Giving up our time to make a difference

From volunteering to events for our chosen charities, the AC team have so many opportunities to get involved.

Social purpose is at the heart of everything we do at Anthony Collins (AC). Outside their work roles, we also want to help our teams pursue opportunities they are passionate about. This might be attending meetings as a school governor or even acting as umpire chair at the Commonwealth Games.   

We also have a steering group that coordinates a programme of volunteering and fundraising events. Working together, they’re giving more structure to the volunteering and pro bono work we do with charities and making sure more plans turn into action, enthusing and encouraging those across the firm to take part. This started by picking two new charities to support regularly.

Our charity partnerships

We have long-standing partnerships with a handful of charities including the Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT), The Cauda Equina Champions Charity and The UK Sepsis Trust. Now we’re supporting two more charities – St Basils and Birmingham Mind.

We felt these organisations reflected our commitment to caring for society, as well as being in line with our areas of expertise such as housing and protecting vulnerable people in our society and the firm’s principles.

We’ve already started raising funds for these brilliant charities. Many of our team trained for and ran the Birmingham Half Marathon to support Birmingham Mind. Together they raised £1,567.72 for the charity.

Helping St Basils tackle homelessness

We believe in looking at the bigger picture to solve today’s challenges – and so do St Basils. As a charity and housing association, their services focus on supporting individuals aged between 16 – 25 at risk of homelessness by providing accommodation and developing their skills. However, they also aim to influence national policy and create systemic change.

Having previously regularly taken part in The Big Sleepout for St Basils, in 2022 we sponsored and hosted a table at their 50th-anniversary gala dinner. This was a true opportunity, post-pandemic, for longer-term supporters of St Basils to celebrate the thousands of young people supported by the charity. Two AC teams also took part in Hike for the Homeless while others acted as marshals at Woof Run, a fun obstacle course for dogs and their owners.

One of the highlights for the AC team was helping with the St Basils’ Christmas market stall in the Cathedral Christmas Market. A group of 21 employees took turns staffing the stall which was raising money by selling Christmas cards and hosting a ‘buzz-wire’ game to win a cuddly bear.

Carol’s Commonwealth Games experience

Our organised firmwide programme of events gives anyone the chance to get involved. We have up to 250 days available each year, three days per person, for staff and partners to volunteer in an organisation that brings benefits to the community and that align with the values of the firm.

Many of the team find their own opportunities like Carol Wilson. When she heard the Commonwealth Games was coming to Birmingham, she knew straightaway she wanted to get involved as it might not be held here again.

Carol also felt it was important to make sure there was representation from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds. She also wanted to ensure they had enough volunteers to make it a success.

Carol volunteered for 6 days and was given the role of umpire chair. The umpire chair was at the entrance of Smithfield situated by the beach volleyball, 3″x”3 basketball and a festival site. Most of the announcements she made were about the competitions for the day and safety information.

“Our social purpose volunteering scheme gives people the freedom to focus on the areas they are passionate about. If there’s something they want to do or a charity they want to support as it close to them, then we want to support that and give them the time to do it outside their role.”
Emma Hardman, partner, Anthony Collins