Pro bono Advisory

We believe that one of the most effective ways in which we can make a meaningful difference is by sharing the professional knowledge and skills we possess as a business.

We pursue this through our Pro bono Advisory initiative, offering free professional advice to social purpose organisations. This advice can take the form of long-term project commitments, or workshops which offer immediate support on a specific issue our charity partners are facing.

Watch Christian Savvides, Global Partner and Pro-bono Advisory sponsor, talk about why this programme is so important.

Offering pro-bono advisory is one of the key ways we can make a meaningful difference to charities and social enterprises working to combat inequalities and climate change.

Global Partner and Pro bono Advisory sponsor Christian Savvides

Examples of some of our current pro bono mandates

Our pro bono projects are led by diverse teams in terms of personality and seniority. We hope that by sharing the professional knowledge and skills we possess as a business we can make a meaningful difference to our pro bono clients. Read a summary of two of our past mandates in the UK and US below, or find out more in our 2023 Progress Report.

Giving young people a second chance at success

As one of the first Alternative to Incarceration programs for young people in the US, Avenues for Justice (AFJ) has diverted New York City’s court-involved and at-risk youth away from incarceration for more than 40 years.

AFJ provides ongoing court advocacy along with online and onsite programmes for workforce training, education, mental health and mentoring to nearly 400 young people aged between 13 – 24 each year. It is one of the most successful, cost-effective models in the US, with just 6% of their participants being reconvicted within three years of enrolment in their programme.

We have been working with AFJ to help them examine expansion into different jurisdictions in New York City so they can meet the demand for their #ServicesNotCells service model.

Success starts with literacy

The ability to read is a fundamental life skill, yet England has one of the lowest literacy rates in the developed world. Innovations for Learning (IFL) wants to help break this cycle and set children up to succeed early.

R&Co4Generations is a proud partner of their online reading programme, TutorMate, which provides direct and sustained support to struggling young readers aged 5 to 7 in schools across the UK. Rothschild & Co colleagues volunteer 30 minutes weekly throughout the academic year to provide vital reading practice.

In addition to providing IFL with reading volunteers, our Global Advisory team members have been helping the organisation better understand the economic impact of supporting young children’s literacy.

Their task was to develop a methodology that can quantify the financial impact that a year's worth of reading support could make on a child's life, and how this outcome might differ compared with a child who did not receive this support and fell below national minimum literacy standards.