In an overcrowded market place, we doubt that any firm can claim to be unique. At Rensburg Sheppards we have a single aim - to deliver a professional and personal service with consistency of performance and continuity of staff at a fair price.
To us the concept of service is all important: it allows us to attract but, more importantly, to retain clients by offering each of them a portfolio tailored to meet their own individual requirements, both today and in the future. This is especially important in the current environment in which service seems increasingly to be replaced by product, thus moving much of the onus of responsibility back onto trustees.
Knowing the client is fundamental within the service concept and so we allocate specific fund managers to each client. They attend the meetings and are the first point of contact on all matters. In this way our knowledge of client needs increases over time and our ability to respond to those needs is enhanced. In many firms this principle of service founders because of high staff turnover. Central to our philosophy is our belief in continuity of personnel. We have achieved this by generating and maintaining an atmosphere of trust and respect, and a collegiate investment style that allows all staff to be empowered with a sense of common purpose.
We have harnessed the holistic client service skills which have been developed for private clients over many years and applied them to the management of charity mandates. It is core to our philosophy to care for clients and their money, rather than to manage portfolios with inconvenient things called human beings attached to them. We strongly believe that any client, large or small, is entitled to be treated on an individual basis.
Against a background of changing regulation and the increasing pressure on Trustees, it has become ever more important to have a specialist team who are dedicated to looking after charities and who understand the issues affecting the sector and can therefore work together with the Trustees to embrace them.
Rensburg Sheppards is a corporate subscriber to the CFDG (Charity Finance Directors' Group) a member of ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) and Charity Investor Group. We have also forged close relationships with solicitors and accountants who specialise in the sector and with organisations such as the Charity Commission and Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF). This provides a sector knowledge that enhances the specialist services we offer.
As a company, we have always been rather reserved in putting ourselves forward for awards but rely on the testimony of our clients as evidence of our ability to deliver a quality service. Nevertheless, we are proud of the fact that we received one of the highest scores for overall satisfaction in a latest independent survey carried out by The Charity Fund Partnerships, who interviewed over 180 not-for-profit organisations covering a wide range of issues including performance, service satisfaction and administration.
We are keen to make a wider contribution to our clients and provide specialist publications, educational programmes and seminars as well as round table discussions. We are continually looking for ways in which we can improve our service to clients, particularly as the responsibilities on trustees become ever more onerous.