Summary

For the second year in a row Beacon’s Annual Philanthropy in the City Forum was hosted by the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, London campus.

Representatives from City firms and charitable foundations, wealth advisers, Beacon Fellows and charity professionals attended the 2008 Forum chaired by Dr Salvatore LaSpada, Chief Executive of the Institute for Philanthropy. Panellists included: Michael Spencer, Group Chief Executive of ICAP plc and 2007 Beacon Fellow, Alec Reed CBE, Founder of Reed Recruitment and TheBigGive.org.uk and Louisa Mitchell, Research Director for Policy Exchange.

Don’t paint, use your skills

Dr Salvatore LaSpada set the tone of the debate with a challenge to the participants to get rid of any presumptions they might have about the City and philanthropy. He said that while the traditional approach to CSR focuses on doling out money to ‘good causes’, the more modern approach is for companies to apply their business strategy to their giving strategy. Using highly skilled staff to ‘paint walls’ is a waste of their time and the charity’s time, LaSpada continued. It misses out on what charities need the most: Financial and business management as well as IT systems development.

The importance of allowing staff to use their professional skills was echoed by Michael Spencer. Mr Spencer is Chief Executive of ICAP, the world’s largest interdealer broker with 32 offices and 4000 staff across the globe. In 1993 ICAP introduced the concept of ‘Charity Day’, where on one day each year, ICAP donates all its revenues to a selection of charities worldwide, chosen by each office. On Charity Day employees at ICAP simply do what they do best: make money. ICAP staff is invited to come to work dressed up in fun costumes, andcelebrity spokespeople for the charities interact with ICAP’s clients, all with the purpose of raising money for different, often smaller, charities.

In its 15 years of existence, ICAP’s Charity Day has raised over £42m for over 600 charities supporting everything from cancer and medical research to children in the developing world.

According to Spencer, Charity Day is incredibly successful because the employees are an integral part of the process. They own the project and as a result, the day has become part of the corporate culture of the company. Charity Day is by far the most fun and positive day in ICAP’s year.

For ICAP, organising the Charity Day is a win-win situation. It serves to:

• Increase staff involvement, pride and value in their contribution

• Have a positive impact on recruiting high quality employees

• Improve employee morale and therefore the success of the company

Helping big donations go further

Next on the panel was Alec Reed CBE, founder of Reed Recruitment and The Big Give (www.thebiggive.org.uk). Mr Reed explained why he set up The Big Give, a website that helps connecting donors to charitable projects.

Reed said that often, donors find it difficult to select a project or charity they support or would like to informally gather information about a particular charity. The Big Give does exactly this: provide a resource for donors (making both large and small donations) to find the right charity or project online. The website currently has over 4,380 British charities registered, covering a wide range of projects and countries.

Mr Reed showed the audience how The Big Give website operates and explained why he thoroughly enjoys supporting charitable projects. He believes that when being involved in charitable projects, one meets so many inspiring people and can often work together with them to increase the impact of one’s investment and start new projects such as The Big Give

Giving in the City

Louisa Mitchell, Research Director at Policy Exchange, closed the panel discussion by providing an overview of ‘Give and Let Give’ a major research project conducted by the Policy Exchange on how people give, and can give more in the City. For more information see: www.policyexchange.org.uk

Mitchell explained that the Policy Exchange report focuses on individual giving in the City, exploring how City workers can become social leaders. To achieve this, they believe a cultural shift is needed. So, how can individuals drive social change? The report identified three elements:

• Motivation: e.g. A person’s sense of social responsibility, their faith, a life changing event, or personal connection to a cause)

• Means: Money, social capital, and skills, two examples being Michael Spencer’s ICAP Charity Day and Christopher Hohn’s Children’s Investment Fund Foundation linked to the profits from a Hedge Fund

• Methods: For example: charity accounts, setting up a foundation or giving directed through intermediaries or new models such as Impetus Trust and Shine.

Mitchell said that it is important to encourage philanthropic behaviour at all stages of a person’s career. This can be done by:

• Raising awareness of resources already available such as gift aid and tax incentives

• Inspiring people through peer examples

• Providing charity accounts to company employees and perhaps linking their intranet to a website with information on giving in the City

• Having a social networking website such as Facebook providing individuals with information on how to give easily

Mitchell also stated that individuals who have done outstanding work need to stand up and be recognised – initiatives such as the Beacon Awards are a good example of how to showcase best practice and identify role models in order to inspire others to do the same.

Questions and Answers

How can you measure the impact of a charitable organisation objectively?

Michael Spencer:
ICAP is good with fundraising. We do research into the charities we support, but this is limited. In the end there is a level of trust involved.

Alec Reed CBE:
The Big Give provides a tool that gives different options and allows you to compare. We have links with the charity commission on our site. But in the end, it is an act of faith.

Dr. Salvatore LaSpada:
You should look at which issues you want to support and build personal relations.

Louisa Mitchell:
This question came up in our research a lot. There are organisations such as New Philanthropy Capital or the Institute for Philanthropy that can help you, but it is also important that questions of social returns are different from, say financial returns. Measuring impact is different here.

Can you rely on the selections of big companies when looking at which charity you would like to support?

Dr. Salvatore LaSpada:
I would say that in the US the seal of approval does not come from companies, but from grant making trusts such as the Rockefeller Foundation.

What about supporting unregistered charities or projects in your local area?

Dr. Salvatore LaSpada:
If you want to look into supporting local projects a good starting point is to approach your local Community Foundation. They can put you in touch with trustworthy projects or charities.