London is the economic engine ofthe UK, creating wealth for the local,national and global economies.London is the home of the financialworld. More than 100 of Europe’s 500larges t companies have the i rheadquarters here. The capital’s£162 billion economy is larger thansome EU countries. It accounts for17 per cent of the UK’s GrossDomestic Product.

But in spite of its dynamic economy,disadvantage and inequality are rife inthe city. The London Child Poverty

Commission estimates that over halfa million children in the capital livein poverty. That’s 41 per cent. AcrossLondon, homelessness remains aserious issue.

According to housing charity Crisis,20,000 people live in hostels and otheraccommodation for homeless people.This doesn’t include those in bed andbreakfasts and squats and sleeping onfriends’ floors. The New Policy Instituteestimates that there are 150,000 singlehomeless people in London.

This is why a vibrant charity andvoluntary sector is vital for London. As aspecialist bank for social enterprises,charities and trade unions, Unity Trust isuniquely placed to help the organisationsthat are tackling these issues.

In this edition of London Spotlight, wehighlight some examples of how Unityhas worked with the sector to helporganisations finance developmentprojects, borrow money while they raisefunds, or take care of their day-to-daybanking - freeing up their time toconcentrate on what they do best.

London spotlight

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London skyline

Many in London’s vibrant socialeconomyenjoy the support andbanking provided by Unity.

A social mortgage and a fundraisingbridging loan from Unity Trust will helpwpf Counselling & Psychotherapy moveto new £4.9m purpose-built premises.

Established in 1969, wpf promotespsychological well-being. It sees over500 clients each week at its Londonpremises alone and has 470 studentsenrolled on introductory and professionalcourses, with a further 800 attendingevening and weekend workshops.

“The move gives us a fantasticopportunity to provide a safe place to talkin the centre of London,” says wpf chiefexecutive Lesley Murdin. “There is anincreasing recognition that counsellingand psychotherapy play a vital part in themanagement of mental health problemsand our new premises will allow us toextend the services that we offer and helpbuild the nation’s peace of mind.”

Buying its new premises as a shellmeans wpf will be able to specify thespace layout to ensure that it is fittedout to meet its needs. Inside, awelcoming reception area and waitingroom will lead to seven large trainingrooms and 25 individual offices andconsulting rooms. There will also be apurpose-built library as well as officesand staff facilities

To help turn their vision into reality,wpf initially needs to raise £1m and afurther £3.9m by autumn 2009. Theorganisation is making use of a £1mbridging loan and a £2.8m socialmortgage from Unity Trust, enablingit to complete the property purchaseahead of fundraising and beforethe lease on its current premises expires.

Nigel Price, the development managerat Unity responsible for structuring thefinance said, “The combined features ofUnity's Fundraising Bridging Loan andSocial Mortgage have enabled wpf toimplement its strategy to move to newpremises within tight deadlines. It isunusual for charities to purchase newpremises at the ‘shell’ stage and theUnity loans have enabled this tohappen in line with contractualcommitments rather than having to waituntil funds have been raised. This aidsthe nego t ia t ion o f con t rac tua larrangements and limits exposure toincreases in building costs.”

“It’s absolutely vital that we minimiseany disruption to our work during thetransition,” says Lesley. “For this reason,we were grateful to be able to draw onUnity’s experience as well as make useof the loan facility they’ve provided.”

Lesley and her team are now able toconcentrate on their fundraising efforts,with an appeal launched at the endFebruary. As well as having theopportunity to name parts of the newbuilding, donors are being encouragedto donate online at www.wpf.org.uk

Helping to build thenation’s peace of mind

Taking the journey together

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When its builder went bust part waythrough an ambitious developmentproject, Salmon Youth Centre inBermondsey needed a loan to enable itto complete the work, it turned to UnityTrust. “If it wasn’t for Unity, I’m not surewhere we’d be,” says Mark Blundell, thecentre’s executive director. “Not manypeople would have been prepared totake the journey with us.”

That journey involved investing £10mon a new youth work building andaround £4.5m on a second building toprovide homes for ‘key workers’alongside additional facilities for thecentre. When finished, the development

will transform the Salmon Youth Centre,helping it to fulfil its mission: inspiringyoung people to realise their potential tocontribute positively to the communitiesin which they live and to discovermeaning and direction for their lives.

The first phase of the building project,opened in February 2008. This hascreated new facilities ranging fromtraining, counselling and music roomsto a chapel, offices, residentialaccommodation and space for youngpeople to start their own businesses.

Having secured £2.75m funding fromActive England and gathered more Salmon Youth Centre

through fundraising efforts, the centre’steam saw their dream threatened whenthe contractor working on the projectwent out of business. “We couldn’t drawon the £500,000 bond that covered usuntil after completion. So we needed tocover that amount for a whole year,”explains Mark.

The centre also planned to raise £1.5mthrough a 125 year lease that wouldallow a housing association to build 26‘key worker’ flats, due for completion in2009. This would form phase two ofthe project alongside facilities for thecentre such as a gym, IT suite, artsroom and training kitchen. But delaysin re-aligning a road to free up landneeded for the development meant theSalmon Youth Centre had to findanother £600,000.

So they turned to Unity for a £1.1m loan.“That’s a lot for a charity with a turnover ofaround £500 000,” says Mark. “Butbecause of Unity’s background, ourcircumstances weren’t as unusual forthem as they would have been for a highstreet bank and they were able to help.”

Unity prides itself on working closely withits customers and other funders to offerbespoke solutions to their financingneeds. With over 24 years experience inthis niche market, our developmentmanagers understand the intricacies offunding projects in the sector.

