One of the best things about working at MBS, is our passion for doing good. At the beginning of each year, we choose who we will help which in itself is a huge honour.
We have three pillars, which seem to cover where our drive for our contributions to bettering society originate: Health – which complements our young and growing Healthcare practice – Society and Social Issues and lastly, the Arts.
In addition to this, eighteen months ago, we were very proud to join the B Corp community. Attaining B Corp certification marked our move to formalise our CSR strategy, a key pillar of which is our commitment to spending 20% of our time and resources ensuring we have a meaningful impact on society and the sectors we serve.
One of the ways we believe we can make a positive contribution is through our search mandates on behalf of not-for-profit and cultural institutions. As 2024 draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight on just six of the organisations we have supported through the year as they make critical appointments for the period ahead: Target Ovarian Cancer, Pennies, Shelter, The Royal College of Art, The Bread and Butter Thing, and the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Health
Target Ovarian Cancer
The only cancer charity to work across all four nations of the UK, Target Ovarian Cancer’s mission is to double survival from ovarian cancer by 2050 by improving early diagnosis, funding life-saving research and providing much-needed support to those affected by the disease.
Early this year, The MBS Group was pleased to be asked to advise the charity on the appointment of three Trustees to its Board, and more recently of Catherine Hart who joined as Chief Executive Officer last month.
Catherine succeeded Annwen Jones OBE, who announced she was leaving the charity after being at the helm for 16 years, and her previous experience includes senior positions across Cancer Research UK, University College London, Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Charity and the Zoological Society of London.
Saswati Saha Mitra, Jo Paice and Angie Ma were appointed to the Board of Trustees bringing a broad range of specialist skills and knowledge from their previous roles. Saswati is Director of Research at WhatsApp and has expertise in using technology to connect and serve large populations. Jo is Clinics Director at Bupa Health Clinics, where she has worked for 20 years across various roles and brings her expertise across both finance and healthcare, while Angie, brings nearly two decades of experience in science and technology to the role. She also co-founded Europe’s leading applied AI firm, Faculty.
Elton John Aids Foundation
Set up by global superstar, Elton John, the eponymous foundation is committed to overcoming the stigma and neglect that keeps the world from ending AIDS, and this year, we supported its appointment of Rachel Parr, who has a history of working in both the charity and health sectors, as Chief Operating Officer. The foundation harnesses local expertise to break down barriers between the people that need life-saving help and the very help they need, funding work across all levels in places that generally are not able to access support.
There is a particular focus on LGBTQ+ people, young people and people who use drugs as around 360,000 LGBTQ+ acquire HIV each year and AIDS is now the leading cause of death among young people in Africa. The foundation also works to tackle criminalisation and discrimination that puts people who use drugs at higher risk of HIV.
Society and Social Issues
Pennies
Pennies is the leading charity working to protect and grow micro-donations, unlocking a technological alternative to the traditional charity box in the modern, largely-cashless, era. Its work not only promotes the importance of charitable giving but also ensures a future where everyone has affordable ways to donate to charity. Extending a partnership that goes back over a decade, in 2024 we were delighted to work with Pennies on the appointment of Lori Cunningham as Chief Partner Officer.
Having held senior roles at Vodafone, Countrywide and Telegraph Media Group, Lori’s experience across digital transformation, strategy, business development and brand management was recognised by CEO, Alison Hutchinson, as being key to helping Pennies and its partners ‘deliver the next phase of growth’.
Shelter
We were delighted to advise Shelter on its appointment of former Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Helen MacNamara CB as Chair of Trustees in the autumn. The longstanding charity is well known for offering support to those affected by homelessness, whether that’s in-person during one-to-one sessions where personalised help with housing issues and homelessness if given, over the phone or online.
Perhaps less well known, people can also go to Shelter to access free legal advice and to appoint a lawyer who will attend court to help if they have lost their homes or are facing eviction.
Shelter also carries out research to understand the UK’s housing problem, working with communities to get to the crux of the issues before running national campaigns and developing policies to help solve them, while simultaneously putting on the pressure for change from the top.
Helen previously held the role of Director General of Housing and Planning at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The Bread and Butter Thing
Working with The Bread and Butter Thing to appoint three new Trustees – James Truscott, Simone Gondwe and Barry Fine – to its board, gave us the opportunity to look deeper into food clubs, and the necessity of their existence across the UK. These food clubs are set up for people who don’t want to use food banks, but can’t afford to buy groceries from the supermarket. Users simply register by sending a text detailing their full name and the hub they want to be associated with and then, once a week, they receive a text message notifying them when a food van will be coming to their area. A reply of ‘YES’ confirms their spot and they are added to the list.
The bags of food that they are able to collect is split into fruit and vegetables, cupboard goods and chilled goods and cost members only £8.50 when their retail value is between £40 to £50.
Aside from providing this service, The Bread and Butter Thing also uses its data to help inform reform, by painting a picture of what low-income houses look like in the UK.
Arts
The Royal College of Art
At MBS, we are passionate about the arts, so advising The Royal College of Art in its appointment of Suzy Black as an Independent Member to its council was a privilege. Suzy is Group HR Director of Guardian Media Group and joined The Council in March of this year.
The Royal College of Art is the world’s most influential postgraduate institution of art and design and has campuses across London in Battersea, South Kensington and White City. It was founded in 1837 in Somerset House, and offers post-graduate courses across architecture, arts and humanities, communication and design and has an impressive roster of alumni which includes renowned sculptors, painters, actors and fashion designers like Henry Moore, David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Alan Rickman and Zandra Rhodes.
We are extremely proud of the work that we do with these inspiring organisations which are doing so much for people globally. To be able to use our expertise to help each one continue to further their mission is a true pleasure, and as we cast our minds ahead to 2025, we look forward to continuing to support a variety of charities and businesses across areas that we are particularly passionate about.
In the meantime, we wish you all a very Happy New Year and every best wish for 2025.
