International Women’s Day Series: Why telling the truth about poverty matters

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Give to Gain and is a time to reflect on the many ways giving shows up in our working lives.

Sometimes it’s practical, time, expertise, or resources and sometimes, it’s far more personal: sharing lived experience, speaking honestly, and using your voice to challenge assumptions.

For Michele Price, Charity & Philanthropy Partner at gunnercooke, giving back has always been shaped by connection to causes that matter deeply, from child poverty and homelessness to widening access to music for young people. Through her legal work and her involvement with the gunnercooke foundation, she has helped make legal advice more accessible to charities and not-for-profits.

Read what she had to say below:

This year’s theme is Give to Gain. What does giving mean to you?

For me, giving means sharing in whatever way that you can, no matter how small – your time, your kindness, your energy, your expertise, your money.

Why is it important to you have time to give back alongside your career?

It is very easy to focus on your career and where you want to get to but giving back is important no matter what stage of your career that you are at. Selflessness and self-awareness help you develop in your career as an empathetic leader – able to hear to see, to appreciate beyond “self”.

What are the causes important to you?

Recognising a cause that means something to you can be powerful on all sides, it’s not about putting money in the nearest tin, it is about making a deeper connection and sometimes that cause also addresses a need in your life or heals a wound that you are carrying. My personal background means that I am drawn to child poverty and homelessness, causes which ground me at a deep level. Whereas my love of music draws me to causes that make music available to young people who cannot afford instruments, tuition, concerts… The support of music charities brings me joy.

Is there a campaign  you are most proud of?

I was initially involved in the child food poverty campaign as their lawyer. During a busy campaign meeting I suddenly realised that the debate about the benefits of free school meals was my story and possibly not one that the campaigners sitting around that table expected to hear. Sharing my story led to a national press campaign headed “free made me”, encouraging professional people to come forward and own the fact that they had achieved because of the ability to have a free hot meal every day. What I am most proud of is that I was able to stand up and say that out loud, – to change the image of what someone who had free school meals looks like, and to play my part in removing that stigma of child poverty. (Free school meals have been introduced across the country as a result of the campaign).

What does it mean to you to be part of a firm with a wider purpose?

In looking to develop my charities practice, I was drawn to gunnercooke because of the gunnercooke foundation and the ethos of selfless giving across the firm. My practice could not exist without this context because it allows me to focus on making legal advice accessible and affordable which ensures that non-profits can have a level playing field when it comes to getting the best advice.

Read more about Michele and her work here.