Giving

In October, FIECON associate Anouk walked 90,000 miles over 12 days, and raised £750 including FIECON match funding, to support funding for world-class research, high-quality services, and campaigns that matter most to people suffering from arthritis.

Arthritis is a condition that affects approximately 10 million people in the UK. There are many types of arthritis, but the most common symptoms are pain, swelling, and stiffness in the joints. Although a definitive cure is yet to be discovered, there are treatments aimed at alleviating symptoms and slowing down the disease progression.

The charitable organisation, Versus Arthritis, is working towards a future free of arthritis. This organisation recently conducted a ‘walk to World Arthritis Day’ where Anouk, along with just under 600 other people set themselves a step goal of 7,500 steps a day from October 1st until October 12th (World Arthritis Day). The group achieved over 52,000 steps combined, and a whopping £44,750 was donated to the cause.

When participating in the challenge, Anouk said “It’s been challenging at times, but the cause is really giving me the motivation”.

To join a fundraiser or start one of your own, Versus Arthritis has a fundraising page to get you started! 

The word 'Kromvojoj' ('krom') comes from Esperanto and means 'other possible and diverse paths' and is the name of a self-sufficient, ultra-distance cycle event set in Catalonia's rich landscape. In living up to its heady interpretation the route seeks to expose each rider to the beauty, history, and culture of Catalonia. 1,400km of crisp winding asphalt begin in Reus, outside Tarragona, and skirts inland, NE, following the coast towards Perpignan, before heading deep into the Pyrenees, on inclines that seek to grind down the hardiest of souls and gears. Once out of the mountains, the route leads south into yet more scenic... and lumpy terrain (there is over 24,000m elevation gain!) before a final amble back to Reus.

On Saturday 12th May 2023 FIECON's Owen Harrison and his pal Christian set off to tackle the Krom, their bikes loaded with all their kit (including lights, a bivouac (bivvy), and lots of Haribo), for a self-sufficient week on the road. Despite a limited understanding of Spanish and having never slept under a bush in a bivvy, the intention was to ride, endure, crawl, and immerse themselves in the lap around Catalonia.

Sponsorship for the bicycle ride raised over £3,300 (including match funding from FIECON) for the Disasters Emergency Committee to support the response to major emergencies like the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. The Disasters Emergency Committee brings together 15 UK charities – the British Red Cross included – to raise funds for an effective, coordinated response to a major overseas crisis. Immediate priorities are search and rescue, medical treatment for the injured, shelter for those who have lost their homes, heating in safe spaces, blankets, warm clothes, and ensuring people have food and clean water. 

In 2022, we have seen so many team members living this value through give as you earn (GAYE), fundraising, and volunteering, and we will continue to create an environment that encourages this. We have created a social responsibility role to lead and give more opportunities for everyone to get involved in our ongoing commitment to doing better for individuals, communities, and the planet. This desire sits at the heart of FIECON to create as much positive impact and as little negative impact as possible.

During the year, FIECON also made a number of key donations, which means total giving for 2022 exceeded £170,000; cumulatively since inception, we have now given over £600,000.

A GREAT achievement, which brings us one step closer to our long-term giving goals.

At the start of the year, we were rocked by the Ukraine crisis and put a plan in place to help by donating:

• £75,000 to the Disaster Emergency Committee and a school in Warsaw providing emergency shelter for refugees.
• Essential items were transported to Poland for Ukrainian refugees.

We ended the year continuing to support the education sector in line with our belief that if education is invested in and improved across the world, this should in principle be the building block for addressing poverty, health, inequality, climate change, and many other world issues we face today and for the foreseeable future:

• £80,000 donated to the Akanksha Foundation which was matched by another donor and an Akanksha board member (so £240,000 including this!)

This donation is specifically aimed at combating learning loss observed during the pandemic in Akanksha schools and communities with the following tactics: mental health, arts, and sports therapy; one-on-one extended learning; personalised digital learning; personalized learning plans for parents and children; peer-to-peer empowerment.

Akanksha is literally taking children off the streets in India and giving them a safe environment to learn, grow, and flourish (aligned with one of our core values). They have done this so well, that government bodies in India are seeking to learn from Akanksha and implement many of their methods in public and privately funded schools. 

In December, we took part in the Save the Children Christmas jumper day fundraiser, raising over £200 for ‘SchoolBags’ to help transform children’s lives through education.

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FIECON support and encourage our team members to give back by match funding sponsorship, offering 4 days of paid volunteering leave and holding a companywide charity event every year.