Mark Herbert, Unity Trust Bank’sdevelopment manager for the SalmonYouth Centre said, “We were able to stepin and solve their problems because wetook a long term view of their business

plan and were not looking for quickreturns in the short term.”

With phase one completed, the new-look centre is already making headlines.Visiting the Salmon Youth Centre,Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children,Young People and Families, launcheda new multi-million pound governmentprogramme. The myplace initiativepromises to deliver world class placesfor young people to go, places that willgive more young people access to stateof the art facilities like those of theSalmon Youth Centre.

Enabling a better quality of life

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0845 140 1000or visit www.unity.co.uk

The Fitzrovia Trust, was establishedin 1995 in order to preserve thehistoric buildings in Fitzrovia, an areawhich forms the centre of London’sWest End.

When the Trust needed to borrow£175,000 to re-open a communitynursery, it turned to Unity Trust. “It wasa difficult project involving refurbishingan old bomb shelter,” explains thecharity ’s chief executive SandraEdwards. “Unity offered us a good dealand an efficient service, enabling us tore-open the nursery in January 2008.”

The sight of a room-full of under-fivesonce again enjoying the Fitzrovia DayNursery was a happy occasion forSandra and the Fitzrovia trustees. Theyhad long campaigned for the formerlocal authority nursery to be re-opened.After receiving all-party support, a 20year lease was granted on the conditionthat the Fitzrovia Trust paid for therefurbishment. The charity turned toUnity to arrange the loan.

Unity’s socially responsible approach –the bank is committed to deliveringbespoke so lu t ions to meet i t scustomers’ needs, delivering highquality services and reinvesting in thewider community – complements theFitzrovia Trust’s goals.

The charity was set up in 1985 inresponse to demand from local people.It aims to save the historic mixed usebuildings of Fitzrovia from falling intodisrepair. In the process, it seeks toprovide affordable accommodation tohelp local people continue to livelocally and use the commercial partsof the buildings for the benefit ofthe community.

The Fitzrovia Trust acts as an enablerwithin the community and neededbanking that would support its work.It moved to Unity from a high streetbank during a previous projectinvolving the purchase of a property inWarren Street. “We were nolonger getting a personalservice from our bank.And Unity’s loan termswere better than wecould have found onthe high street,”explains Sandra.

“For a small charity like us,Unity is a good place to be.We regularly recommendthem to other charities.”

Sean Taylo r, the Uni ty Trus tdevelopment manager responsible forthis relationship said, “The FitzroviaTrust is a small local charity committedto making the local community avibrant place in which to live. As a Bankwe are proud to work with localcharities like the Fitzrovia Trust in orderto improve services and enhance thequality of life of the local population.”

After two years of constant problemswith their “Big Five” high street bank,Barnet Voluntary Service Council (BVSC)decided enough was enough and decidedto move their banking to Unity Trust.

“We were quite a small client for ourhigh street bank and I think we startedto fall between the cracks,” says BVSCchief executive Ruth Mulandi. “We werea business customer, so although ouraccount was based at a branch we alsohad to deal with a separate businesscentre. And online banking was dealtwith by yet another separate centre.”

The effort involved in trying to sort outtheir banking was distracting Ruth and

her team from their day-to-day work -promoting and developing voluntary andcommunity action in the London Boroughof Barnet. BVSC supports over 270members working in a diverse range ofareas. Its annual Grow events gathertogether up to 300 people from over 100organisations for a day of high valuetraining covering income generation,marketing, pitching and negotiating.

Ruth had worked wi th o the rorganisations that banked with Unityand the National Association forVoluntary and Community Action(NAVCA) is an existing customer.“Unity’s background in the voluntarysector was important,” she says. “But itwas the quality of their relationshipmanagement that really impressed us.We saw that Unity wouldn’t bounce usaround between departments.”

Unity was able to offer BVSC thesupport of a dedicated developmentmanager and a UK based customerservice centre. A survey in CharityFinance magazine, the market-leadingpublication on all financial and legaldevelopments affecting the voluntary

sector, has rated Unity as the best forcustomer service four years in a row.

Joanna Goodman, developmentmanager responsible for this accountsaid, “I am delighted that BVSC took thedecision to move their banking to UnityTrust. A lot of people are put off frommoving banks but the process couldn’tbe simpler as we will do all the work,such as changing standing orders anddirect debits. It certainly isn’t as scaryas people tend to think.”

With day-to-day banking made easier,Ruth and her team are looking forwardto s t reaml in ing the i r f inanc ia lmanagement systems – making it easierfor people to pay for membership andtraining. They’re also looking forward tocelebrating the work of local voluntaryorganisations at more events like Grow.“I think it’s fair to say we’d rather spendtime doing this than sorting out bankingproblems,” she jokes.

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Want to find out how Unitycan help free-up your time?

Call 0845 140 1000.

Joanna GoodmanUnity Trust Bank plcCongress House23-28 Great Russell StreetLondon WC1B 3UBTel: 020 8959 9370Mobile: 07711 412867

Mark HerbertUnity Trust Bank plcCongress House23-28 Great Russell StreetLondon WC1B 3UBTel: 020 7462 5601Mobile: 07711 412865

Sean TaylorUnity Trust Bank plcCongress House23-28 Great Russell StreetLondon WC1B 3UBTel: 020 7462 5604Mobile: 07711 412876

Can we help with yourbanking or loan financeneeds? Contact a regionaldevelopment manager, fora no-obligation chat.

Moving banks isn’t asscary as people think!