Joanna Gooch, Angelo Gordon’s London Office Manager, knows a lot about maintaining the sort of office environment that allows everyone to do their best work. Back in 2019, Joanna joined with a number of others to create Business2Schools (B2S) – an organization that channels unwanted office furniture and tech to U.K. schools, contributing to a better environment for students and helping them realize their potential.

B2S seeks to provide an alternative for businesses looking to get rid of furniture, computers, and other equipment as a result of office moves or upgrades. Currently, options are limited, and high-quality products are often destroyed or discarded, finding their way to landfills. B2S gives companies the opportunity to donate these items to schools where they can be put to good use.

Over the last three years, Business2Schools has found new homes in schools across the U.K. for about £30 million of furniture and technology that was being replaced in offices. Recently, the organization has also started to help schools in New York City.

Joanna has spread the word about Business2Schools around Angelo Gordon’s U.K. offices and the firm is proud to support the initiative. “It’s amazing to see how the Real Estate teams got behind this cause as soon as they heard about it, and in turn encouraged our operating partners to get involved,” said Joanna. “The teams think of us whenever they buy a building. As a result, the firm has donated many truckloads of items, which has helped us to rehome thousands of pounds of equipment to schools.”

Thanks to Joanna and the B2S team, Angelo Gordon has donated a variety of items to a number of schools, including the Watling View School, a small special needs school in Hertfordshire, who will fill several new learning spaces currently under development with a furniture donation from Angelo Gordon.  The students and teachers at Rose Green Junior School were thrilled to get Angelo Gordon’s newer PCs to replace older, unreliable computers while another school received brand new clothes when the firm purchased a building that contained samples from a clothing store that went out of business.

Through Business2Schools, Angelo Gordon is proud to help students and teachers improve their classrooms and play a part in saving the environment.