Our support
Our Impact Advisory support began by working with TSG’s teams to identify their focus for impact and help create an impact statement. We held a series of stakeholder engagement sessions and a workshop with representatives from across the business to guide the groups in determining their intended outcomes that align with the business. Our team was able to provide a structure to their ambitions and constructive challenge where needed.
Taking into account TSG’s ambitions and budget, we were able to suggest a CAF Company Account to ring-fence and distribute their charitable funds. Using this giving infrastructure, TSG were able to set up their own corporate foundation, as an alternative route to registering a separate entity through the Charity Commission, reducing their costs, governance, and administrative pressures.
“It became clear we could end up having to register [for a corporate foundation], have our own set of accounts, be audited, do statements and so forth,” said David Stonehouse, TSG’s Executive Chairman. “So for the amount of money it wasn’t worth setting up; we’d be spending most of our budget on the administration. We’d not thought through the implications of setting up our own charity, so using CAF as a conduit, that safe passage, was really quite appealing.”
Starting with a relatively modest budget and the need to ensure staff were able to support grassroots causes without too much process, we co-created a structure that was broad and flexible, but also focused enough to ensure funding would lead to impactful outcomes in line with their impact statement.
“We said at the start, as things move forward we might shift the goal posts and be more demanding regarding outcomes or amounts per charity,” said David. “But one of the attractions of working with CAF was their willingness to accommodate our need for flexibility as a SME. We wanted an element of structure, but we didn’t want to be bound by it and I think that’s been a success. Doing it through CAF also gives us an element of control and compliance.”