Shoosmiths supports Giving Tuesday 1 December 2020

Giving Tuesday on Tuesday 1 December 2020 is an annual awareness raising campaign which takes place the Tuesday following Black Friday where everyone, everywhere can do something to support the good causes that mean so much to them.

Shoosmiths has used the day to thank everyone in the firm who has supported the charity sector during the turbulent months of 2020. Our grateful appreciation is extended to everyone who has been involved in co-ordinating and supporting such activities as:

• legal advice provided on a pro bono basis to charities to assist their important work;
• volunteering at pro bono clinics operated by charities for individuals who cannot afford to pay for legal advice;
• supporting client charity activities;
• volunteering during the week, at weekends or whilst on furlough leave;
• trustee roles and membership of strategic advisory boards –for example, we are members of four Business in the Community Regional Leadership Boards – East and West Midlands, North West and the South East;
• providing free resources such as charity webinars and updates; two recent events’ details can be found here and here;
• fundraising for our 2020/2021 charity partners and for other causes that matter to staff personally; and
• in-kind donations such as used equipment or redundant stationery materials. For instance we have recently donated 130 A4 zipped bonded leather folders to Sandwell Transition Education Partnership Services (STEPs) which was created to safeguard children with English as an additional language who are new to Sandwell and also to Access Generation a social enterprise that encourages organisations to employ inexperienced young people.

The following thank you messages are indicative of the difference our colleagues have been making this year:

Willowbrook Hospice has been assisted on a pro bono basis since 2018 with real estate and transactional advice.

‘Shoosmiths has been a fantastic partner to Willowbrook; as a charity we rely heavily on donations to continue to provide our services to the communities of St Helens and Knowsley. By providing pro bono support to us, Shoosmiths is enabling us to direct more of these donations to what we do best – the best care delivered with compassion. Thank you for helping us to do this.’

Alun Owens, Corporate Director, Willowbrook Hospice (For more details see here)

Computer Aid International charity has received Shoosmiths’ redundant IT equipment since 2008. In 2019/2020 the IS team donated 441 IT assets (2,313 kg) to Computer Aid. Of the 441 items donated 338 units were re-used (1,584 kg) and 103 (729 kg) were recycled with the re-used assets sent to six projects in Africa and 21 in the UK. (You can read the story in full here)

‘Shoosmiths’ ongoing donations of equipment has benefited more organisations than ever before, as well as helping us with our educational projects. We would like to thank everyone at Shoosmiths for supporting our mission to create a world where everyone has equal access to technology.’

Alice Walker-Mitchell, Marketing Officer, Computer Aid International

Shoosmiths joined the Pennies from Heaven scheme in 2007.

‘I wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the employees at Shoosmiths for being part of Pennies from Heaven. To date you have donated over £32,000 to your locally nominated charities which will have made a real difference to them. It is estimated that UK charities are facing a £10bn funding gap in 2020 and we are already seeing major cuts in charity research budgets. There is no doubt that all of us will want to help our charities as you never know when you might need them so please do continue to donate whatever you can. It is a small ask to give a few pence every month but together Shoosmiths teams can make a real difference to causes important to them. Let’s just make it the thing we do.’

Kate Frost, CEO Pennies from Heaven

Business in the Community operates the matching platform National Business Response Network which links charities in need with companies that can assist and during 2020 we have made a number of financial and in-kind donations.

‘The continuous support Shoosmiths has given to charities, schools and social enterprises through the National Business Response Network has been vital. Organisations like Shoosmiths, engaged across the UK through BITC’s Regional Leadership Boards and our wider membership, demonstrate the positive impact businesses can have in building back responsibly. I can only hope more companies try to live up to the high standard set by Shoosmiths.’

Nick Diamond, Membership Director, Business in the Community

STEPS has recently been sent stationery materials.

STEPS is part of Sandwell's school admissions process and has been created to safeguard children who are asylum seekers, refugees or economic migrants who are new to the UK. Our award winning centre provides an education to the children of International new arrivals, aged 5-16, whilst a permanent school place is found. It aims to gather and then disseminate key information about them; including their learning needs and abilities, including EAL (English as an additional language) and mathematics. The STEPS Centre provides information, support and ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) courses for the parents and carers as well as the local community. This is done through multi-agency provision that includes public health, family centres, social services and community groups. We work closely with other schools in the area, to facilitate the transition of children to their new school. The resources you have donated will be shared with secondary schools who will be using them for gifted and talented pupils, as part of a mentoring programme and revision pack offer to promote their aspirations and attainment. Many of the receiving schools are in highly deprived areas and have a focus on disadvantaged children accessing higher education opportunities.

Tracy Cockayne, STEPS Centre Manager

To find out more about Shoosmiths’ 2020/2021 charity partners read here.