Pursuing professionalism

So what is it that Foothold does, Jonny? 

Foothold was set up with a clear purpose: to ensure no engineers or their families have to face life’s challenges alone. Foothold used to be called IET Connect, and its legal name is still the IET Benevolent Fund (thought it operates as an independent organisation). It was founded by members of the then-IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers) in 1890 as a way to help fellow engineers who were in trouble, as this was long before there was a welfare state. Foothold was created by members, for members. 

The first grant of £20 (around £3,000 in today’s money) was issued in 1900. It was progressive for the time, and there were lots of different benevolent fund-type charities springing up. When these were set up people were asking that if they or a colleague fell on hard times could they just let it happen, or should they do something about it? It was very altruistic. 

The majority of our board are IET members, including two IET-nominated trustees, ensuring we retain close links and understand the needs and challenges faces by the IET community. 

Everything we do is still funded by the engineering community, just as it was 135 years ago.  

Quite a rich history there then! And what does Foothold do today? 

Foothold still awards grants to those in need, mostly current IET members or former ones. In our last financial year, we gave out £1.2 million to people, in 24 different countries; the IET is a global organisation and we’re supporting IET members all over the world!  

We were also founded to support the prevention of poverty. We offer support to increase resilience to help people better cope in difficult periods before entering crisis.  

We have a digital health and wellbeing programme, with monthly webinars, and resources that include a Mental Health Check-In tool comprised of a set of clinically validated questions. This is totally anonymous, and at the end people get results tailored for them which they could then take to their GP for further support.  

We have a neurodiversity hub providing advice and guidance about different types of neurodiversity and how people can ask for reasonable support and adjustments from their employers. There’s also the Foothold app and legal advice sheets, covering things like redundancy, divorce, wills and neighbours.  

Our aim is to have a happy, healthy engineering community who can thrive in their professional lives and their personal lives. The IET supports people in their professional journeys, while Foothold supports them and their family with personal challenges, both during their career and once it has ended. 

Do IET members know about the work of Foothold and the support it offers? 

Many do, but it’s always good to remind people and raise awareness. We rebranded as Foothold in 2019 - some people are still familiarising with that. We want people to know about the support and don’t want to see any engineer struggling, not knowing where to turn.  

Our digital support is open access and self-service, available 24/7 on our website. Last year we supported 1,500 engineers, but these are the ones we know about who have registered with Foothold; there are many more accessing our resources too.  

How can people help? 

Many engineers are struggling right now - let them know that we might be able to help them.  

We are always appreciative when people donate, either through one-off donations, direct debit, or making gifts in their wills. Over 2,000 people supported our work last year, but that is a much fewer than 10 years ago. Our resources are finite - we need more people to contribute to ensure that support is still there in another 135 years! Every donation helps support a member of our community in need. 

You can find out more about Foothold, and donate directly, at: www.myfoothold.org