Spotlight on...

Community Investment

Prudential has a long history of community investment, from the philanthropy of Victorian directors, through sponsorship of sports and arts events, to current environmental and financial literacy initiatives. Support was traditionally offered to public health charities and disaster funds. In the interwar years, beneficiaries included the London Chest Hospital, and in 1926 the company paid for the new Ramsgate lifeboat, later to see service in the Dunkirk evacuation.

Prudential's first venture into sports sponsorship came in 1972 with the Prudential One-Day Cricket International series, and continued for the next 12 years, including the Prudential World Cup and several England/Australia matches. 1998 saw the launch of PruTour, the UK's biggest cycle race.

A series of concerts by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1982 benefitted from support; these were closely followed by support for numerous theatre groups, and for a scheme to bring the Cologne Opera to London. 1988 witnessed the launch of The Prudential Awards for the Arts, the largest arts prizes in the UK. In 1996 Prudential began sponsorship of a series of major exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, and was a founding corporate partner of the Tate Modern.

Each Prudential business now undertakes its own localised sponsorship and community activities, such as Jackson National Life's support of Michigan State University. Through its ‘PRUfriends' outreach programme, Prudential Corporation Asia stages public events promoting a healthy lifestyle; its charitable donations focus on the needs of young people, and those with disabilities, as well as providing short-term relief for victims of natural disasters.

Prudential UK employees, whether they work within the UK or at our customer service centre in Mumbai, India, support a range of local community involvement initiatives as part of CommunityPru.

In 2000, Prudential Property Investment Managers Limited (PruPIM) established the Grass Roots programme with UK charity BTCV (formerly British Trust for Conservation Volunteers). To date, 12 successful community regeneration projects have been delivered.

In 2001, Prudential joined forces with Citizens Advice and the Personal Finance Education Group to develop ‘Plan for Life Learning' a major new financial education programme. This programme was extended to consumer information in 2002, with the UK launch of the Plan from the Pru – an award-winning impartial guide to planning finances at every stage of life. Promoting financial literacy remains a cornerstone of the group CR Programme and in 2004 Prudential Corporation Asia launched ‘Investing in Your Future'. Its success in China resulted in the roll-out of the programme into Vietnam during 2005.

Prudential published its first Environment Report in 2001, and participated in a joint Government and industry initiative to provide guidance on environmental management and reporting for the financial sector. Prudential has since progressed from Environmental Reporting to full Corporate Responsibility reporting.