Wow! What an exciting year 2022 has been so far for the Strategic Solutions Community Foundation!
Since its inception in September 2019, the committee has made it our mission to support and enrich our local communities by donating to local causes where we can make a real difference. We have some exciting updates from our activities this year that we would love to share with you.
In February, we hit an exciting milestone! Rob (Charity Secretary) and Rachael (Treasurer) attended an event at Arts University Bournemouth run by the ColourWorks Foundation for MyTIME Young Carers. We were absolutely delighted to present a cheque which took our total donations to over £100,000!! MyTime is an absolutely fantastic charity, providing much-needed support to a group of incredibly inspirational young people. They are just one of the 20 amazing causes we have supported this year (too many to list!). Please follow our social media channels to receive updates and information on all the invaluable work that these organisations do.
In March, we were immensely proud to be granted charity status. SSCF is now officially a Charitable Trust. Amongst other benefits such as being able to utilise Gift Aid in future and accept legacies, this also means we have a wider remit as to how funds can be distributed. The decisions of which are at the discretion of our 12 fantastic Trustees, who commit their time and effort to support causes and keep the charity running smoothly.
In October, our dedication and commitment to our local communities were recognised by an independent panel at the Money Marketing Awards, being named the ‘Charity Champion of the Year 2022’. The judges commented that “the impact they have had in their community came across clearly in the firm’s submission, which helped to win its award. The judges could identify a clear path between financial services, advice, altruism, community impact and measuring it.”
Looking forward towards the end of the year, we have big plans to see out 2022 with a bang. We have organised a ’12 days of Christmas’ initiative and invited the Strategic Solutions team to recommend charities, clubs, and organisations that they feel would benefit from our help, each receiving £1,000. These donations will be made in the twelve working days leading up to Christmas and we will be shining a spotlight on the fantastic causes we have chosen on our social media channels, so make sure you take a look!
To date, the Foundation has donated £129,018.05 to 51 thoroughly deserving causes and is largely considered to be one of the most worthwhile initiatives we run within the company.
A few words from our Chairman, Jeff Steninger:
“As Chairman of the Charity I am immensely proud of our charity and what we have achieved over the past few years. Our aim is to help and support local good causes in any way we can that benefits them. We have also had volunteers across Strategic Solutions give up their time to help out at special events organised by local charities. The communities we all live and work in are very important to us all so being able to give back to them either financially or by volunteer support does give a feeling of immense pride to each and every adviser/employee within the company.”
We are always on the lookout for new causes to help. If you are involved with or know of, any causes that may benefit from our support, please contact community@ssfs.co.uk
