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Rank Ripples – Spring 2024 Edition

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All about enterprise

This edition of Rank Ripples magazine is all about enterprise. Alongside your regular Fellowship update, it features articles from enterprising Network members and a special interview with our outgoing Chair Joey Newton. 

Elenid Roberts, Fiona Keir, James Beecher and Varsha Parmer share their Profit for Good stories, Fellows Mariama Techie-Afful, Mark Herbert and Neve Howells-Aitken also share their experience of enterprise, and Ripples editor Alan Qualtrough considers the positive effect the Rank Foundation has had on the social enterprise network and entrepreneurship in Plymouth. 

We hope you enjoy reading it!

Learning Through Leadership Talk – April 2024

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Leadership in a Judicial setting with Sir James Dingemans (Class of 1980)

In this blog post, Geoffrey Pelham-Lane, our Fellow (Class of 1978), shares his thoughts on our recent Learning Through Leadership talk, “Leadership in a Judicial Setting,” featuring Sir James Dingemans (Class of 1980). The event took place on 17th April 2024 at The Rank Foundation’s offices in Shoreditch, London.

Sir James Dingemans giving the talk

Sir James Dingemans

If there is someone who has most successfully realised the leadership potential that the Rank Foundation looks for in each of its School Leadership Award holders it is the Court of Appeal judge, Lord Justice Dingemans.

The person from Rank who first recommended him for an award in 1980 demonstrated remarkable foresight. Sir James’ talk on Wednesday evening did everything to confirm this as well as highlighting the value that the Rank Foundation has added and continues to add through its great work in bringing out the very best in people and society.

His talk on “Leadership in a Judicial setting” was hugely engaging not just to our next generation of fellows pursuing or about to pursue a legal career but also to all of us who benefit either directly or indirectly from the UK having one of the most envied and fair legal systems in the world. This achievement has clearly been no accident, having been built and sustained by the professionalism, impartiality and, most importantly, leadership of our lawyers.

Sir James described how he had developed professionally since receiving Rank support in his last year at Radley, learning about leadership when he trained at Sandhurst on a short service commission and then about the law when he studied at Oxford University. What was striking about his talk was not just how he applied these skills successfully to lead and motivate over 800 judges, but just how applicable these skills are to leadership elsewhere.

He referred to ‘Transactional’ leaders that work within the establishment and ‘Transformational’ leaders that typically inspire us with a charismatic vision. He discussed other styles such as ‘Situational’ leadership where a true leader adapts to the specific demands of a situation. This, he felt, was most applicable to leadership in the judiciary.

He provided examples of why it is important as a leader to identify your goal but keep it simple, show that you are capable of doing the job of those that you are leading (it is a requirement that judges have to be practitioners unlike managers in the NHS), make sure you do the right thing (don’t simply lead to satisfy media coverage), ensure you stay calm, respect boundaries (such as the law), learn to handle pressure and recognise your team (‘walk the floor’ and say ‘thank you’).

He also mentioned how important diversity is to achieving the best results and how, while the judiciary has made some improvements, this will take time as judges can only come from practitioners entering the law at the beginning of their legal careers.

All in all, a great talk and one where everyone, not just budding lawyers, learnt something. Thank you, Sir James!

About the author:

Geoffrey Pelham-Lane, Fellow (Class of 1978), is one of the UK’s leading financial communications experts, with more than 35 years of experience in financial PR and investor relations. He is Chairman of APCO UK and Chief Executive Officer at Capital Market Communications Ltd (Camarco), an APCO Worldwide Company.

Rank Foundation Chair to Step Down

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Rank family member, Joey Newton, steps down and Will Wyatt will assume role of Chair 

The Rank Foundation has announced that Joey Newton will be stepping down as Chair this year. Current Rank Foundation trustee, Will Wyatt, will assume the role of Chair following the AGM on 4 June 2024.

Joey dedicated 32 years to the Foundation, 11 of those years as Chair. He presided over a period of great transformation and challenge, not least the Foundation’s responses to Covid19 and the current cost-of-living crisis.

Under Joey’s leadership, the Rank Foundation saw significant changes, including the creation of its thriving Network, that now numbers around 1,500 members – many of whom Joey has visited over the years.

Inspired by his grandfather’s life and values, Joey played a key part in developing strategies that successfully combine leadership and enterprise, creating a range of exciting, long term programmes across the UK.

 Image 1: Joey Newton (leftmost)

The new Chair, Will Wyatt, has been a Rank Foundation trustee for 9 years.  Currently both Vice Chair of the Foundation and Chair of the Investment Committee, Will is also a non-executive director of Caledonia Investments plc and the recent Chair of The Jockey Club’s Newmarket Racecourses.