In September 2022, we held our charity event for the Link to Hope charity. Link to Hope offers help to people of all backgrounds regardless of race, colour or creed with no qualifying criteria other than that they are poor and marginalised. Their mission to alleviate poverty and deliver humanitarian aid through education and social care projects aligns with our core FIECON values.

We filled and wrapped sixty two shoe boxes with essential items for families and older people to be sent to people in Ukraine for Christmas.

Through our work at FIECON, we help to launch treatments for rare and often debilitating diseases. We invited Dravet Syndrome UK Chair of Trustees, Galia Wilson, to talk to us about her first hand experience of how patients and their families live with the complex and devastating rare disease; Dravet Syndrome.

Living with a child or adult who has Dravet Syndrome can be a very difficult and potentially isolating experience for families. As well as experiencing severe, difficult-to-control seizures, children and adults with Dravet Syndrome have varying degrees of intellectual disability and a spectrum of associated conditions which may include autism, ADHD, behaviours that challenge and difficulties with speech, mobility, eating and sleep.

An understanding of the patient perspective highlighted the benefits that FIECON deliver and help to improve lives.

In September 2022, a team of FIECONites took on the Surrey Three Peaks challenge to fund raise for Dravet Syndrome UK.  Abbie, Emily, Kate, Katie, Laura, Lauren, Leanne, Lindsay, Megan, Molly, Sophie, Vicki and Will, climbed Holmbury Hill, Leigh Hill and Box Hill during a 22 mile circular walk taking over nine hours to complete! The team raised over £2,700 including match funding from FIECON.

Through our work at FIECON, we experience firsthand how patients and their families live with rare diseases and we help to launch treatments for these rare and often debilitating diseases such as Dravet Syndrome.

Dravet Syndrome is a complex and devastating condition. As well as experiencing severe, difficult-to-control seizures, children and adults with Dravet Syndrome have varying degrees of intellectual disability and a spectrum of associated conditions which may include autism, ADHD, behaviours that challenge and difficulties with speech, mobility, eating and sleep.

Living with a child or adult who has Dravet Syndrome can be a very difficult and potentially isolating experience for families. Dravet Syndrome UK, guide families through the challenges, provide a comprehensive range of emotional, practical and financial support services and reassure the patients and families they are not alone in dealing with a Dravet Syndrome diagnosis and life with this rare disease. 

On Saturday 16^th July 2022, 6 FIECONites cycled 200km OVERNIGHT (yes, overnight!) from London to Dunwich beach in Suffolk in the Dunwich Dynamo charity cycle ride. The work at FIECON often involves launching treatments that help patients with rare diseases, therefore they decided to raise funds and awareness for the following patient advocacy groups who have helped us understand more out the patient journey by contributing to our Patient Perspectives podcasts:

• FOP Friends
• Dravet Syndrome UK
• Pompe Support Network
• UKATPA (ATTR amyloidosis Patients Association)

Well done to Emily Allen, Lauren Gray, Indeg Sly, Owen Harrison, Guy Lacey and Andrew Laws for completing such a fantastic challenge and raising over £4,000 (including match funding from FIECON).

At FIECON, our society is at the heart of everything we do, and we work towards making the world a better place. To this end, we donated £75,000 to organisations that will help with humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine losing their lives, their loved ones, their homes, and enduring separation from their families.

We donated to the Disaster Emergency Committee providing food, water, shelter and medical assistance in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries, and to the 'Give me time' foundation, which helps Ukrainian citizens find accommodation in the homes of Polish families.

FIECON’s core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide our day to day actions and make FIECON a great place to work:

❤️ Learn, grow and flourish together.
❤️ Deliver results and delight clients.
❤️ Improve lives and build a better world.

To contribute to improving lives and building a better world, FIECON donated a total of £150,000 split across two charities in 2021, which will bring our charitable giving in 2021 up to ~£160,000.

We decided to support charities that seek sustainable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. The foundation for these solutions, we believe, starts with education:

• Teach A Man To Fish: helps young people to gain entrepreneurship and life skills through practical experience: planning, leading and running a real business in their school. Over the past 16 years just over 438,000 young people have gained life skills, business knowledge and confidence from participating in the School Enterprise Challenge run by TAMTF. With our donation, we will help expand their reach to 60 schools in poor communities in Honduras and Uganda.
  
