Pinsent Masons staff up for the challenge

Some of the sharpest legal minds from Pinsent Masons’ Belfast office will swap the office for the storeroom this month as part of a province-wide fundraising effort for Cancer Focus NI.

Deirdre Cormican (Legal Director), Jodie Rankin (Associate), and Gill Warwick (HR and Operations Manager) will hope their powers of persuasion can be used to convince shoppers to be generous with their money when they take over one of the charity’s biggest local shops.

Organised in conjunction with Business in the Community, the team from Pinsent Masons will manage Cancer Focus NI’s shop on the Ormeau Road from 10am to 4pm on Friday, May 24th. On the day, the theme will be ‘Hello Summer’, with face painting and refreshments available, and people can enter a raffle to win fantastic prizes.

Pinsent Masons is one of 12 businesses to sign up for ‘Take Over Day’, with these in direct competition as they aim to raise the most money and be crowned the ‘Challenge Champion’. Their totals from Friday trading will be added to the monies collected prior to the main event.

The fund-raising efforts of Deirdre, Jodie, and Gill have already got off to a great start, with Pinsent Masons making a £1,000 donation. Other events to have taken place in recent weeks include a successful coffee morning and bake-off competition, drinks tombola, and office quiz.

As ‘Take Over Day’ draws closer, the team has been dealing with a large volume of donations consisting of adult’s and children’s clothing and footwear, as well as books, toys, household items, and bric-a-brac. All these items will be on sale in the shop on the day of the event.

Meg McKeown, Corporate Fundraising Officer at Cancer Focus NI, said: “We are delighted to have Pinsent Masons take over our Ormeau Road charity shop this year in our annual Charity Shop Challenge event in partnership with Business in the Community (BITC).”

“Every year, we need to raise £4.4 million to continue to deliver our services to local people facing cancer, so thanks to the participation and engagement of the employees at Pinsent Masons, our impact is sustained in Northern Ireland.

“For every £1 raised, 82p is spent directly on the delivery of our cancer services – or invested into pioneering research – here in Northern Ireland,” added Meg.

The ‘Take Over Day’ challenge is the latest charitable endeavour Pinsent Masons is involved with. Last year, worthy causes benefited to the tune of thousands of pounds through its Environmental, Social and Governance policy. Hundreds of hours were also volunteered from January to December in a further sign of its commitment to helping and supporting local communities.

The company regularly engages with charities as part of its ‘Responsible Business’ model, and last year, some of the charities that received assistance included Women’s Aid, the Simon Community, Barnardo’s, The People’s Kitchen, and their office charity – Children’s Heartbeat Trust.

Pinsent Masons also made its boardroom available for meetings to take place for Cara Friend – an LGBTQI+ charity helping people aged 12 to 25 – and the Women in Business network.

Staff contributed generously through various office collections and themed jumper days, coffee mornings, baking competitions, clothes swap, raffles, and a Rugby World Cup sweepstake. They also attended Mental Health awareness events and the launch of the Belfast Mela.

Andrea McIlroy-Rose, who heads up Pinsent Masons’ Belfast office and its property team, said: “Charities perform crucial work when it comes to helping people from all backgrounds and walks of life. For that reason, Pinsent Masons strives to raise as much money as possible during the year to make sure these organisations can deliver the best care they can.

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank staff who either planned or participated in fundraisers, gave up their free time, or donated cash to deserving causes,” Andrea added, “and wish those taking part in the ‘Take Over Challenge’ the very best of luck.”