Since its inception in 1990, Stewarts has been actively involved in supporting a variety of charities. The Stewarts Foundation was set up in 2010 to formalise and manage the firm’s charitable giving.

In 2019 the partners of Stewarts donated over £670k to The Stewarts Foundation to support its chosen causes.

To date, the Foundation has donated over £5.3m to over 180 charities.

The Foundation’s vision is to:

• Create opportunities for the disadvantaged in our society
• Treat people less fortunate than ourselves with compassion and respect
• Make a substantial social impact

The Foundation supports a small number of UK charities carefully selected by its Trustees through its grant-giving programme.

Grant giving

The Foundation refocused its grant giving principles in 2016 to include four key areas: Alleviating poverty; Enabling access to justice; Supporting disability; and Providing educational opportunity.

As part of this, the Foundation committed to donating £1m over four years to the Access to Justice Foundation. This initial commitment ended in 2019 but the Foundation will continue to give to the Access to Justice Foundation for a further 5 years. The grant will be split between their provision of aid for legal advice centres and the cost of a new Access to Justice Centre and Network which will be the go-to centre for all things “Access to Justice” related.

As well as Access to Justice, charities supported by the Foundation in 2019 include:

• Back Up: donation used to support a national outreach and support service for newly injured people.
• Brainbox: donation towards rent and travel expenses.
• Centrepoint: donation used towards mental health and psychotherapy service, the continuation of funding a Senior Mental Health Advisor post within the Health Team and a part time Psychotherapist.
• The Children’s Trust: donation towards the annual cost of group outings that support social activity and decision making skills that build a child’s confidence.
• City Solicitors Horizons: donation used to support a social mobility initiative to improve access to the legal profession. In addition to the grant a number of solicitors are mentors for students through University.
• Coram Children’s Legal Centre: donation used to fund a Practice/Office manager or for training courses etc for members of the various legal practice areas and management.
• Danny Turnbull Scholarship Fund: donation for a disabled student to undertake their LPC at The University of Law.
• Feast!: donation to a charity using food being thrown away by supermarkets to create meals for the homeless. The funds will be used to ensure that the operations are managed effectively and consistently.
• Free Periods: donation to a charity set up to help end period poverty so school girls will not miss school.
• Headway: donation used as a significant part of their Emergency Fund which provides grants in the immediate aftermath of brain injuries. This fund was originally set up with early grants from the Foundation.
• Just for Kids Law: donation to fund a full-time youth opportunities worker and to support increased costs prior to a planned office move in 2020.
• JUSTICE: donation to an all-party law reform and human rights organisation working to strengthen the justice system – administrative, civil and criminal – in the United Kingdom. The grant will be used to support a working party on Housing Disputes in the 21^st Century.
• Royal Marsden: donation to support the Darzi Fellowship.
• School Home Support: donation towards their safeguarding and child protection work.
• Spinal Injuries Association: donation used to fund the Peer Support Service for spinal cord injured people and campaign activities of the Public Affairs team.
• St George’s Crypt: donation used in the Health and Wellbeing programme.
• St Mungo’s: donation used to support “Putting Down Roots” a skills and employment project leading to qualifications in gardening and horticulture.
• Wellbeing of Women: donation to fund the costs of Dr David Jeevan’s research project into ovarian cancer at the University of Birmingham.
• WheelPower: donation used to fund programmes and events which help recently paralysed people access sport and active recreation.

Charity of the Year

For the first time in 2017, the firm gave staff the opportunity to vote for the firm’s charity of the year. In 2017 we supported Emmaus UK (a homeless charity) and in 2018 CHICKS (now known as Go Beyond) (provider of free respite breaks for disadvantaged children).

For 2019 Ella’s Home and The Snowdrop Project has been chosen by staff.

The Snowdrop Project – providing long-term care for those who have experienced abuse through modern day slavery and human trafficking: donation used to provide a place of community, education and enjoyment through community activities and places of stability through the Snowdrop house renovation project.

Ella’s Home – providing long-term aftercare for women who have experienced abuse through trafficking and sexual exploitation: donation used to cover the salary and expenses of a caseworker for 1 year.

You can find out more about The Stewarts Foundation here.