Moore Kingston Smith team chooses new Charity Partner, St Giles
Moore Kingston Smith is thrilled to announce that its people have chosen St Giles as the firm’s new Charity Partner, by a firm-wide vote. St Giles provides support across a broad range of issues with services designed to make a genuine, long-term impact on social mobility, an issue that is close to the heart of a number of the firm’s people. Social mobility is also the priority area of focus for the firm’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Charity Committees for 2023.
A national social mobility charity, St Giles gives advice and training to over 5,550 people every year affected by poverty, exploitation and abuse, struggling with addiction or mental health problems, caught up in crime, or a combination of these issues. The charity uses expertise and lived experiences to empower people who are not getting the help that they need.
Maureen Penfold, Managing Partner said: “Our people voted, and I am personally delighted to be partnering with St Giles. Social mobility is a critical issue in the UK and within the accountancy profession, which many of us here feel passionately about helping improve. While a very complex issue with no easy answers, we are determined to continue to grow in our understanding of what further changes we can make to help support social mobility, both within the profession and beyond.
“We are looking forward to developing our knowledge, skills and processes to help ensure equal access to opportunity, which we highly value as a firm, as demonstrated by several of our existing policies and practices. We share St Giles’ vision to see a society where everyone, no matter their background, has an equal chance at a positive future. One of our core pillars as a firm is sustainable success, and we are excited to see how this new partnership will really help us contribute to long-lasting change for young people and adults across the UK.”
Through Moore Kingston Smith’s Community Foundation, the firm will support St Giles with donations and fundraising, while its people will get involved with employment workshops, food kitchens, mentoring, and going on the frontline with the charity’s clients, as well as supporting its organisational strategy and helping their teams to develop ESG reporting data.
Believing that anyone can turn their lives around, St Giles leads by example. Over 60% of the charity’s team have direct experience of the issues the people they help face, with over 40% having experienced the criminal justice system.
Tracey Burley, St Giles Trust CEO said: “We are so grateful to Moore Kingston Smith for choosing to partner with St Giles. To achieve long-term change for young people and adults in adverse circumstances we rely on partnerships with organisations who share our values and ambitions. We are thrilled to be working together to develop our services and support more people to turn their lives around.
We show people there is a way to build a better future – for themselves and those they care about – and help them create this through support, advice and training, harnessing the power of lived experience.
We are very much looking forward to working with Moore Kingston Smith over the next three years to ensure those positive long term-changes are put in place.”
Maureen added: “Over the past six years, we’ve raised a phenomenal £230,000 over our partnership with Mind. We’d like to thank them for being a fantastic partner, as well as our colleagues for throwing themselves into fundraising in support of Mind’s services and the campaigning they do to fight for mental health. We look forward to an equally meaningful and successful collaboration with St Giles.”
Having launched the Moore Kingston Smith Community Foundation in 2021, the firm keenly supports its people in contributing to the causes they care about, launching an additional day of annual leave to be used for volunteering, and match funding match donations and monies raised for any registered charity.
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