Since its founding in 1935, the global investment banking and wealth management firm William Blair has been committed to building lasting relationships with its clients – and the communities where its staff live and work. The workforce of about 100 people in London is part of a worldwide operation with more than 20 offices and 1,550 employees. The independent, employee-owned company has its own charity foundation, which last year matched funds raised for two Covid-19 and social equity projects to reach total donations of US$600,000 each.

For ten years, William Blair has sponsored Wrap Up London, a charity drive collecting coats to donate to people in need. In previous years, staff members organised collection points at Tube stations but to comply with Covid-19 restrictions this year the firm instead provided hundreds of masks for volunteers and partner organisations, who stacked up more than 20,000 coats.

William Blair also supported the food redistribution charity City Harvest London, which reported a 100% increase in demand during the pandemic, and 30 colleagues recorded readings of children's books in three languages for the charity Ronald McDonald House UK. William Blair's CEO John Ettelson kept in touch with the team through regular touchpoints and held 42 town hall meetings to listen to as many employees as possible.