Allsop, one of the UK’s leading property consultancies, has launched a company-wide initiative to raise funds for a charity working to empower women and girls through its focus on sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene.
The Cycle, which also provides menstrual education in India, has worked with communities in need for more than 25 years and is Allsop's charity in focus this year, with the consultancy rekindling a link it established with the organisation in 2008.
Scott Tyler, Allsop managing partner, told CoStar News that he wants the firm to raise more than its £15,000 donation target for The Cycle, with each division looking to raise £1,000 through activities like charity runs, cycles and bakes.
Tyler and Allsop equity partner Jeremy Hodgson, visited India in 2010 to learn more about the charity, which has had various iterations over the years, and to see first-hand how their company's donations were helping to supporting communities in the south east of India.
"The whole thing is an educational process," Tyler tells CoStar News. "When we went over there, we realised that something we take for granted, like fresh water, without it you actually have nothing and that feeds through to the whole hygiene piece. By going over there you really see it first-hand.
"I did seven days over there and it was a wake-up call – actually seeing [the work] first-hand and on the ground is important. You come back and you feel like you've learned something and feel that hopefully you've done something to improve the lives of young people."
More than 15 years later, two Allsop employees, Tilda Power-Shock, the digital creator and city marketing coordinator, and Evie Robertson, senior associate, are in India visiting communities being supported by The Cycle. Tyler says the two women will feed back their experiences to help colleagues get their back behind their money raising efforts.
"They probably will get their hands dirty with any build projects that are going on. But I think it is more of an education," Tyler said.
"We felt that sending the two women there [will help them] to understand a little bit more the slant and direction that the charity has taken over the last 15 years since myself and Jeremy were there.
"It's a good thing to do to feedback and we can learn a little bit more from what is going on on the ground today."
Allsop supports a number of charities, including LandAid, and has managed the Pat Allsop Charitable Trust for the last three decades. Tyler says the consultancy likes to focus particularly on one charity each year to have a greater immediate impact.
He adds that the causes which they support all have a shared theme of children and education, having also previously supported Honeypot, the non-profit organisations working to enhance the lives of vulnerable children and young carers aged 5-12 years.
"When I look at what Allsop supports, whether it's through The Cycle this year, which has women and children involved, or the Pat Allsop Trust, which has got education and children at its heart, or LandAid which, again, looks to end youth homelessness, I guess the connection is young people.
"With LandAid, there is a property connection in that fact that surveyors are getting behind eradicating youth homelessness by creating opportunities and building to do that. The three are all linked in a way with a theme to help children and youth."
The funds raised from this year's campaign with The Cycle will be allocated towards creating school toilet facilities for girls, providing menstrual hygiene training and procuring washable sanitary towels for those in need.
Tyler says the work with The Cycle is likely to run into the 2026 financial year and says the firm is open to suggestions from its employees for charities or focuses in future years.
He adds: "I think there is always an opportunity here if someone puts their hand up and says, 'right, in 2026 I really want us to support X, Y or Z', then we will have a look at it and what we can do. But it's important for us to get behind that one charity that us probably new to the business."
You can visit Allsop's fundraising page here.