OUR STORY
“For over 20 years I have been providing recruitment services to the private sector and made money out of providing this service, but I never felt comfortable with money being made out of charities.
Later in life I became a patron for the Natural History Museum and discovered their recruitment spend was extremely high. It struck me that too many charities are paying for recruitment services and too many recruitment companies are making profit out of charities, which I find fundamentally wrong.
My idea was to create the same recruitment service, the same expertise, the same level of service and the same quality of candidate but give back the distributable profits to the charities. In addition, I believe it is a model which can be applied to any organisation servicing a charity, including accountancy, banking, and professional services.
It is fundamentally wrong to make a profit out of charities, it is however, acceptable to create business and do business with charities then distribute the profits back to them, which is why I wanted to start this business.”
David Spencer-Percival, Founder, CEO
THE PERCIVAL GRANTS PROGRAMME
We are using our expertise to build a recruitment practice that improves hiring outcomes for charities and for-purpose organisations. The profit that we generate, outside of our internal investment programme, will be donated back to the charities and for-purpose sector via our grants programme, to solidify the impact we seek to make on the sector.
After the end of each year, we will announce the total profit made by Percival, then donate that profit to a corporate foundation. Half of the funds will be distributed back to the charities that we work with, in the proportion that they have worked with us that year. The other half will be accessible via a grants programme, to which our charity partners can apply if they wish to bid for unrestricted funding.
Once applications are received, the Percival team will assess the applications before making a decision and announcing winners at our Annual Awards Ceremony.
The Ceremony will be a chance to celebrate the work of the charities we have partnered with and announce grants programme outcomes. This annual occasion will bring together all the staff and partners we have worked with that year and celebrate the growing impact of Percival.
We project that the first awards to be in April 2026 and look forward to seeing you there.
OUR PRACTICE
We are the award-winning not-for-profit recruitment practice for UK registered charities and for purpose organisations.
Our approach is unique in the UK. We return our profits at the end of the financial year back to the charities we work with through a grants programme.
Our aim is to work with charities and for purpose organisations to aid their recruitment process and help them recruit more efficiently, effectively, and inclusively.
We provide permanent, contract and temporary recruitment services across fundraising, marketing, communications, finance, HR, data, technology, core functions, senior appointments and executive search.
As of 2021, there are 169,000 Registered Charities in the UK and the combined recruitment spend increased across the board by 40%, increasing ten-fold over the last 10 years. Our aim is to reduce the overall cost of recruitment spend for the charity sector, allowing them to distribute more of their money to good causes.