Sheffield Charity To Benefit Following Bumper Funding Boost From Law Firm

A charity which helps children and adults with disabilities in Sheffield is set to benefit from a bumper £43,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell’s city centre office, after staff at the firm spent a year raising funds for the good cause. 

Paces were voted for by staff at the law firm’s Sheffield office to be their Charity of the Year for 2017 as part of a nationwide initiative with the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF). 

Established in 1997, the IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.6 million to third sector organisations. 

Following 12 months of fundraising activities, including a campaign to raise £20,000 in a month to celebrate IMCF’s 20th anniversary, nationally, the law firm raised a £180,000 during 2017 – a record for Irwin Mitchell. 

Staff in Sheffield raised funds for Paces in a variety of ways which included holding weekly dress down days, taking part in a sponsored obstacle course and by holding a festive market. 

The huge donation will help the charity in their mission to improve the lives of their patrons by providing conductive education to children and adults living with motor disorders, such as cerebral palsy.

To put that into context, it costs almost £10,000 for a child to attend Paces School full-time for one term, while it’s just over £20,000 a year for a specialist outreach worker to support children and their families in learning the skills and confidence to support their child’s on-going development.

Niall Baker, Regional Managing Partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office, said: 

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It’s an honour to be able to provide this donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

Last year we celebrated 20 years of the IMCF and I am delighted that thanks to the creativity and generosity of Irwin Mitchell employees, we made our anniversary year a record breaking one nationally.

Everyone at Irwin Mitchell is passionate about giving back to the communities we operate in and making a real difference to the lives of those supported by our Charities of the Year.

We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved last year. Hearing how this donation is going to benefit local people, who are supported by Paces, is spurring on our staff to think of bigger and better ways to fundraise for this year’s good cause.
Niall Baker - Managing Partner - Court of Protection and Public Law

Dr Spencer Pitfield, Chief Executive of Paces, added: “We can only do what we do at Paces thanks to the amazing work of fundraisers who provide the money to allow us to support as many people as possible.

“On behalf of the team here, and the children, adults and families we help, I would like to thank Irwin Mitchell for their year of support.”