Real assets for real impact

A year and a half ago, we set out to review how we present ourselves in the world. The result was to create a family of brands to help us better connect with those critical to our mission. 

This is why in December last year we launched Impact on Urban Health — our brand dedicated to unlocking the potential of cities to be healthier. This is the brand for our urban health work and our programmes on childhood obesity, multiple long-term conditions, health effects of air pollution and children’s mental health.

This month we unveil Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation. Our new name and brand represent our overarching mission of investing in a healthier society. This is the brand for our people, our investments and our heritage. We see these as real assets for real impact. 

It’s quite some heritage. We were set up hundreds of years ago to address health challenges others would not. Throughout that time we’ve been a constant in London’s ever-changing landscape. Our home in the heart of a global city gives us roots. It also brings us face to face with the reality of health inequalities. We know that work like ours is never finished — our challenge is to be relevant, probing and restless.  

Across our family of brands, we partner with all parts of society, from communities and grassroots organisations to large companies, government, hospitals, academics and many others. So our increasingly varied team reflects that diversity, working to build the foundations of a society where everyone can stay healthier for longer. 

Our Foundation also represents our investments. Our endowment allows us to take a long-term view while addressing the real and urgent health issues of today. As with an increasing number of foundations, we also see it as one of our most powerful tools of change. Through this work, we hope to demonstrate to others that investing in health is good business too.  

How and where we work won’t change but behind the scenes there will be a few shifts.  

Changing our organisational name from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity to the new Foundation name is one of those shifts. Admittedly, this isn’t a huge change. But it does free us up to create new and compelling brands to support the extraordinary work taking place across Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals and community services. We’ll be launching those brands later this year. 

We hope these developments paint a picture of a family of organisations working to create better health. And that’s our world view — health as a collective endeavour. It requires people and ideas to come at big challenges from all angles. What we can do to help is to invest in fresh thinking and bold action. 

We’ve been doing that for over 500 years. We aim to be doing that for 500 more. And if fresh thinking and bold action on health inequalities describes what you bring, we’d love to hear from you.