  
• The Akanksha Foundation: offers free-schooling in India via a lottery-based admission process to ensure equitable access to education for ALL children irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.
  The schooling offered by Akanksha is not state run, and boasts higher education and employment statistics for their pupils that pale in comparison to state led counterparts (e.g. 95% of the alumni continue college post their graduation from Akanksha schools versus the State average of 68%). With our donation, 200 students will be supported in 2022.
  
  Our belief is that if education is invested in and improved across the world, this should in principle be the building block for addressing poverty, health, inequality, climate change and many other world issues we face today and for the foreseeable future. We are all very proud to be part of an organisation that gives back, and actively encourage our people to do the same.

This challenge was devised by Associate, Emily Allen as a little bit of extra motivation for the team to get moving, get outdoors, and make the most of our surroundings while perhaps taking a moment or two to reflect on the charity we were donating to, Crisis.

We are all incredibly lucky to be able to go outside for exercise, and then return to our lovely warm and safe homes; far too many people are homeless and without the means to change their situation.

This was a 10-day challenge from 8th to 17th October 2021, to record as many steps as possible, with a prize for the person who achieved the most steps overall.

All challengers donated £10 to Crisis which was then match funded by FIECON. A total of £618 was donated to Crisis.

The challenge winner was Will Wright with 194,080 steps including 33,487 in one day!

After the success of ‘Easier said than run’ and ‘Locked In? Workout!’ (and the continued restrictions imposed by COVID-19) Associate, Emily Allen devised another team challenge: ‘Better together’!

The aim of ‘Better together' was to try and connect Team FIECON as we all worked remotely. As Lockdown can be very lonely for some people, we decided to make donations to Samaritans and make the challenge to cover the distance needed as a team to virtually ‘bring' all FIECONites that lived >30 km away from our London office back to London e.g., Our Head of Business Development, Karl Freemyer, based in New Jersey ~3,459 miles/5,567km away.

Any activity that had a km- or mile-based setting was applicable e.g., walking, running, cycling, bike/row/ski ergs, treadmills, steppers, or cross-trainers. If it recorded a distance, it was allowed!

We did it! We managed to cover the total distance needed to virtually 'bring' all of our team back to the London office including Karl in the USA on 14th June 2021!

All participants donated £10 to Samaritans which was then match funded by FIECON. A total of £830 was donated to Samaritans.

Individual challenge winners won prizes too.

• Walking: Katie Breslin
• Running: Sareena Bains
• Cycling: Owen Harrison

Team FIECON take on challenges and sponsored events which are match funded by FIECON every year.

At the beginning of 2021, the UK went back into lockdown, and everyone had to work from home again.

Following on from the success of ‘Easier said than run’, ‘Locked In? Workout!’ was devised by Associate Emily Allen. Random teams of 3 people were created who then had to try to hit the goal of 2021 minutes’ worth of activity from 5^th January to 21^st February 2021.

All participants donated £10 to Papyrus (Prevention of young suicide), Hope for Children, Refuge or Motor Neurone Disease Association, which was then match funded by FIECON. £1,100 was donated across the four charities.

In November 2020, the UK went back into lockdown, and everyone had to work from home again. To try and help relieve lockdown boredom, a remote charity event: ‘Easier said than run’ was created by FIECON Associate, Alex Eddy.

‘Easier said than run’ was a team challenge with the goal of completing as many kilometres as possible of any exercise (running, walking, cycling, and swimming) in teams over the course of 3 weeks. Strava was used to track activities, share photos, and make encouraging comments to keep everyone motivated. The activities were weighted to make the total team distances comparable, whatever the exercise.

All participants donated £10 to Movember and/or Mountbatten Hospice Isle of Wight, which was then match funded by FIECON. £1,000 was donated to Movember and £480 to Mountbatten Hospice.

The winning team with the longest distance covered were Augusta, Guy, Jenika, Kate, Katie and Natalie who all received Amazon vouchers as prizes too!

Natalie and Kate, Welwyn Garden City 21km Centenary Walk

In December 2020, FIECON donated £50,000, over five charities, to help them continue to provide their vital services to a wide range of people most affected by COVID-19, and who need additional support at this time:

• Crisis: help homeless people by providing emotional and wellbeing support, nutritious meals, and a safe place to stay.

• Samaritans: provide support and respond to calls for help, via their mental health and suicide prevention helplines 24/7.

• Age UK: support older people who need additional assistance especially during lockdown and who may be unable to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

• Refuge: provide lifesaving services to those where home is not a safe space. Staying at home increases the risk of domestic abuse for thousands of women and children.

