INSIGHT
Procurement in Profile – March 202426 March 2024
By Rebecca Rees and Lucy James
The charity sector is incredibly diverse and we work with a range of charities from those influencing climate change progress at an international level to those enhancing local communities through support work to those in need including the elderly and people with disabilities, mental health problems and addiction issues.
What links all charities is that they are tackling important issues across, and for the benefit of, society. As regulation increases and funding dwindles, we help them to operate and thrive.
Our charity clients work for their money and many are complex commercial businesses operating in a highly regulated and closely scrutinized environment. As the need for their services increases, many have felt the pain of budget cuts. We help them to think in new and more sophisticated ways and bring valuable commercial skills and reassuring protection regarding regulatory risks. We also work with local authorities, helping them to identify the vital services that charities can provide, negotiate contracts and manage successful relationships.
Charities expect a lot of themselves – delivering their services to a consistently high standard is always a priority. When lack of funding threatens this, many choose to withdraw their services rather than compromise quality. But with society’s high expectations and increasing press scrutiny, this can all too often have a negative reception. We offer a steady, guiding hand, and bring essential legal experience and cutting edge commercial expertise to help them navigate difficulties and protect their reputation.
Our role is to help charities promote their charitable purposes, be more commercial and fulfill their promises and obligations. Providing governance advice and helping to ensure compliance with charity law and regulatory requirements is the cornerstone of our work. We advise on a full range of governance issues as well as provide broader support such as through trustee training. We often advise boards at a strategic level on wider issues like group structuring, asset optimisation and staffing strategy, and bring wider skills to projects such as act as the ability to act project manager on restructuring projects.
We also offer much more to our clients by providing expert skills in other specialist areas. We are a full service law firm and charities can benefit from specialist skills in areas including, for example, pensions, land acquisitions and financing.
Broad and specialist – our firm’s expertise ranges from employment to real estate, disputes, tax, finance and beyond. Always agile and open - through our specialist charity sector team, clients have the support of our entire firm at their fingertips.
In brief
- An holistic approach with sound commercial advice across the legal spectrum
- Trusted advisors we are collegiate, easy to access and quick to add value
- High profile clients include The Brandon Trust, Walsingham, Joseph Rowntree, National Autistic Society, Action on Hearing Loss, Dimensions UK and St Christopher’s
- Experts in housing, working with providers across the UK and trade bodies including the Chartered Institute of Housing
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INSIGHT
Webinar: Procurement Act 2023 – 10 things you need to know!19 January 2024
By Rebecca Rees and Lucy James