In the Community
At Gatehouse Bank, we are committed to giving back. We do this through corporate giving, volunteering and staff fundraising.
2025
Following a colleague vote, our chosen charity of the year for 2025 is Depaul UK. Depaul UK is a youth homelessness charity helping young people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in the UK. Their vision is of a society in which everyone, across the world, has a place to call home and a stake in their community.
Funds raised by the Bank over the next year will directly support initiatives such as providing emergency accommodation for those in need, long-term housing solutions and support programmes offering education, employment training and mental health support to empower young people to build a better future.
Charles Haresnape, CEO Gatehouse Bank, commented: “We are excited to be partnering with Depaul UK, a charity doing incredible work to support young people experiencing homelessness.
“Our colleagues always go above and beyond to raise money for our chosen charity and I know that the year ahead will be no different. I’m looking forward to getting involved with the fundraising and volunteering efforts myself and seeing how much money we can raise for such a valuable cause.”
Colleagues from our London office - Alex Florea, Liz Sweeney, Mark Wetherhall, Lorenzo Fontani, Luis Conduto, Vitor Branquinho - volunteered to do a day of gardening across two of Depaul UK’s accommodation services in Islington. They cleared and replanted the gardens to completely refresh the outdoor spaces for the service users.
Our colleague Daniel Webley took part in the Carsington Water Half Marathon raising over £500 for Depaul UK!
Well done to Rory Kerins, Underwriter, who raised a further £165 for Depaul UK by running the Manchester Marathon!
Amazing efforts from Daniel Webley who climbed Mount Toubkal in Morocco, scaling an impressive 13,671 feet and raising £565 to support Depaul UK.
2024
In 2024, our chosen charity of the year was the Bone Cancer Research Trust. Our colleagues voted overwhelmingly in favour of this charity. It is a cause close to their hearts, and their passion drove our fundraising efforts, leading us to raise over £21,000 for the charity!
The money raised will contribute to the charity’s lifesaving research and awareness raising efforts while also helping to fund the charity’s Support and Information service. Through this, they will be able to continue to support patients and families when they need it most through the sharing of information, grants and emotional support.
Charles Haresnape, CEO of Gatehouse Bank: “I am incredibly proud to see the fantastic results of our colleagues’ fundraising efforts over the last year. The funds raised are going to contribute to the important work undertaken by the Bone Cancer Research Trust and we hope that the money we’ve raised can make a difference in supporting future research and providing support to those affected by primary bone cancer.”
Gatehouse Bank Giving Week 2-8 September 2024
Gatehouse Giving Week is a week-long initiative that the Bank launched for the first time in 2024 where the focus was to raise funds and awareness for our Charity of the Year, the Bone Cancer Research Trust. Below shows some of the activities that took place:
To kick-start Gatehouse Giving Week, our Executive Team embarked on a quest to collectively cycle 560 km on stationary bikes in two weeks. Pictured (from left to right) are Usman Chaudry, Danesh Mahadeva, Andy Homer, Tracey Bailey and Charles Haresnape. Well done all of you!
We saw three brave colleagues – Ashley Brown (pictured), Danielle Rushforth, and Alina Rauta – take to the skies with a thrilling 10,000-foot tandem skydive, all in support of the Bone Cancer Research Trust. Not for the faint-hearted!
Our London office organised a ‘Book and Bake Sale’ where colleagues generously donated pre-loved books and made an array of delicious homemade treats for others to purchase. The cakes added a sweet touch to the event!
For Gatehouse Giving Week, Liz Sweeney, Community Manager, took on her first half marathon completing the Great North Run in Newcastle. Liz is pictured here mid-run, a great achievement and well done!
Other fundraising initiatives that have taken place throughout the year include:
Colleagues from across Gatehouse Bank climbed Mount Snowdon in May 2024 to kick off fundraising for Bone Cancer Research Trust. Pictured are Charles Haresnape, Melissa Economou, Ellie Thorne, Elizabeth Sweeney, Gemma Donnelly, Rav Kumar and Andy Homer. Well done to everyone involved!
Jen Williams, a People Coordinator in the HR team, took part in the Tatton 5k running challenge in Cheshire to raise funds for Bone Cancer Research Trust in May 2024. A big well done to Jen who along with her friends (from left to right) – Lauren Cannon, Jen Williams, Kate Donnelly and Joanna McNally – ran in memory of Kate’s husband who died of bone cancer in 2023.
To fundraise for our Charity of the Year, Bone Cancer Research Trust, we challenged our colleagues to a bake-off across our three offices. Those pictured are Zoe Sopper, Steve Allott, Charli Winterton, Gemma O’Connor, Tracey Bailey, Gemma Donnelly and Ben Latimer. Well done to our star bakers and thank you to all colleagues who collectively raised over £500 for Bone Cancer Research Trust.
Eight of our colleagues successfully completed the 23km Jubilee Walk in June 2024, fundraising for Bone Cancer Research Trust. Well done to everyone involved! Pictured are Tol Mulka, Roger Evans, Thomas Humphreys, Emma Kelman, Lottie Dougill, Chris Proudfoot, Kitt Makwana and Tyler Sullivan. Each step taken was a step forward in fighting against Bone Cancer.
2023
In 2023, Gatehouse Bank’s Charity of the Year was the Rainbow Trust and our colleagues worked hard to fundraise for the charity, raising over £15,000 to support its vital work in supporting families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness.
Rainbow Trust provides practical and emotional support for these families, supporting the entire family through measures such as listening to their fears, keeping a child company during hospital stays, and organising activities for the child who is unwell and their siblings.
