James Reed wants to change capitalism’s DNA. The chairman and CEO of Reed Group, the largest family-owned recruitment company in the world, with turnover of £1.3 billion, is already reshaping the face of philanthropy via the pioneering match-funding platform Big Give. And through his advocacy for philanthropic companies, or ‘PhilCos’, he is urging businesses to embed giving into their operating models in the same way Reed Group has.
[Click here to register for updates on the Spear’s Awards 2025]
Reed learned about giving early in life; he ‘grew up in a family where [philanthropy] was normal’. (His father, Sir Alec Reed, founded the company that Reed now leads.) ‘And I enjoy my engagement with philanthropy. I don’t want to pretend otherwise, because it’s incredibly rewarding. It’s good to see that the money we can make in the marketplace can go to all sorts of good outcomes beyond just getting rich.’
[See also: James Reed wins the Spear’s Impact Award in Association with Clinic Les Alpes]
Doubling the impact
Big Give, of which Reed is chair, has pioneered the concept of match funding – where funders match the donations that members of the public make to charities. It’s a small team – only 10 employees – but the organisation, a registered charity itself, has helped to raise more than £300 million over the past 15 years.
It functions as a ‘generosity multiplier’, Reed explains. All donations from the public are matched by larger funders, effectively doubling the impact.
‘What we realised, and what really makes Big Give work, is that generosity, we discovered, is contagious. People love joining together to support causes they care about,’ James Reed says. Match funding ‘is highly motivational to people who want to support charities because their donations go further. And they know this, so they give more often, and they give more money.’
Content from our partners
[See also: A foreword to the 2025 edition of the Spear’s 500 by James Reed]
Embedding giving into a business
He is also a trustee of the Reed Foundation, the largest single shareholder in the Reed Group. ‘When we pay dividends to our shareholders,’ he says, ‘the Reed Foundation receives 18 per cent, and that money is able to be used through Big Give and in other ways to support all sorts of good causes.’ Reed employees are essentially working one day a week for charity.
‘I’m a big advocate in trying to encourage other companies to become PhilCos, because I think it’s good for business,’ Reed says. ‘But it’s also good for society and the wider community. This PhilCo model, I feel, is a small change in the DNA of capitalism, you know… As entrepreneurs, as business leaders, how much money is enough? How much money do we really need? And once we’ve got past that point, what are we going to do, and what can we use that money for usefully, that is both rewarding for us and beneficial for others? It’s something I think about a lot.’
This feature is published in Spear’s Magazine Issue 90. Click here to subscribe