•The Trussell Trust: supports a nationwide network of food banks to provide emergency food and assistance to people locked in poverty or suffering financial hardship.

We are thankful to everyone working in the community and on the frontlines, helping vulnerable people.

Together, by providing support for those who need it most, we hope to ease the burden in these challenging times.

Our vision has, and always will be, to use economics for the good of humanity.

Now, more than ever, we must do all we can to care for the people most affected by the pandemic.

During the first National lockdown 2020, FIECON donated £40,000 to four charities, who are providing vital services during these extremely challenging times.

• NHS Charities together which supports the NHS staff and volunteers caring for COVID-19 patients
  
  
• The Trussell Trust which runs a nationwide network of food banks
  
  
• Age UK which supplies vital information, advice and services to safely help vulnerable, older people
  
  
• Refuge which provides specialist services to survivors of domestic violence, and other forms of violence against women and children
  
  We thank everyone in the community and on the frontlines supporting those in need.
  
  Together we will beat this deadly disease!

In 2019, FIECON donated over £26,000 to Teach a Man to Fish, a charity guided by a simple, all-encompassing mission: to empower young people with the skills they need to succeed in school, work, and life. They focus on developing and emerging countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Central America.
Their flagship programme, the School Enterprise Challenge, helps young people to gain entrepreneurship and life skills through experience: planning, leading and running a real business in their school.

FIECON's donation covered two stages of training in business planning and business implementation for two lead teachers per school; a full suite of step-by-step educational resources for each school; ongoing support with visits; regular calls and SMS communication with students; an annual award; prize-giving and marketplace event to celebrate students’ achievements and the monitoring; evaluation and learning for the project.

N.B. In 2018, 98% of all Teach a Man to Fish income was spent on charitable activities. 

To contribute to improving lives and building a better world, we support charities that seek sustainable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.

In 2019, FIECON donated over £26,000 to the Against Malaria Foundation. The donation was allocated for distribution in Bogose Nubea Heath Zone, Sud Ubangi Province, and will fund 15,068 long-lasting insecticidal nets that will protect an estimated 15,000 people. By FIECON’s calculations, this donation will save up to 15 lives.

The Against Malaria Foundation is a charity that provides funding to purchase and distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to populations at high risk of malaria; 40% of the world’s population lives in areas affected by malaria and something as simple as a mosquito net can go a long way.

To contribute to improving lives and building a better world, we support charities that seek sustainable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.

Find out more about our donations

In 2019, FIECON donated over £26,000 to GiveDirectly.
The donation will send money directly to people living in extreme poverty, which significantly improves their lives by giving people the means to provide for their families.

GiveDirectly are a top rated charity recommended by GiveWell, a non-profit organisation dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities through in-depth analyses. They have a rigorous procedure to locate extremely poor communities by targeting the most suitable recipients using publicly available information, conducting full audits before transferring funds and finally monitoring the use of all monies sent.

GiveDirectly manage transfers end-to-end using electronic monitoring and payment technology leading to delivery of 88% of each dollar raised being sent directly to the needy recipients. They use survey technology to collect and share real-time updates and stories in this live newsfeed.

To contribute to improving lives and building a better world, we support charities that seek sustainable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.

Find out more about our donations

FIECON support and encourage our team members to give back by match funding sponsorship, offering 4 days of paid volunteering leave and holding a companywide charity event every year. On 21st March 2019 we threw a party for Armoral Hill day centre members and their volunteers, decorating a hall, preparing, cooking and serving a two-course hot lunch and running a raffle. At the end of the party everyone was presented with daffodils and a piece of cake to take home too.

Armoral Hill Day Centre is run by volunteers, who provide a weekly opportunity for older people to socialise, participate in activities and enjoy lunch together. Half a million older people go at least 5 or 6 days a week without seeing or speaking to anyone.

In 2018, FIECON donated £33,573 to the Against Malaria Foundation. The donation will fund 25,881 long-lasting insecticidal nets in the Democratic Republic of Congo that will protect an estimated 46,586 people. By FIECON’s calculations, this donation will save up to 22 lives.

The Against Malaria Foundation is a charity that provides funding to purchase and distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to populations at high risk of malaria; 40% of the world’s population lives in areas affected by malaria and something as simple as a mosquito net can go a long way.

To contribute to improving lives and building a better world, we support charities that seek sustainable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.

Find out more about our donations