Image 2: Will Wyatt

Joey Newton said:

“The Rank Foundation is a truly amazing charity and I feel so proud that it all came about through my grandfather, Lord Rank. I’m so fortunate to have played a small part in its remarkable journey. Over many years, the consistent message from the many charities we have supported, is that being funded by the Rank Foundation is like joining a family, and that, above all else, strongly resonates with me. 

I have met so many truly, special people doing incredible things, all of which fills me with great hope for the future. What a privilege this has been!”

David Sanderson, Rank Foundation’s CEO said:

“It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Joey. I would like to thank Joey for his extraordinary contribution and leadership over many years and to wish him and his family well for the future.”

For more information, please contact: Nhung Phung, Communications & Impact Officer, +447565477625, nhung.phung@rankfoundation.com

Pebbles Grants Closed

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The Rank Foundation’s Board of Trustees has paused its Pebbles Grants programme. It will review this decision at the end of the current strategy period in late 2025.

Pebbles is The Rank Foundation’s small funding stream for UK registered charities and churches. The grants, of between £250 to £4,000, were spent on respite breaks, equipment, or capital costs.

David Sanderson, CEO said:

“The Rank Foundation builds long-term relationships with the organisations and individuals in its Network, investing to nurture and build on their strengths, leadership, and capacity. In line with our strategy, we wish to support the Rank Network members as they face the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and increased demand for services and for our support.”

The Rank Foundation’s Network includes around 1,500 members from charities and social enterprises across the UK. In October 2022 and January 2023, Rank surveyed the Network to understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on their work.

More than 360 people told us about their experience of the cost-of-living crisis, which combines increased demand for services along with significantly increased costs and a more challenging fundraising environment.

In 2023, The Rank Foundation awarded almost £1.5 million in cost-of-living grants to 130 Network Members using a mutual trust-based model of grantmaking. A further £9.5 million was awarded to 840 grantees, making a total of £11 million awarded by the end of 2023.

We continue our mission focused work and our next review of strategy will be in 2026.

Rank Ripples Magazine – October ’23 Edition Out Now

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The rebranded edition of Rank Ripples magazine focuses on the power of the collective. Alongside your regular Fellowship update, it features articles about collective working from across our network.

Steve Arnott, Jordan Ignatius and Nadia Alomar share insights on collaborative leadership from personal and professional perspective. Memorial Award Winners, Niamh Mawhinney and Calum Johnston share their incredible journeys and there’s inspiration from Liz Weaver, Co-CEO of Canada’s Tamarack Institute. Their Communities Ending Poverty programme has contributed to poverty being reduced for 1 million Canadians. Plus, some at a glance tips for collaborative leadership on page 28.

We hope you enjoy reading it!

Rank’s Ripples Reinvigorated

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A new brand for a powerful philanthropic collective!

Rank Foundation is delighted to reveal a new brand identity that better reflects the power of its thriving network.

About a year ago following research, interviews, and visits with many members of the network we realised that the Rank brand did not reflect the dynamism and progressiveness of the Foundation.

It was time to update our brand. The brand development gave the staff team a chance to reflect on what makes the Rank Network quite so special. The whole process was inclusive and collaborative with the people Rank cares about; our 1,200-strong network of social sector leaders.

Network members told us that together we inhabit a supportive, mutual, space. And that this shared space is distinct from other philanthropic communities.

“Rank are bold, stepping out doing things differently. They should have the confidence to say that.”
Network member

What makes Rank so special?
Clearly what we’d always proudly referred to as ‘relational philanthropy’ had to play a central role in our refreshed brand. With support from Louise Kavanagh, Purposeful Marketing, and Richard McGillan from Steers McGillan Eves, we set about developing the words and visuals to reinforce what makes Rank special: the collective power of our network.

While retaining the Christian values of trust, respect and empathy that drove our founder to set up the Foundation, we’ve adjusted the way we talk about the Foundation to clarify that it’s the Network where the magic happens.

Our thriving network tackles inequality to improve life in the communities they cherish.

“My grandfather would be delighted to see his legacy reinvigorated through this brand project. The focus on those we work with – rather than the Foundation itself – builds on his original values and intentions. I’m excited to share it with our members and to see where it takes us next.”
Joey Newton, Chair of the board

With our new brand we will encourage more collaboration, and continue to celebrate the power of the collective.

We are excited to be rolling out the new branding in the coming months!