Palmer Capital has supported LandAid for five years now. Homelessness can impact anyone, at any time in their life, and it’s a problem that can have huge ramifications for those it affects, writes Emma Murray, business development manager at Palmer Capital.
As a UK-focused real estate investment manager, it felt like the perfect fit to support LandAid, not just in London but regionally, with the support of the eight regional property companies that we have in our network.
Palmer Capital HQ has two LandAid ambassadors – myself and marketing executive Sarah-Jane Webb – and our chief executive, Alex Price, sits on the fundraising committee. In addition, Gavin Bridge of Cubex Land is chair of the South West LandAid board, and Victoria Turnbull of Opus Land was chair of the Midlands LandAid board.
We became a foundation partner in 2014. LandAid has some incredible companies supporting it, including industry heavyweights such as CBRE and Savills, and we were honoured to join such an esteemed crowd.
Enhanced returns
Becoming a foundation partner meant more of a commitment from us, but – as with lots of things – the bigger the commitment, the bigger the return.
In addition to raising funds for LandAid, we have also supported it in hosting some of its events. We hosted the LandAid Ambassador Christmas Drinks at our headquarters in Mayfair in December and provide free expertise to the charity as and when required.
In return, LandAid provides fantastic networking opportunities with a diverse range of people across the industry – a way to team-build with our staff in a way that’s fun and engaging, and a chance for our brand to reach new audiences that perhaps it didn’t before.
Over the past three years, and including our corporate donations, we have raised almost £100,000. When you put this in real-world terms, this is enough to get six young people off the streets and into a home. For us, this is really what it’s all about. This has mainly been down to a number of events that we have run over the years.
The most well known are our annual poker tournament and our Money-Maker challenge. The poker tournament will celebrate its fifth year in 2019. It brings together more than 50 property professionals and typically raises around £10,000 for LandAid.
Our Money-Maker challenge is where we give each team £250 to spend on whatever they like, with the aim of raising as much money as possible. Last year was the challenge’s most successful yet, raising almost £25,000. This year, we are aiming to raise £35,000 for LandAid.
Our view is, if we can keep striving to do more and more each year, we can help LandAid help more and more people. In the same way, it would be great to see some new corporate partnerships for LandAid – if a small team such as ours can raise such an incredible amount, just think what you could do.
For more information about LandAid, visit www.landaid.org
