Creating impact—real impact—for the communities in which we live and work has been an essential part of Brown Advisory’s DNA since our beginnings. As we strive to make a positive and material difference for all of our stakeholders, we are cognizant of our responsibilities to our communities—we believe we have an obligation to contribute to and enhance the lives of others through financial, intellectual and hands-on partnership.
Giving
In 2022, Brown Advisory contributed more than $2 million to a range of nonprofits and charities across the communities where we live and work.
In addition to supporting organizations that are important to our clients and colleagues, we focus our giving in three strategic areas: justice, the environment and gender equity. There are a lot of needs, and we certainly do not have all the answers. However, we believe that through innovation, collaboration and humility, we can raise the future—for all of us—together.
We support nonprofit organizations that address social injustice and racial inequity. These organizations provide support and services to minorities and economically disadvantaged groups, work to dismantle systemic barriers to racial equity, and build deliberate systems to achieve and sustain racial equity.
Nonprofit partner examples:
Bard Prison Initiative, Roca, Ron Brown Scholar Program, B-360, 10,000 Black Interns
The Bard Prison Initiative provides a rigorous liberal arts education to inmates—along with career development and specialized support—to disrupt the cycle of poverty, mass incarceration and systemic inequities.
The nonprofits with which we partner strive to solve for the complex environmental challenges that threaten our world, such as climate change, water scarcity and quality, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and environmental justice. We believe that these issues are interconnected with their social and systemic counterparts, and that addressing them requires a holistic approach to balance urgency with long-term solutions.
Nonprofit partner examples:
Nature Sacred, Conservation Fund, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with one of the largest and most diverse botanical collections in the world, is dedicated to protecting biodiversity, motivating environmental advocacy, inspiring the next generation of scientists, and creating a world where nature is valued and managed sustainably.
We partner with organizations dedicated to helping and empowering women and girls, especially those in underrepresented groups. Their work focuses on inclusion, education, health, and social services and includes closing the gender gap in business and government, mentoring, furthering and supporting women’s rights, preventing abuse, and providing direct services to people in need.
Brown Advisory Ltd has committed to HM Treasury's Women in Finance Charter with a target to reach 30% of women attaining Partner level by June 30, 2026. We will work towards this target by creating, and maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment for all Brown Advisory colleagues and by ensuring that our firm-wide gender diversity initiatives are encompassed within the five pillars of our DE&I effort which include Assement, Hiring, Retention, Training and Community.
Nonprofit partner examples:
Invest in Girls, Him For Her, International Women's Forum, UK Treasury's Women in Finance Charter, Girls Are INvestors (GAIN)
Invest in Girls is dedicated to ushering in the first generation of financially literate girls and increasing the number of women working in finance.
Climate
We are committed to addressing climate change from both an investment and operational lens.
With respect to operational emissions, our focus remains first on reducing and monitoring emissions, and then on contributing funds to climate-positive projects around the world to compensate for unavoidable emissions.
Our operational carbon emissions in 2022 were approximately 4,750 metric tons, with the bulk of our impact stemming from a mix of Scope 1 and 2 emissions (heating and powering our physical office spaces) and Scope 3 emissions (emissions from air travel). Our corporate real estate team is supporting multiyear reduction efforts for Scope 1 emissions with a requirement for new buildings where we procure office space to meet the highest levels of LEED and BREEAM certifications. Our development of office spaces is also aligned with these standards.
In an effort to offset our emissions, we strive for a diversified portfolio of high-quality projects that are backed by rigorous science and monitoring and incorporate secondary benefits such as biodiversity and human health.
PROJECT WORK
Seeing the Forest for the Trees
This project mitigates forest exploitation in Mexico. All members of the community within the project area are involved in the effort to sustainably manage and increase the carbon stocks in the forests—conserving forests, increasing biodiversity, and providing education and jobs to local residents. Learn more
Doo Doo Does More
This project installs biodigesters in rural Indian homes that convert cow dung into clean methane gas for cooking. The biodigesters replace inefficient wood-burning stoves—preventing the depletion of already-scarce local forest resources and reducing emissions from methane, a greenhouse gas that would otherwise be released into the air from decaying cow dung. Learn more
The Giving Trees
This project supports reforestation and sustainable development among small groups of farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and India. The trees help break the cycle of deforestation, drought and famine. The profits earned through the sale of carbon offsets provide capital for tree planting, as well as leadership opportunities for women, and income to address agricultural and nutritional deficiencies, HIV/AIDS, clean cooking, and fuel availability. Learn more
Our operational carbon footprint is important to us, but we believe that we can have a far greater impact on climate change through our investments: by working with clients to implement sustainable investment strategies, monitoring and managing the climate risk within the portfolios we manage, and engaging with our portfolio holdings and their stakeholders.
“We have a responsibility to make a difference in this footprint that we occupy. We have an obligation to both speak up and show up in our communities—with energy, skills, and financial resources.”
MIKE HANKIN, BROWN ADVISORY CEO
Colleague Engagement
Brown Advisory is distinctive in many ways. Our ownership structure—where every full-time colleague is an equity owner—creates a remarkably entrepreneurial, accountable culture. This accountability serves our clients and our broader communities. We intentionally recruit colleagues who share our values around making an impact. In fact, one of our criteria for promotion to Principal and Partner is the energy and leadership that colleagues demonstrate in their communities. At last count, Brown Advisory colleagues served over 400 nonprofits and charities in the US and UK.
To learn more about our work in the community, please contact us