Leading commercial law firm Muckle LLP is celebrating 20 years of the Muckle Community Fund, which has helped hundreds of charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations across Tyne and Wear, Teesside, Northumberland and Cumbria.
Since it was set up in 2002, the Community Fund has awarded £603,370 in grants to 662 charities and organisations across the North of England. But grant giving is just one of the ways Muckle LLP and its people give back to the region. As well as donating 1% of its annual profits to the fund, the award-winning law firm also gives up to £140,000 worth of free legal advice to charities and community organisations every year.
This week, to mark the 20-year milestone, local charities Success4All, The Recruitment Junction, Oasis Community Housing and The Country Trust joined Muckle LLP to celebrate and share their stories of how they have benefited from the fund over the years.
Hazel Ditchburn, Corporate Relationships Manager at Oasis Community Housing said: “Muckle LLP is deeply passionate about making a positive impact on our communities and we are incredibly fortunate that they continue to stand with us in our mission to give hope to people facing homelessness.
“Over the years, they have given up their time to prepare and serve Christmas dinners at our drop-in centres, headed out at the crack of dawn to take part in rough sleeper counts and provided pro-bono legal advice.”
Hugh Welch, Muckle LLP Senior Partner said: “Twenty years is a significant milestone for the fund, and it was important to us that we used this opportunity to celebrate with some of the charities we’ve been lucky enough to work with over the years.
“Through the Community Fund, we have been able to build lasting relationships that have had an impact on not only the charities but also our firm and the people who work here.”
“If you had told me 20 years ago when we started that we would be here today having awarded over half a million in funding, I’m not sure I would have believed you. It’s been fantastic to see how far we’ve come, but we’re now looking to the future and how we can make an even bigger impact on the communities we serve. We’ve recently launched our five-year plan which sees the Community Fund transition from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) model toward a more sustainable and accountable Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework, which includes aiming to achieve B-Corp status. It’s important that we make it clear to everyone in the business and to our clients that Muckle has chosen to put its values right at the heart of what we do.”
To find out more about Muckle LLP’s Community Fund and volunteering activities, visit https://www.muckle-llp.com/how-we-work/being-a-responsible-business/