Tariq Tahir, The Sunday Times, 28th February 2010

Executives in the Square Mile can not only put something back into the community but also profit from giving time to charity.

Every six weeks Nigel Bromley leaves his City office to spend time with a local charity. Though it is a short walk for the chief executive of Gemserv, a consultancy, he might as well be going to a different planet.

Bromley, 52, has been lending his business acumen to City Gateway, a charity in the London borough of Tower Hamlets that provides training for disadvantaged young people.

In the past two years City Gateway has raised its turnover from £1m to £2.6m and its staff from 28 to 69.

To help manage this change, the charity turned to City Action, a matchmaking service run by the City of London Corporation, and aimed at channelling business expertise from one of the country’s wealthiest areas to one of its poorest.

For Bromley, working with City Gateway has allowed him to put something back into the community but it has also benefited his business.

Gemserv provides consultancy, assurance and advisory services to the utility and environmental sectors and has a turnover of about £8m. It also has a strong commitment to the community, said Bromley. He meets Darren Wolf, City Gateway’s operations officer, every six weeks for about three hours.

The charity has had to change how it operates. “It’s no different from small businesses when the owners try to do everything themselves but then they get to a certain size and that can’t continue,” said Bromley. “At an individual level I have encouraged Darren to think about the way the management team could develop.”

Other Gemserv staff from its workforce of 70 give their time as well, particularly managers from human resources and quality assurance, who have played a key role in letting City Gateway grow without overextending itself.

Staff have hosted a Dragons’ Den-style event in which youngsters present business ideas, with £500 for the winners to implement their ideas. They also undertake fundraising and help with the maintenance of the charity’s buildings.

Josh Silverman, 21, is one youngster whose life was turned round by City Gateway. He swapped crime for a job at the Reebok Gym in Canary Wharf after receiving training with the charity.

He said: “Everywhere I went for help always had an objection: too old, too young, wrong sex, wrong race. But once I contacted City Gateway the only objection was making sure I completely gave up any affiliation with crime.”

Bromley said: “We want our firm to make a positive contribution to society as well as making money so we are passionate about engaging locally. It is well worth it for what we get out of it in terms of personal development, experience and creating an environment that people are proud to work in.

“I feel humbled to be mentoring someone as talented and experienced as Darren. He has helped me to think about the world in a different way.”

Bromley believes that working with City Gateway will help his firm to retain staff. “We had a young woman who had been away for a year rejoin us and I think that our values, what we do on a charitable basis, are very important for her,” he said.

Wolf, 40, who has spent his career in the voluntary sector, recognises that a charity needs to be run in a businesslike way.

“Being a professional manager in the voluntary sector can be quite isolating sometimes and you are often separated from current business practice and thinking,” he said.

“It’s really helpful to be able to discuss issues with Nigel. We couldn’t even contemplate paying for that level of consultant support so the fact that we get it for free and have such a high quality of relationship is incredibly valuable to us.”

Davina Pilkington of City Action said: “We have seen a sharp rise in volunteering and we think that is because companies can’t give money but can give time. Companies find that they get more out of these relationships than they would by just handing over money.”

If you want to get involved visit city-action.org

Original article: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article7043535.ece