A basketball tournament will bring together professional services firms from across the region to raise money for the Eagles Community Foundation.

The event, organised by WilliamsAli Corporate Finance, will see 30 businesses compete against each other in a 3×3 basketball tournament.

Held on Friday 26 May  at the Vertu Motors Arena, it will bring together firms from across the North East region to raise vital funds for the Eagles Community Foundation – which is the M&A boutique’s inaugural charity of the year.

Launched in 2006, the Eagles Community Foundation runs a broad range of outreach activity, including the award-winning Hoops 4 Health programme, which engages young people with healthy lifestyles through basketball.

The Foundation also operates 13 junior community basketball clubs across the region, helping to create the next generation of basketball players and fans, with recent statistics showing that more than one million people across the UK now regularly take part in the sport.

WilliamsAli, a proud sponsor of the Newcastle Eagles, decided to make the Eagles Community Foundation its charity of the year after being impressed with its impact on supporting the health and participation in sport of young people across the region.

So far, it has raised a significant sum for the charity, including over £1,000 from its corporate golf day alone.

“We have been truly impressed by the work of the Eagles Community Foundation and the impact it has on giving access to young people from a range of backgrounds to dynamic and rewarding activities delivered by an elite professional sports organisation, especially at a time when families are finding it hard to make ends meet,”  says Phil Williams, co-founder at WilliamsAli .

“We are longstanding supporters and good friends of the Eagles, so when we nominated our charity of the year, the Eagles Community Foundation was our first choice, and we wanted to do everything we can to raise money for them – including hosting events that are a little less conventional than your usual corporate occasions.”

Abu Ali, co-founder at WilliamsAli, continues: “There are many sports-themed fundraising events, and they’re really well supported, but we wanted to do something a bit different; something we thought professionals would really fancy giving a go, as it’s probably a bit outside of their comfort zone.

“The absolutely fantastic number of teams who have committed their support is evidence of that – we’re delighted that so many people will be taking part in what promises to be a really fun day, but one with a greater purpose to raise funds to support the work of the Eagles Community Foundation.

Sam Blake, Chief Executive of the Eagles Community Foundation added “We are so grateful to the WilliamsAli team for their support over the last year. The tournament is already generating a competitive spirit both internally and externally. As an organisation we don’t receive any statutory funding so every penny that WilliamsAli raises goes to supporting our increasingly vital work in the community.”