 200 people turned up to the gig, which involved performances by two young Ukrainian girls who sang and reminded everyone present the real reason they were there.
One of the two young Ukrainian girls who sang (Carmen Reichman)
Between music sets, Lifesearch chair Tom Baigrie ran an auction which included some items donated by financial services firms and individuals.
After about 30 minutes of bidding, nearly £7,000 had been raised for the charity.
Lifesearch chairperson Tom Baigrie running the auction (Carmen Reichman)
Crozier said: “Phil, Shannon and I have been blown away by the support from so many people. Something like this doesn’t just happen.
“There’s a huge amount of planning and organisation involved and there are lots of wonderful people who volunteered their time to make Rock for Ukraine such a success. “
He added: “We’d especially like to thank the wonderful band Consumer Duty, Ruth Sturkey who was our MC, Kate Shaw who collected pledges on the night, Mark Locke who ran around raising sponsorship, Tom Baigrie who facilitated the fantastic auction, and Carmen Reichman who was our photographer for the event.
“We were truly heartened that so many people turned out in huge numbers to show support for Ukrainian refugees who are in a horrible situation through no fault of their own.
“We’ve already raised more than we had hoped and we’re still counting. The financial services profession can look itself in the mirror and say ‘we did a good thing here'.”
At the time of writing, it’s estimated that Rock For Ukraine has raised in excess of £45,000.
People can still add to that total by donating at the website which will stay live for another few weeks.
Back in March, Billingham and Currie raised £4,500, with the help of fellow planners and advisers, which they used to pack a rental van and drive supplies to Poland - one of a number of countries many Ukrainian refugees now reside.
But by July, the couple, along with Crozier, had realised Moldova - a relatively small country with 2.6mn inhabitants and which shares a 759 mile long border with Ukraine - was going under the radar.
This led the planners to discover the Dignity Centre, which was set up by charity Refugees Support to help with the sudden arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova.
(Left to right) David Crozier, managing director at Navigator Financial Planning, Ruth Sturkey, chairperson of The Institute for Financial Wellbeing, Kate Shaw, owner of Financial Life Planning Solutions, Paul Hutchings, CEO of Refugee Support Europe, Phil Billingham and Shannon Currie, managing directors at Perceptive Planning (Carmen Reichman)
Then in November, the three planners persuaded the Personal Finance Society to choose Refugee Support Europe as its charity of choice at its conference in Birmingham.
With the help of advisers, they raised more than £2,000 at the conference.
The aim for this event was to raise £40,000, which would cover the cost of supporting 4,500 refugees in Moldova for a month.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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