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 2023 the partners of Stewarts donated £706,740 to the Stewarts Foundation to support its chosen causes. To date, the Foundation has donated just over £8.7m to over 240 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
In order to focus the grant giving, 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
- 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 made a further commitment to continue to give to the Access to Justice Foundation for a further five years.
The grant has been split with £200,000 per year towards their provision of aid for legal advice centres and £50,000 per year towards 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. Access to Justice has received just over £2.35m to date.
Charities supported
As well as Access to Justice, charities supported by the Foundation in 2023 include:
The Alcohol Education Trust: grant towards the work of AET in the London & Southeast Region. It will contribute to AET’s essential work of enabling young people across Greater London and the Southeast age 11-25 to make safer choices around alcohol, know where to go for help and support and build their resilience and life skills.
The Back-Up Trust: grant towards supporting the Outreach & Support team, which supports the individual with spinal cord injury and their families.
Brainbox: grant to provide a programme of social activities for the children and young people and their families, to offer a social outlet, new fun experiences and the opportunity to meet and form relationships with others in similar positions for peer support and discussions.
Centrepoint Soho: grant to their mental health programme, which focuses on delivering support to young people by providing access to mental health support across all their services.
The Charlie Waller Trust: grant to fund nine Expert by Experience lived experience parent/carer roles to deliver mental health training to parents caring for a child with mental health problems across the country for a year via direct training, conferences and events.
Coram Children’s Legal Centre: grant to support their community care and education law work including legal support to young people who are not eligible for legal aid. It will also enable their legal team to engage with young people across the Coram group who have lived experience of exclusion and homelessness and support community work to increase awareness of their rights.
Dr Ateh Jewel Education Foundation: grant to financially support and empower Black and Mixed heritage students in higher education. The money will be used for Dr Ateh’s award at Oxford University.
FEAST: grant to contribute to the expansion of community meals across the London Borough of Camden and other North and East London boroughs, and the roll-out of healthy eating education for vulnerable people experiencing food poverty.
Finito Education: grant to fund a bursary to support an individual annually from an underprivileged background.
Future Frontiers: grant to deliver the Future Frontiers career coaching and guidance programme for disadvantaged young people in London. Read more about our 2023 partnership with Future Frontiers here.
Headway – The Brain Injury Association: grant towards funding The Emergency Fund which provides grants of up to £1,000 to help adult brain injury survivors and their families cope with the practical implications in the immediate aftermath of brain injury.
JUSTICE: grant to support JUSTICE’s core work including the implementation of the recommendations from its working party on ‘the function and operation of behavioural control orders’, which will aim to ensure that such orders are issued and enforced in a fair and consistent manner that respects human rights and are effective in achieving their purpose.
Royal Academy of Arts: grant to fund a student bursary. Stewarts also sponsors the RA Schools Show and presents the Stewarts Prize, awarded this year to Max Boyla.
Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death): grant (part of which will be allocated to the Sands United FC Solihull), to support Sands Protecting Futures: Saving Babies’ Lives Fund to advance Sands’ core research and prevention activity for preventing pregnancy and baby loss and improve maternity care, and provide bereaved men the support they need through Sands United FC Solihull.
The Schools Consent Project: grant towards the core costs of full-time staff salaries necessary to enable the growth of the SCP and the expanded education of young people in the subject of sexual consent and the law.
School Home Support: grant to be used in accordance with SHS’s five year strategy.
Social Welfare Solicitors Qualification Fund (SWSQF): grant to provide financial assistance to aspiring solicitors working in social welfare law for organisations serving disadvantaged communities.
Spinal Injuries Association (SIA): grant to fund mental health services for people with spinal cord injury.
St George’s Crypt: grant towards the health and wellbeing services, Growing Rooms men and Growing Rooms ladies.
St Mungo’s: grant to fund SM’s Putting Down Roots program, which aims to help SM’s clients rebuild their lives, access employment, maintain independent housing and sustain their recovery from rough sleeping and will also go towards staff salaries, client and staff travel, course materials, insurance and IT support.
Wellbeing of Women: grant for their menstrual health campaign.
WheelPower: grant to provide services for people with spinal cord injuries. To provide advice and support on the benefits of physical activity to recently paralysed people as well as organising activity sessions during their rehabilitation.
XLP: grant for the School Exclusion Reduction Programme.
Charity of the Year
Roundabout Ltd and The Passage were chosen as the Charities of the Year for 2023 and received a grant each. The selection process for the 2024 Charity of the Year is underway.
Daniel Turnbull Scholarship Fund
The Foundation continues to support the Daniel Turnbull Scholarship, which is offered to an individual who is disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010 to complete the LPC at any of the University of Law’s campuses.
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