Kirkland & Ellis Foundation Makes Second Round of Charitable Donations for 2016
Partners in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP, along with the Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, have committed in excess of £500,000 to charitable organizations in 2016. This month, the Firm announced it will donate a further £250,000 across seven charities in the London area. In total, Kirkland and its partners have given more than £1.25 million to local charities in the capital since January 2013.
2016 recipients have included:
- The 999 Club, which provides a shelter and other help for homeless people in Deptford;
- Blue Sky, a charity based in Uxbridge that provides work for convicts on release for six months, resulting in dramatically reduced reoffending rates;
- Chance UK, based in Finsbury Park, which provides mentoring for five to 11 year-old children who are excluded from school due to behavioral issues;
- Hackney Quest, which provides a community centre and various programs to help people on Hackney estates;
- Hillside Clubhouse, a charity based in Kings Cross which helps people with mental health issues into work by running a centre with care, catering facilities and a café open to the public;
- Honeypot, a children’s charity that enhances the lives of young carers and vulnerable children aged five to 12 years old by providing respite breaks and on-going outreach support throughout a child’s formative years;
- The ROBES project, a winter night shelter for the homeless in South London;
- Three theatres - RSC, Donmar Warehouse and Royal Court; and
- Spitalfields Crypt Trust, which helps people with addiction and homelessness.
One of the recipient charities, Chance UK, was invited to Kirkland’s London office at 30 St. Mary Axe (or ‘the Gherkin’ as it is commonly known) to receive its donation in person. Gracia McGrath OBE, Chief Executive of Chance UK, accepted a cheque on behalf of the charity and was accompanied by seven children and their mentors from Chance UK, who toured the iconic London building (please see attached photograph).
Ms. McGrath said: “Chance UK are immensely grateful to Kirkland & Ellis for their support of the work of Chance UK and the other excellent child & youth programmes through their foundation. It is incredible to see that Kirkland are stepping up their donations at a time when so many are cutting back. This funding means that many vital services will survive to support some of our most vulnerable children and families.”
She continued, “Our children and their mentors were excited to be able to visit the Gherkin as well as to meet some of the team that are supporting our work.”
The Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, founded in 1982, provides monetary support to charitable and law-related organizations serving a wide range of communities, initiatives and people. Each year, the Foundation supports hundreds of charitable efforts through annual contributions from Kirkland partners. Employees, associates and partners of the Firm can also have charitable contributions matched through the Foundation's Employee Matching Program. In 2015, the Foundation donated approximately US$11 million to nearly 1,200 charitable organizations globally.
Lisa Cawley, a partner in the Kirkland London office, who sits on the Foundation committee, said: “It is very important to us all at Kirkland that we ‘give back’. We are delighted to support a wide range of charities, helping young people, those with mental health issues, homeless people, the Arts and others, and we have enjoyed developing what we hope will be a lasting relationship with the charities we support.”
About Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis LLP (www.kirkland.com) is a 1,700-attorney law firm representing global clients in private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions, restructuring, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in London, Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.
