Campaigning on behalf of a world-class sector

White papers, reports, articles and social media are useful in raising issues. However, change is most likely to take place when those holding diverse perspectives come face-to-face on a regular basis. Each MPF campaign therefore has a Club at its heart:

  • GLO Club: linking local professional firms to Government
  • Productivity Club: PSF leaders as corporate NEDs
  • Inclusion Club: experts at promoting women into leadership roles
  • Philanthropy Club: multiply money to good causes

Campaign Club membership has three elements:

  • Complete relevant surveys, some organised directly with Government.
  • Access the Campaign Hub to raise issues directly with Government, investors, clients or philathropists, and to comment on their issues.
  • Optional participation at local meetings to receive campaign updates and debate issues arising. 

Individual membership of the MPF is required for representatives of sector firms as this enables campaigns to be progressed while preserving financial independence from Government and other interested parties. 

The MPF Advisory Board is responsible for campaigns, with campaign teams combining Forum members and topic experts.

Sign up for Campaign Club membership via the Campaign Hub registration form.


GLO Club - linking local professional firms to Government

Widely recognised as the independent voice of the sector, the MPF is increasingly performing another immensely valuable role. Government is showing a growing interest in gathering views, data and intelligence from and about the UK's largest and arguably most successful sector - professional & business services.

The Government Liaison Officer (GLO) Club, built on the extensive MPF membership base, lies at the heart of the campaign to link local professional firms to Government. The MPF is partnering with BDO and Gerald Eve in reaching out to firms as this will result in faster growth and therefore a more representative campaign.

There has never been a better time to make the case for policies to help our world-class sector and the UK as a whole thrive as the challenges and opportunities associated with Brexit and the evolving Industrial Strategy unfold over the coming years.

Campaign team

  • Stuart Lisle, BDO
  • Simon Prichard, Gerald Eve

Productivity Club - PSF leaders as corporate NEDs

Most leaders of professional firms have extensive experience of ‘challenge & support’ leadership. This style results in very high levels of employee engagement and productivity compared with organisations whose leaders practise ‘command & control’ – the default at most corporates. This helps explain the relative success of our sector and its importance to the UK economy. 

Yet PSF leaders are seldom seen externally as suitable NED candidates, despite their unique mix of relevant business acumen and independent mindset.

The MPF Productivity Club, built on the extensive MPF membership base, lies at the heart of the campaign to set the record straight through ‘educating’ the gatekeepers – professional firm governance committees; boards at corporates; the investment community; private equity; recruiters; government; etc - as to the merits of appointing professional firm leaders as independent NEDs.

Campaign team


Inclusion Club - Experts at promoting women into leadership roles

Many professional firms have high levels of women in leadership. This is influenced by the default leadership style at sector firms - ‘challenge & support’ - being generally preferable to women compared with  ‘command & control’, the most common style at corporates.

The Inclusion Club, built on the extensive MPF membership base, lies at the heart of the campaign to encourage sector leaders at sector firms to share their expertise with peers at clients over ways to grow and sustain high levels of women in leadership.

Campaign team


Philanthropy Club - Multiply money to good causes

The 340,000 individuals in the UK with more than £1m of investable wealth give some £1.3b annually to good causes. New donors rapidly discover that success in one field is no guarantee elsewhere and that a new set of capabilities and values are needed, plus significant investment in understanding the process.

They also struggle to find a suitable adviser, most of whom are seen as reactive with little awareness of their impact. Advice on the donor journey is also usually delivered in a haphazard fashion. However, people of wealth who are well advised give up to 17 times more to good causes.

The Philanthropy Club, built on the extensive MPF membership base, lies at the heart of the campaign to encourage sector leaders to restructure relevant sections of their firms to help their own partners and clients of wealth through the donor journey. This could raise another £500m annually for good causes.

Campaign team

  • John Pepin, Philanthropy Impact
  • Imogen Hilton-Brown, Smith & Williamson

Old campaigns

  • Digital and social technologies (2013-14) - MPF and Elephant Creative suspected, that although marketing ‘got’ social media, the same was not true of management, so organised a major survey into attitudes towards digital and social technologies in 2013 and 2014. 
  • Managing client relationships (2009-2013) - MPF and The Thriving Company surveyed CRM activities and results specific to professional firms for five years, with well over 1,000 contributions from firms during the life of the study
  • Listed professional firm index (2009) - The success of the MPF campaign to encourage investors to appreciate the profitability, growth and resilience of professional firms can be judged when the MPF Professional Services Index compiled by Noble, consistently outperformed superficially comparable indices.
  • Carbon Footprint (2008) - Far too often (and in many cases wrongly) professional firms are perceived to be commercial laggards – slow to adapt to change, conservative in their behaviours and unlikely innovators. In joining the MPF Carbon Footprint campaign, professional firms were the first major industry group to join together to tackle what is surely one of the greatest challenges facing our society.
  • Best Professional Firm to Work For (2008) - MPF partnered with Best Companies to compile the first-ever  listing of the UK's best professional firms to work for in the eyes of their own people
  • The Global 500 (2007 - 2010) - MPF compiled the first ever ranking of the world's largest professional firms. The real achievements of professionals are not that widely known - partly because caricatures are easier to present in the press than flesh and blood. Without professionals and the infrastructure they have created, the world would be a much sorrier place. What is most surprising, perhaps, is not the extent of their contribution - but the fact that it is so little known. 
  • Unsung heroes (2004) - In theory, a partnership stands for collaboration and team work; in practice many partners are highly competitive animals, focusing on client-based financial measures to determine relative status and reward. If partners see success in these terms, it is hardly surprising that those who neither directly bring in fees nor deliver services to clients are referred to in pejorative terms, for example 'non-fee earner'.