This month, we are excited to showcase the ongoing partnership between Meridian West and Community Southwark, which has had a significant impact on our work and Southwark’s Voluntary and Community Sector.
Our partnership
Meridian West provides strategic insight and consulting services to help businesses and professional services firms understand their clients better and make smarter decisions. Over the past years, Meridian West has collaborated with Community Southwark in various ways, from sponsoring our Southwark Stars Awards to providing pro bono projects for our members and our teams. The impact from our multi-year partnership is a great example of the benefits and time needed when building relationships with businesses.
How Meridian West is supporting our Annual Members’ Survey
Since 2023, Ethan and Eleanor at Meridian-West have kindly helped Community Southwark with its Annual Members’ Survey. The main benefit of this is that Community Southwark can use Qualtrics, Meridian West’s online survey platform. Qualtrics can be tailored to Community Southwark’s specifications and, by using this software, Community Southwark can analyse survey data more efficiently. It also provides us with graphs and charts that help us better understand our members’ needs, views, and experiences.
We caught up with Ethan and Eleanor from Meridian West to hear their experience of volunteering so far. 
Why did you want to volunteer your professional skills?
As a firm located within Southwark, it was important for us to support Community Southwark in making a positive change in our local community. As research consultants, we wanted to use our expertise to help local groups and charities make a meaningful difference to people’s lives. By volunteering our professional skills in survey design, data collection and analysis, we could support Community Southwark in making the most out of their annual members survey – a valuable exercise that aims to understand and address the needs and challenges of their members.
What were your highlights?
Over our three-year partnership with Community Southwark, we’ve helped Jeremy and the team design more effective surveys and extract meaningful insights from the data collected. A highlight has been seeing how this work directly supports Community Southwark’s ability to respond to their members’ evolving needs. By helping amplify their members’ voices through well-designed surveys and thorough analysis, we’ve contributed to sustaining their valuable support services into 2025 and beyond. Working alongside an organisation that provides such amazing support to local members has been particularly rewarding.
What top tips would you give to others considering skills volunteering?
For other corporate bodies and professional services considering skills volunteering, we would recommend engaging with local initiatives where your specific expertise can truly make a difference. The most impactful partnerships come from providing sustainable value through your technical skills, while approaching the relationship as a genuine collaboration rather than simply offering a service. Supporting community organisations not only helps them achieve their mission but also deepens your connection to the local area.
We would like to say a massive thank you to the Meridian West team. Your insights and support have significantly increased our ability to serve our members, which in turn has a huge impact for Southwark’s Voluntary and Community Sector!