Tell us about Help for Children
Help for Children (HFC) is a global foundation with 10 locations worldwide that funds the most innovative and effective programmes to prevent and treat child abuse. HFC in the UK was founded in 2006 and is funded by the generosity of the alternative investment industry. Almost all the funding we get comes from hedge funds or other firms in the industry.
Since its inception, HFC UK has granted out £2.66 million. HFC UK is chaired by Jack Inglis, CEO of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the world’s largest alternative investment trade body, which is how I got involved.
What inspired this challenge?
Every year, HFC UK organises a physical challenge to raise essential funds for our grantees — those that do amazing work to help thousands of children who have had terrible experiences. We always try to outdo ourselves each year to ensure people are inspired to donate.
This year, we decided to take on the hardest half marathon we could, which turned out to be The Phoenix Rose Run at Denbies Wine Estate. This was already daunting as I have never run more than 10km before, which I did during the Covid lockdown period when I worked for Â鶹´«Ã½ Finance Times. To make it even more compelling for people to donate, we set a collective target of running 3,492km in the months running up to the race last weekend. We also had an ambitious fundraising target of £34,920.
Why 3,492km?
I am so glad you asked. It represents the number of children HFC UK has helped in recent years. As HFC UK approaches its 10th birthday, we wanted to raise awareness of all the good work that has been done by our grantees and enabled by the hedge fund industry’s generosity.
How has the hedge fund industry responded?
Overwhelmingly! We have tripled our distance goal thanks to around 50 people, including several from AIMA, volunteering their time and their legs for the cause. Since February, we have collectively run around 10,000km. That is roughly the distance from here to the Pacific Ocean, if you ran through Europe and Asia and ended in Japan.
In terms of fundraising, we are nearly at £50,000, so we are hoping to attract a few more generous people to make it a nice round number.
You just completed the half marathon on 10 May. How was it?
Really tough! I am still sore. As I said, I am not a runner, and the gradient — with more than 400m elevation gain — in the hot sun was harder than my park training runs. But we had so many runners and supporters that it was a great atmosphere, which helped us all get over the finish line.
Any message for potential donors about HFC UK?
Donations go directly toward HFC UK’s vital child protection work, and HFC is a great community of people from across the hedge fund industry, so if you want to get involved or attend any upcoming London events that don’t involve running, you are very welcome.
Contact Fern Gray: Fgray@hfc.org.
And thank you to SFT for your support in raising awareness of the work being done.
Anyone who can donate — big or small, it all helps — please use this link
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Image: Drew Nicol 