“We are proud to have supported a fantastic charity, Rainbow Trust, over the last year, and I am especially pleased to see the dedication colleagues have shown in actively organising their own fundraising efforts. Thanks to our colleagues, we collectively have raised £15,500 and hope that our contribution has made a difference to Rainbow Trust and the families they support.”
Charles Haresnape, CEO of Gatehouse Bank
Elodie Pinn, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser at Rainbow Trust said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Gatehouse Bank for raising £15,500 in support of Rainbow Trust over the last year. Their efforts raising money and awareness is greatly appreciated, raising enough to support seven families caring for a seriously ill child for a whole year.”
Our Charity of the Year for 2023 was Rainbow Trust
Our Executive Team - Usman Chaudry, Paul Stockwell, Mohaimin Chowdhury, Danesh Mahadeva, Tracey Bailey and Joanna Collings - took part in the Thames Moonlight 10 Walk, a looped 10km walk through the heart of London.
A group of eager colleagues challenged themselves to take part in The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. Our colleagues who took part were Stacey Watson, Usman Chaudry, James Kerton, Thomas Humphries, Daniel Webley, Paul Giles and Lee-Anne Harrison. A big well done to the team who completed the 25 mile circular trek!
Well done to Priya Satish, our Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Lead, who spent time over the summer creating handcrafted, rainbow-inspired bracelets to give to colleagues in exchange for sponsorship money for the Rainbow Trust.
Our colleagues from the Gatehouse Investment Management team challenged themselves to run the Hampton Court Palace half marathon. Despite the rain, the team who were Edward Marsden, John Coles, Florian Graham-Watson and George Lindsay, ploughed through and finished the course.
Our Marketing Manager Zoe Sopper participated in the Saffery Rotary Walk to raise funds. She trekked 39 miles around the island of Guernsey in one day!
2022
We are proud to have supported food redistribution charity, FareShare, as the Bank’s Charity of the Year for 2022 and the brilliant work this charity does to address food waste and hunger.
In the UK, 8.4 million people are struggling to afford to eat and at the same time, enough good food for 1.3 billion meals goes to waste each year, contributing to climate change. FareShare’s innovative approach takes surplus food and gets it to people who need it.
Throughout the year, the Bank’s staff engaged in numerous fundraising efforts, managing to raise over £10,000 in aid of FareShare.
Our 2022 Charity of the Year was FareShare
Roger Evans, Thomas Humphreys, Rachel Hunter and Paul Jones fundraised by challenging themselves to walk a combined total of one million steps.
Our colleague, Ben Pearce-Fulker, completed the 5K Forest Runner 2022 at Salcey Forest to fundraise for FareShare.
Our Head of Acquisitions, John Coles, ran the Budapest Marathon in under 3 hours 30 minutes!
Our CEO, Charles Haresnape, virtually rowed the English Channel in 2 hours and 48 minutes in aid of FareShare!
A group of colleagues from the Customer team embarked on the Jubilee Walk to fundraise for FareShare.
Colleagues in our London office took part in a bingo fundraising tournament.
2021
Our colleagues selected Centrepoint as Gatehouse Bank’s 2021 Charity of the Year because of the fantastic work this leading charity does to support social mobility and access to housing in the UK. From housing and health to learning and engagement, Centrepoint helps vulnerable young people move on from homelessness and build a future they can believe in.
Our 2021 Charity of the Year was Centrepoint
Sleep Out
Our colleagues swapped beds for sleeping bags at Centrepoint’s Sleep Out in November, so that homeless young people can wake up to change.
Chiltern Hills Challenge
In September 2021, colleagues from across the Bank were delighted to take part in the Chiltern Hills Challenge, walking 25km and raising over £3,900 for Centrepoint.
Pizza making challenge
With the help of Pizza Pilgrims, our colleagues enjoyed the challenge of baking margherita pizzas from scratch, virtually with each other in June and donated to Centrepoint to participate. Our pizzas may not have been the best looking, but they were sure delicious!
Marching out in March
In March, our colleagues marched out to raise money for young people. Our colleagues collectively walked 16 million steps for Centrepoint’s Move in March fundraising challenge. Check out some creative snaps of the Gatehouse logo out and about on their walks.
Gatehouse says “thank you”
In February, the Bank launched its online thank you platform, where colleagues can send a thank you e-card to anyone in the bank to show their appreciation while we are working remotely. The Bank donated £5 to Centrepoint for every thank you card sent.
2020
Our community approach throughout the difficulties of 2020 aimed to be local and responsive. We are proud to be part of a responsible banking community responding to the needs of society during Covid-19, providing flexible support for any customers facing financial hardship and supporting our local NHS trusts with donations during the crisis and time off for colleagues to donate blood.
Our Charity of the Year for 2019/20 was Macmillan Cancer Support. Our committed colleagues ran marathons, hosted bake sales, participate in quizzes — and more — to raise vital funds to support Macmillan’s work providing specialist health care and advice for those suffering from cancer.
After the success of our first virtual quiz, Gatehouse colleagues got together in Autumn again for Macmillan Cancer support. It was a hugely popular and we had a record of 16 teams participate!
We wanted to make sure our 2020 Charity Partner Macmillan received vital funding during lockdown so hosted a virtual fundraising quiz with staff from all our offices.
Colleagues in our Milton Keynes office dust off their aprons for the Macmillan Coffee morning to eat cake and donate!
Colleagues in our London office tuck into delicious baking for the Macmillan coffee morning.
Every year, 164,782 people in the UK die from Cancer. To show their support, our Marketing and Comms team challenged themselves to fundraise and walk 18,309 steps each – completing a combined total 178,082 steps in a day.
Gatehouse CEO Charles Haresnape with Dave from Macmillan, at our 2019 summer event – an all staff fundraising sports day.
Ramesh from Gatehouse fundraising for Macmillan at the South Coast Challenge.