At Burness Paull we’re celebrating a decade of charitable initiatives supported by the Burness Paull Foundation.
The Burness Paull Foundation was established on 3 September 2015 to facilitate the charitable contributions of the firm on a collective basis, as well as to support the individual fundraising efforts of our colleagues. Since then, over 310 individual charities have received donations totalling over £500,000.
Funded by the Burness Paull partnership, the Foundation is the first of its kind to be set up by a law firm in Scotland and one of the first in the UK, with employees firmly at its heart. The majority of the 14 trustees who manage the Foundation are members of staff, sitting alongside the chair and managing partner to decide how funds are distributed.
As well as sponsoring colleagues undertaking charity challenges for causes of their choice, the Foundation organises firmwide fundraising events to bring people together. From fitness challenges to bake sales, Dine at Mine dinner parties to photography competitions, and our annual back to school and Christmas appeals, the variety of activities has ensured there has been something for everyone to get involved with.
The Foundation also regularly joins forces with some of the firm’s internal employee networks, for example backing charity awareness raising campaigns organised by the BeMindful mental health steering group, supporting events arranged by the BeProud LGBT+ network and funding tree planning initiatives led by the environmental committee.
Central to the Foundation’s activity is our firmwide partnership with Street Soccer, a lifechanging organisation creating positive change for socially disadvantaged people across Scotland and London. One of the highlights of the partnership is the firm’s sponsorship of the men’s and women’s teams who represent Scotland in a range of international tournaments, including the annual Homeless World Cup. This year’s event has just finished in Oslo and, for the first time, the Burness Paull Foundation also sponsored the England team.
Peter Lawson, chair at Burness Paull and a trustee of the Burness Paull Foundation said: “As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, I am so proud of what the Burness Paull Foundation has achieved over the last ten years. The Foundation was created to focus our charity efforts on supporting the causes that mean the most to our people. As a result of the effort and enthusiasm of our colleagues who have requested sponsorship and undertaken their own fundraising initiatives, we have been able to help so many fantastic charities, often with a very personal connection to someone within our firm. Our longstanding partnership with Street Soccer goes back more than a decade and I’m very excited by what’s to come as we continue to collaborate on new projects such as their Kitback initiative and we see the number of players supported continue to increase. As we head into a month of anniversary activity I want to thank everyone who has been involved with the Foundation to date and look forward to seeing what can be achieved next.”
Read more about The Burness Paull Foundation here.
