Inclusivity & Creativity with FreeAgent: Meet the FreeAngels!

April’s #CMInclusive themed event is a very special one with our friends and sponsors over at FreeAgent! Each year, the FreeAgent team raises awareness and funds for selected charities. With CCLASP being one of their charity partners for 2019, it’s extra special to have the charity’s founder, Valerie Simpson, speak to all of us at the CreativeMornings/EDI community! All of their charity collaborations are organised by the FreeAgent FreeAngels - a group of FreeAgent team members, dedicating some of their work hours to fundraising events and activities. Each of them combining creativity and a passion for inclusivity - in the workplace, and wider communities. 

It’s a pleasure, then, to introduce Stuart McEwan. A support accountant at FreeAgent, he’s a dedicated member of the FreeAngels group; described by co-workers as: 

“ …an unfailing champion of FreeAgent’s FreeAngels team, who organises these events for us to get together, have some fun and raise money for our charities.  He is also great at encouraging people to use their volunteering day to help out all sorts of worthy causes.”

Making events, fundraising, and charity sponsorship activities happen must take a whole lot of passion and creativity. Can you tell us a little bit about what this work entails for your team?

It involves creativity, conversation, and elbow grease. Effective fundraising starts with imagination, and develops arms and legs through research on similar ideas, and the creative minds of those who involve themselves in the task. Following the dream, comes the sharing. For an event to be successful, it needs people to both shout about it, and to get involved in it. The communication and teamwork around this middle stage is paramount to its success. Lastly comes the hard graft. Even the simplest of fundraising takes time, and more hard work than was originally planned for.

What attracted you to this work? And, what’s the special story behind how you came to be in the role?

After leaving university, I went straight into becoming a pre-school teacher and realised how rewarding giving back to society and helping others was. I managed to rope in (read: guilt trip) another 7 of my fellow graduates into joining me in running the Edinburgh Marathon in 2010. We raised £8,000 for Alzheimer Scotland and I took charge of organising the fundraising - and that was me hooked! When I joined FreeAgent in 2017 and found that we put forward charity runners for the marathon, I quickly offered my fundraising experience over the prior 7 years.

Stuart and his team, at the end of the 2018 Edinburgh Marathon 🏃

What aspects of these initiatives do you find the most fulfilling, and inspiring?

I think that the sense of fulfilment and inspiration comes in two main ways. The first is being able to help support people in a meaningful and significant way. Everyone has the ability to help others, and I get real satisfaction from knowing that I can directly change people’s lives.

The second is watching the FreeAgent community come together. We’re lucky to have an incredibly diverse workplace of staff, and when fundraising activities such as our bi-annual scavenger hunt are run, it’s amazing to see individuals across different departments, genders, races, ages, disabilities, and nationalities, and their partners, come together to help raise money and awareness for the same cause.

When planning and creating these initiatives, events, and partnerships, where/what/who do you find yourself looking to for new ideas?

I genuinely believe that inspiration is everywhere, and that the more you look, the more you see. I try to explore every avenue, and never rule out anything. The internet is the greatest help, as the chances are, that if you have a good idea, it’s probably been done in some way before. I’ll either create an idea myself, or take inspiration from one i’ve seen or heard about, and then bounce it off of family, friends, and colleagues until it becomes something else. Being in regular contact with charities always helps, as they’re able to provide insight into prior events that you can’t know unless you’ve been directly involved it in.

FreeAngel’s Fundraising: Fancy Dress 💃🏽 and Halloween Bake Sale 🎃 

Is there anything, or things, that make FreeAgent a special place/team/organisation to do this work in/with?

Absolutely. The diversity and inclusiveness of FreeAgent is special. Working with people from every walk of life, and from all corners of the world, enriches both the community feel, and the life experience of mixing with large numbers of people who have a completely different story to you. We’re also a very forward-thinking and enterprising company, so topics such as charity and sustainability, and empowerment and equality, are always very high on the agenda.

Can you tell us about any unique/inspiring/special moments that stand out in your memory from your time doing this work with FreeAgent?

There was a moment after the 2018 Edinburgh Marathon had finished, that the FreeAgent charity runners all came together for a collective photo, and for congratulations between ourselves. It was an occasion of success and gratification. Each one of us had overcome a real challenge, and in doing so, was helping to make the world a better place. You can’t buy moments like that.

The FreeAgent Team Charity Fundraising Xmas Jumper Day 🎄 

Our motto at CreativeMornings - both local and global - is “Everyone is Creative, Everyone is Welcome!”. With this in mind, what inspirational words and/or advice would you give to the CreativeMornings community, and how they can also nurture their creativity?

I’m sure that there are many useful ways to nurture creativity, but the one I’d like to recommend that gets overlooked so often is volunteering. The benefits of volunteering are almost endless, and they’re all likely to directly or indirectly help to improve creativity. It engages you with a wider community, opens up new potential avenues to explore, reduces stress levels, develops new physical and interpersonal skills, and broadens the human experience of being around, and helping, others.

Stuart McEwan - FreeAgent Angel, and #CMInclusive Champion 😊

One last question! Our theme this month is ‘Inclusive’. What does this word mean to you, in your life, work, and creative pursuits?

Inclusivity to me, is realising and making true the fact that we can make a better ‘we’, by bringing together lots of different 'mes’.

My advice to anyone on this would be to surround yourself with as many people as you can that are different to you. You can’t make soup when you only have water.

Cheers! 

Thank you so much Stuart for giving us this wonderful glimpse into life as a FreeAgent FreeAngel, and all you do. What a healthy dose of inspiration - applying and nurturing our creativity really can be done anywhere, and include everyone!  

We can’t wait to see you all our next CreativeMornings/EDI event! Make sure you head on over and say hi to our friends from the FreeAgent team while you’re with us this Friday morning. They really are the nicest of folks, ready and raring to conversate!