2022 Roundup

Welcome to our 2022 summary from the Hymans Robertson Foundation.

As we emerged from early 2022 Covid restrictions, we were met with an emerging cost of living crisis in the UK. Vulnerable young people and communities were increasingly impacted by rising costs and already stretched resources and services across the UK.

Our grant making commitments are guided by our principles: to secure financial futures for young people and make a positive change to communities through fundraising and volunteering. In 2022, demand for new grants increased from existing charity partners and those that had approached the Foundation for support. We had tough decisions to make. We continued to listen and be advised by our charity partners, our stakeholders and like-minded funders, ensuring we prioritised our resources to areas of most need and where we could make real differences to young people and communities. Thank you to all our partners, who bring life to the Foundation’s commitments.

We were able to offer multiyear grants to a range of charity partners which included new partners in London and Birmingham.  We also fully embedded our new mental health and wellbeing charity partner, Lifelink, with our charity network, ensuring that young people (and charity staff) who needed support could access expert help quickly.

The Board continued to directly support young people through the Foundation Bursary. £48,500 was committed during the financial year 2021/ 2022 for charities supporting young people and a further £30,000 was approved in 2022 to help young people in real hardship. Our thanks to all the charities who distribute these funds.

Find out more about the impact the funding has directly had on young people’s lives.

In 2022, our volunteers kept going that extra mile. Our extended charity network has offered specialist, active and virtual volunteering opportunities for Hymans Robertson LLP’s staff, and the mutual benefit from volunteering is now widely recognised by LLP’s staff. Although we’ve not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels, we have seen a fantastic increase in volunteering hours and fundraising activity during the year.   

Our Board of Trustees also experienced change, with new colleagues joining and established Trustees leaving the Board including the announcement from our own Chair that he’s stepping down in March 2023. Without the direction, challenge and support of our Board, the Foundation simply couldn’t deliver. Thanks to all our Trustees for your support and commitment.

Read our 2020/21 financial year annual report.

2023 brings the Foundation ongoing challenges, such as the cost of living and energy costs crisis and the need for charity partners to seek additional funding for existing and new services. The Foundation will continue to listen and support our charity network and, where possible, make meaningful introductions for our charity partners with other funders and bodies. Our support for our partners has, and will continue to be, a key element of our work and our partners tell us, a real and tangible benefit of being a Foundation partner. Our value goes beyond our funding. We remain fully committed to contributing real value to young people and communities across the UK.

Marcella Boyle

CEO