Case Study - Islington charities benefit from the skills of
Macquarie Group employees
Macquarie Group is a
global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and
funds management services headquartered in Sydney. The Macquarie
Group Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Group and last
year contributed over $17.7 million to over 900 community
organisations worldwide. Macquarie places great importance on
supporting the communities in which its staff live and work, with
support extending beyond financial contributions to the time and
expertise of staff.
Macquarie’s London office is based in the City, next to the
borough of Islington. Last year Macquarie were inspired by a report
‘Invisible Islington: Living in Poverty in Inner London’ produced
by the Cripplegate Foundation, an independent grant-maker which
aims to improve the lives of people living in Islington.
"The CORE programme offers a fantastic opportunity to align the
talents and knowledge of Macquarie staff with Islington
organisations who are working with some of the poorest people in
London"
Kristina Glenn, Director, Cripplegate
Foundation
Cripplegate had already identified a pressing need for capacity
building of charities working in Islington. Macquarie staff had the
skills which the charities required, such as HR, IT and financial
planning. CAF collaborated with Macquarie and Cripplegate to
explore the most effective way for the staff to share their
skills.
The result is the Macquarie CoRe (COmmunity REsourcing)
programme, a unique initiative to build capacity at six charities
operating in Islington. CAF undertook a diagnostic exercise using
established frameworks to map the needs of the charities, and it
was clear that each would require a range of specialist support. A
pilot was launched in February of this year, with 23 Macquarie
staff working in small operational clusters. Each staff cluster has
a range of skills matched to the charity’s needs and also provides
peer support for the individual volunteers. CAF also provided
training to the staff volunteers to give them an introduction to
the charitable sector and to enable them to share their skills in
the most effective manner.
Already at this early stage the impact of the CoRe programme is
clear to see. It is a small project with strong foundations and the
potential to be high impact due to the focussed nature of its
design. Feedback is being sought at key stages and the programme is
monitored to ensure improvements can be made and successes
replicated.
“The design of the CoRe programme sets it apart and there are
positive outcomes for all involved – the charities get access to
the specialist skills they need, staff volunteers have the support
of colleagues, and better outcomes are achieved for the local
community.”
What they say about the programme
Julie White, Head, Macquarie Group Foundation
"The CoRe programme is focusing on larger organisations in
Islington where the emphasis is on immediate service delivery. Back
room skills such as IT, managing and developing premises, human
relations, public relations and even good administrative systems
are can be in short supply. Issues such as long term planning,
consideration of mergers and sharing premises are often avoided.
The CORE programme offers a fantastic opportunity to align the
talents and knowledge of Macquarie staff with Islington
organisations who are working with some of the poorest people in
London"
Kristina Glenn, Director, Cripplegate Foundation
"The CoRe programme has given us a real opportunity to develop
our skills with a group of professionals, who are genuinely
committed to working with us on identifying and developing
solutions to our operational needs. It really has given us the
courage to be brave and share with our Macquarie volunteers our
aspirations, safe in the knowledge that they will help us realise
them."
Victoria Anderson, Head of Advisory and Consulting, CAF
"The CoRe programme is an exciting initiative. It aims to work
at every level - addressing identified poverty issues, working with
key capacity needs identified by charities, engaging skills from
employees who want to share their skills for social benefit all
within a collaborative framework of Foundations, employees and non
profits. We hope this inspires others to do the same."