Growing the impact of the Smiths Group Foundation

Imagine securing a generous commitment of £10m from the Smiths Group Board to set up a charitable foundation. How would you design it?

• Would you focus your grants on engineering-related causes to align with Smiths purpose, or cast the net wider?
• Would you give grants to the most innovative organisations, or those with a proven track record of delivery?
• Would you invite nominations from our 15,000 employees, or consult industry experts to handpick a balanced and impactful portfolio?
• Would you restrict grants to communities close to Smiths sites, or open them up to the whole world?
• Would you avoid funding projects that governments should be funding, or give those projects their first investment so they can prove themselves and potentially attract future government support?

These are just some of the questions my committee and I have asked ourselves since we launched the Smiths Group Foundation two years ago. There are no right answers – each of our stakeholders holds a different view, shaped by their own experiences, and there is no pleasing everybody. But our diverse committee works hard to debate these questions robustly, make decisions that align with our values, and frequently assess whether we have got it right for now or need to change.

Two years on, we’ve already made over £1.675m of grants to 19 different charities across 11 countries – helping to engineer a better future through STEM, safety, and sustainability initiatives. The projects we support typically have a duration of one year, so we are now seeing the results of our first grants and are immensely proud. Through our partnerships with the organisations we have supported, we learn how these grants genuinely change the lives of people, often those who need support the most. You can read more about some of those here.

In all of this, we receive strong support from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), whose expertise and network are so valuable to us. They help us to consider the big questions, and to share our experiences and inspiration with their other clients so we can all make the best-informed decisions.

I’ve been asked what will happen to our Foundation when Smiths Group parts ways with Smiths Interconnect and Smiths Detection. It will not stop or slow down. Rather it will continue evolving to meet the needs of the communities that we serve, just as Smiths has continued to evolve over the last 170+ years. We are committed to our work to improve our impact, and grow our reach even further.

I believe strongly in looking forward with ambition and embracing change. In this context, it has always been my intention to pass the leadership of the Foundation into fresh hands after two years, having successfully completed the first two rounds of grant giving. I just can’t believe how quickly that has come around! 

So it’s with great excitement that I hand over to Ben Macdonald, VP, Sustainability, ESG & Indirect Procurement at Smiths Group, as the new Chair. Angela Bruce, HR Director at Flex-Tek, will support Ben as Vice Chair, taking over from the wonderful Kelly Cole.

Ben plays a pivotal part of the Smiths drive for Net Zero delivery and its sustainable leadership programme - and in his spare time, he is the trustee of the UK conservation charity House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland. Angela is a longstanding Foundation Committee member and leads all sorts of altruistic initiatives within and outside of Smiths. Those who know either of them will know what passion they bring to their charitable work.

Finally, the Foundation's work will be deftly coordinated by Sophie Darlington, who brings further sustainability and social impact expertise to the role. I'd like to thank Kelly for her fabulous partnership and creativity over the last two years, and I couldn't think of a better team to take our Foundation into its next phase!

Hannah Constantine is GC of Corporate & M&A at Smiths Group and outgoing Chair of the Smiths Group Foundation.