James Wates CBE appointed new Chairman of The Princes Trust Corporate Advisory Group
The Corporate Advisory Group is formed of business leaders who help the Trust with decisions about its corporate partnerships fundraising strategy and priorities. It is responsible for advising the youth charity on positioning in the corporate world, both as a charitable cause but also as a means of accessing untapped talent.
For the last three years, James Wates has chaired the Trusts Built Environment Leadership Group, a collaboration of Princes Trust corporate partners. Since 2005, the group has changed the lives of nearly 7,000 young people, helping them find work in one of the built environment sectors, particularly in construction and facilities management.
His involvement runs in parallel with Wates involvement with the Trust. The Wates Group has a long-standing relationship with The Princes Trust which culminated in 2015 with its appointment as Wates official charity partner for four years. The Group has raised over £250,000 with the Trust, with money raised by employees fundraising activities, with support from the Wates Family Enterprise Trust.
Ben Marson, Director of Corporate Partnerships at The Princes Trust, said:
We have been extremely grateful to James for his dynamic stewardship of the Built Environment Leadership Group. We are very pleased that he has agreed to continue to support The Trust as Chairman of the Corporate Advisory Group. His business experience, his knowledge of The Trust and his incredible passion for helping young people made him the ideal person to help us move forward with our strategy to deepen corporate relationships and grow income.
James Wates CBE, commented:
The Princes Trust is all about people helping young people developing their potential, learning how to work together in teams to make great things happen. I believe it is vital that every young person in the UK has an opportunity to succeed. And the Princes Trust shares this belief.
At Wates we get tremendous benefit from our partnership with the Princes Trust. As well as fundraisingraising money for the charity, our people work with young people through programmes such as the World of Work Tours and Get Into Construction, benefiting not only the young people they work with, but helping themselves in to developing their own skills in communication and leadership.
As a family owned business focused on the long term, we believe we must invest in our people, and our communities, so that in the future there will be a generation of talented, motivated people individuals who can come join the business and build great things. So by investing our time in young people through the Princes Trust, we are actually investing in our own futures.
The youth charity currently partners with a wide range of businesses such as Marks & Spencer, Samsung, NatWest, HSBC, Cunard, TK Maxx and HomeSense, New Look, Marriott, Whitbread and, Wates.
Wates and The Prince’s Trust
- Wates has supported Get into Construction for nine years and has had various representatives at the Business Leadership Group including James Wates. Financial support has been provided to this group via Wates Giving. We have also run Get into Construction programmes jointly during this time
- The Wates partnership with The Prince’s Trust lasts for four years and will end in July 2018. Over £250k has been raised to date, with key fundraising activities including the Palace to Palace cycle race, Million Makers and the London Marathon.
- Through the charity partnership our funds go to support the TEAM programme a 13 week programme for young people not in education, employment or training. We have also delivered a number of World at Work tours as part of TEAM to showcase the construction sector as a career of choice.
About The Princes Trust
Youth charity The Princes Trust helps disadvantaged young people to get their lives on track. Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1976, the charity has supported 13 to 30 year-olds who are unemployed and those struggling at school and at risk of exclusion for over 40 years.
Many of the young people helped by The Princes Trust are in or leaving care, facing issues such as homelessness or mental health problems, or they have been in trouble with the law. The Trusts programmes give vulnerable young people the practical and financial support needed to stabilise their lives, helping develop self-esteem and skills for work. Three in four young people supported by The Princes Trust move into work, education or training.
