Social

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

SOCIAL

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Making a positive difference in our communities is vital to our efforts to be a responsible business. Central to this is the work of our Community Engagement Committees, who support a local charity partner in each of our offices; our WBD Foundation, which supports the structure and administration of our charitable giving; and all of our colleagues, who take the time to volunteer, carry out pro bono work, and donate to worthy causes.

Key fundraising highlights

Supporting worthy causes

Volunteering

Pro bono

Additional charitable support

Community engagement members

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Stories

Fundraising and donations

Over FY 2024/25, we set up and launched a new Grant Funding Scheme through our Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) Foundation, to give charitable organisations whose purpose fits within our key themes and areas of focus the backing they need to make a real difference. Our key themes are: climate action and environmental protection, LGBTQ+ inclusion, supporting inclusion of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds, increasing women's opportunities in life and work, disability and neurodiversity inclusion, and mental health and wellbeing support. To find out more, you can visit our website page here.

We started new charity partnerships with Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (Leeds office), Beyond Food Foundation (London office), Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity (Plymouth office) and Abby’s Heroes (Southampton office). All our offices now partner with a single charity, increasing our focus and the impact we have.

We provided charitable giving support across our eight charity partners and other worthy causes totalling £143,823, of which £127,915 came from the WBD Foundation and £15,908 from the LLP. Our pie chart shows the themes we supported.

Some of the worthy causes we have supported

Donated £25,000 to the Red Cross under our Disaster Response Policy: we supported the Nigeria DM programme, the Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal, and the Ukrainian Crisis Appeal.

£11,863 match funded by the firm. 45 colleagues took advantage of our match funding for causes they care about.

Raised £4,800 at WBDbay, our online auction that ran in May 2024. That's 1/3 more than the previous year.

Our colleagues collectively raised £54,713 for causes they are passionate about, including £8,047 through payroll giving.

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Volunteering

We gave 1,604.5 hours to local charities across the UK through volunteering. This took place in the following areas:

Our staff volunteered as trustees at a number of local charities; as litter pickers in the local area outside our offices; as Wellbeing Wednesday helpers for patients staying at the children's cardiac ward with Children's Heart Surgery Fund; as care leaver mentors in Southampton; as choir singers for a performance for individuals in Bristol living with dementia in care homes; as beach cleaners in Plymouth.

We joined forces with three clients to volunteer in Leeds, London and Southampton.

Over the last three years, groups of volunteers have provided support to Solent Youth Action (SYA), a charity that works with vulnerable young people aged 10-25 with disabilities and mental health issues, and those who are young carers or young offenders
In May 2024, a team made up of individuals from WBD were joined by colleagues from Carter Jonas and The Crown Estate to take part in their third session with SYA. They spent the morning helping at the charity's outdoor skills centre, spreading fresh bark around the site, weeding, strimming the grass, painting chairs and sheds, and upcycling an unused wheelie bin into a decorated water butt!

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Eight teams used their team days to volunteer together, helping charities including Children's Heart Surgery Fund, Urban Green, the People's Kitchen, Alive Activities, BOST and Elm Tree Farm.

The IP team in Leeds helped Children's Heart Surgery Fund to decorate the Children's ward in time for Christmas in a Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe theme. Commenting after the event, Alexander Shackleton said: “Very rewarding and wholesome afternoon bringing some Christmas cheer to the children's ward. Always lovely to spend time with the dedicated staff from CHSF and NHS. Glad we could help make the ward look Christmassy!”

Pro bono

We supported 22 organisations with 670.9 hours of pro bono. This included our Real Estate and Charity teams providing pro bono to Humraaz, a charity supporting individuals affected by domestic abuse, forced marriage and other forms of violence. The teams supported the charity to find a new women’s refuge which will provide sanctuary for those at risk, offering not just shelter but a stepping stone to a safer, healthier future.

Firoza Mohmed, Chief Executive Officer of Humraaz, commented:

"The expertise provided by Womble Bond Dickinson has been crucial in establishing this refuge. Their pro bono work has not only aided us legally but has also inspired hope for a brighter future among those we serve."

We hosted the 3rd North East Pro Bono Summit, held by the North East Pro Bono Committee in celebration of Pro Bono Week 2024. The event highlighted the importance of free legal representation and discussed ways in which individuals can embed pro bono activities into their careers and organisations.

We continued our support of the University of Law's Small Business Clinic by providing fortnightly volunteers for the clinic during term time.

Caroline Churchill, Robert Drewett, Chris Bowen and Nazmin Akthar are named in the second Pro Bono Recognition List of England & Wales. The list recognises those who gave more than 25 hours of pro bono in 2024. Thank you to you all!

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Additional charitable support

We recruited four new trustees to join the Board of the WBD Foundation, expanding eligibility to all levels of seniority across the firm and actively encouraging underrepresented groups to apply for the role. As a result we have increased the diversity of the Trustee Board, adding new perspectives to more robustly assess and decide how charitable funding is allocated.

Eight individuals from the Leeds office taking part in the Access To Justice Legal Walk. They are smiling at the camera and all wearing Womble Bond Dickinson tshirts.

We organised and took part in the Access to Justice Legal Walks in Plymouth and Newcastle. The funds raised are used to make grants available to frontline legal advice services and charities who provide free of charge support to marginalised individuals, families and groups across the country.

We also took part in the Access to Justice Legal Walks in London, Leeds, Bristol and Southampton.

We offer free room hire to charitable organisations such as South West International Development Network (SWIDN) who used space in our Bristol office this year to run Climate Crisis training and hold Board meetings.

Hannah S. Doornbos, from SWIDN, said: "Having access to your rooms is an absolute game changer for us as a micro charity, and we so appreciate it. It doesn’t just save us money and time in organising an alternative, I think it is a huge morale booster to our whole team to feel supported by our local business community as well. I really can't thank you enough."

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