We have announced our three nominated charities for the year ahead, pledging fundraising support to vital causes across Nottingham, Leicester and Derby.
After raising more than £5,000 for community causes over the past 12 months, employees across our three offices have selected Headway Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, Forever Stars and First Steps ED as this year’s beneficiaries.
The nominated charities initiative has been running for a decade at Nelsons, with employees at each office nominating causes close to their hearts before selecting one per office to dedicate to fundraising for the year ahead.
Leicester: Headway Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland
Our Leicester office has chosen Headway Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, a charity providing vital services to people affected by brain injuries. Since 1990, the charity has been a key provider for brain injury survivors across the county, with both city and rural support.
The organisation addresses the physical, emotional, behavioural, educational, social and cognitive changes that individuals may experience following a brain injury and offers unlimited support for as long as each person needs them.
We have had a longstanding relationship with Headway Leicester, having been the nominated charity in 2022. Clinical negligence partner Danielle Young was also made a trustee of the charity last year, following her dedicated support of the organisation and close involvement with fundraising and awareness initiatives.
Tor Berry, development manager at Headway Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, said:
“We love working with Nelsons, not just because they’re great people but because they’re committed to actively increasing our visibility. They create valuable opportunities for networking, include us in their events and are genuine partners in helping us enhance our services. From volunteering their time and fundraising for vital projects like Art Therapy, to offering our members tailored advice, their support makes a real difference.”
Nottingham: Forever Stars
The Nottingham team will be fundraising for Forever Stars, which looks to provide much-needed resources for bereaved families, as well as additional funding for mental health support.
Following the stillbirth of their daughter Emily in 2013, Michelle and Richard Daniels founded Forever Stars to support families who have experienced loss through stillbirth, infant loss and perinatal or neonatal death.
Its purpose-built family suites, community hub and remembrance garden at each of the QMC and Nottingham City hospitals enable families to stay together and spend precious moments with their baby, as well as hold naming ceremonies, take pictures and make plans for life after their loss.
Richard, co-founder of Forever Stars, said:
“We are truly honoured that Nelsons has chosen us as its charity of the year for Nottingham. Nelsons is a well-respected name in the region and its commitment to supporting families shines through in the work they do. Their fundraising efforts will directly help us provide play therapy for siblings affected by baby loss, which is a unique service we launched in March. We have already delivered over 100 sessions to support local families through their grief, and with Nelsons’ support, we can continue making a real difference for baby loss families across our city.”
Derby: First Steps ED
The Derby office has selected First Steps ED, an eating disorder support and recovery charity that offers early help, therapy, and lived experience support for children, young people, and adults across the UK.
Founded in 2004, First Steps ED is the UK’s leading all-ages eating disorder charity, which provides counselling and psychotherapy, peer-led support groups, befriending programmes and educational workshops. Last year, it supported more than 2,160 service users nationally, with 1,414 of those being children and young people.
First Steps ED was a particularly important charity to Nelsons’ senior associate in the wills and probate team, Tom Glenister. Around six years ago, Tom’s daughter was diagnosed with anorexia and accessed support with First Steps ED following time in an inpatient unit.
Tom said:
“For any family facing these incredibly difficult situations, particularly with a younger person, it can be so overwhelming to know what to do when there is a diagnosis but also what happens outside of inpatient support. Our experience with First Steps ED was so positive in my daughter’s journey; they took her out in the community, helped her to order food and built her confidence. They also offer one-to-one support sessions, which I think are really vital to understanding individuals and taking the time to get to know each person. They have continued to be a big part of my daughter’s life since that first experience and I am very grateful.
“Being a local charity in Derby, it’s great to have Nelsons’ support in highlighting such an important issue as it so often doesn’t get the awareness it needs. This has been the first opportunity I have really been able to give back and support First Steps ED so I am very proud to be part of making that happen.”
Daniel Magson, CEO of First Steps ED, said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to be chosen as Nelsons’ charity of the year in Derby, and are deeply grateful for their commitment to supporting our vital work with families affected by eating disorders. This partnership holds special significance given Tom’s personal connection to our charity, and his experience demonstrates how crucial our support services are during eating disorders recovery. The enthusiasm and creativity of their team’s fundraising efforts will help us reach more families when they need us most, ensuring that young people and their loved ones have access to specialist support that can truly change lives.”
Supporting local communities
Our Chief Executive, Stewart Vandermark, said:
“Giving back to the community really matters to us at Nelsons, and supporting charities within our regions is a core part of our ethos. As we continue to grow as a business, we’re able to support even more incredible causes that are important to our employees.
“The nominated charities are an integral part of Nelsons’ culture that enables us to give back to the three East Midlands communities that we are part of. All three charities are making a huge difference to individuals and their families facing incredible challenges, and we’ve got lots of exciting fundraising plans in the pipeline. We look forward to working closely with each charity to support them in every way we can.”
Last year’s beneficiaries were Headway Nottingham, Ben’s Den in Derby and Leicester Hospitals Charity.