Societal contribution

In late 2021, we launched our environmental, social and governance (ESG) consultancy service. ESG is changing the definition of what it means for a business to succeed, as sustainable and responsible practices are now expected to go hand-in-hand with business performance. This new service is helping our clients better understand new and fast-changing guidelines, regulations and reporting tools that will affect their business.

Our approach is informed by our ESG model, which was created by our consultants as a tool to help our clients understand and navigate the various components of ESG. The model helps us to explain the key topics and the interlinking risks and opportunities they present.

ESG is a rapidly evolving and technical space that most mid-market businesses are still getting to grips with. Our dedicated ESG team, who have extensive experience in sustainability and governance, are helping our clients navigate this complex and confusing regulatory space.

We’re proud to have introduced a service which helps our clients find holistic solutions to their ESG challenges, such as cutting their carbon emissions or eliminating child labour or modern slavery from their supply chain. This is a complex, emerging area which many businesses are only beginning to consider due to regulatory or stakeholder pressure. Over the course of this year, we have helped clients implement the right governance structures and frameworks for long-term success and understand the legal consequences of making changes. We’re confident this area of our business will continue to grow as more businesses understand the need for, and value of, expert ESG consultancy.

One of our firm’s ambitions is to help create strong, sustainable and thriving communities in the places we work. To help us make more of an impact, we’ve introduced an employee volunteering scheme. Everyone at RSM is given one day per year to volunteer in their local community and they’re free to choose which registered charitable cause to support. So far, our people have volunteered over 6,300 hours of their time over the course of the programme’s first year.

We’re already starting to see our offices around the country using volunteering to promote inclusivity in offices and to make an impact locally. To spread the word and get even more people involved, we’re encouraging people to post on Yammer, our internal social network, about their experiences.

For team members who want to take their volunteering to the next level, we have also launched new trusteeship training for 2023. Charity trusteeships and school governor roles offer a more formal and very rewarding volunteering opportunity, along with a high level of responsibility and commitment. David Blacher, Office Managing Partner for London, and Nick Sladden, Chair of the RSM UK Foundation, have put together videos and training modules for employees, to support and help them learn more about the rewards and responsibilities of a trustee role.    

Case study – volunteering examples 

We bring two of our core values, respect and stewardship, to life by supporting charities through our corporate foundation, the RSM UK Foundation. It’s our way of supporting international, national and local charities and good causes through charitable donations and employee match-funding. By the end of the financial year in March 2022, the foundation had donated over £724K and supported 67 charities – bringing the foundation’s total donations to date to over £2m.

Our aim has always been to represent causes that are close to our people’s hearts and make sure they’re proud of how we choose to give back. We listen to our staff and regularly reach out to find out which causes they’d like to support – and do our best to make that happen through our foundation.

We have five core charity partnerships which enable us to support young people, environmental causes, people with a disability and people with life-threatening illness. The following are things we helped them achieve in the 12 months ending March 2022.

• The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – Our support has helped 20,000 young people start working towards a DofE award.
• Anthony Nolan – We have helped to fund 294 grants for families impacted by stem cell transplants and helped to pay for 1,166 stem cell courier journeys. 
• Leadership through Sport and Business – We have helped 52 young people from low socio-economic backgrounds take their first step towards employment.
• EDGA – We support 16 of the world’s leading golfers with disabilities and have helped give 99 individuals with a disability their first experience of golf.
• Previous years have seen us plant 2,500 trees across our communities, in partnership with Trees for Cities. As of January 2023 we continue this work with a new charitable partner, the Woodland Trust, as voted for by our people.
  
  

At RSM, we’ve also played our part in helping with international humanitarian crises. In 2022, we established a new working relationship with UNICEF UK. We supported its VaccinAid programme, donating over £111k in total – split between £57k raised by colleagues and £54k match-funded. We also supported UNICEF UK’s humanitarian campaign in Ukraine, donating over £230k in total – £115k of which was raised by colleagues. This money helped the charity to set up Blue Dot centres for displaced people on key evacuation routes across six countries. Our funds also helped to support evacuation and aid efforts for those impacted by the flooding in Pakistan, and in addition we are currently running an appeal to support those affected by the Türkiye and Syria earthquakes.

RSM has always encouraged our people to give back to society. We have done this in various ways, including office and individual match-funding and payroll giving. From April 2023 we will further support our local communities through our new charity challenge – RSM Together. This initiative gives our people another opportunity to give back locally. Each office will raise funds for a local charity of their choice and, in return, the RSM UK Foundation will donate an additional £100,000 split across the offices. It is hoped that this initiative will make a real difference to local causes at what is a particularly difficult time for the charity sector as a whole and local charities in particular.