Supporting Local Communities

We have a long history of supporting the community, from our earliest days of Victorian philanthropy. All our businesses implement community investment programmes and we encourage our operations to establish long-term partnerships focused on education (particularly financial education) and social welfare.

Our approach to community investment is to support charitable organisations, and appropriate NGOs, not only through funding, but also through the expertise of our employees. In 2010, our community investment spend was £7.5 million, of which £5.7 million was direct charitable donations, with the remainder being in-kind contributions.

Employee volunteering / Chairman’s Challenge

In 2011, more than 3,000 employees signed up as Chairman’s Challenge volunteers, an increase of 14 per cent on 2010.

All of the projects included in the Chairman’s Challenge receive a financial donation from the Group for each employee who signs up as a volunteer, and five shortlisted projects – selected by a judging panel comprising external representatives from the Corporate Citizenship Company and the Charities Aid Foundation, and Business Unit representatives, and ratified by the Chairman – receive additional funding.

Each year employees across the Group vote for the shortlisted project they believe has made the greatest impact.

In 2011, the winning Chairman’s Challenge project was “Learning about Earning”. This programme – in partnership with Prestasi Junior, the Indonesian branch of Junior Achievement – benefited over 200 street children at a safe house in Jakarta, through the commitment of over 170 employees from our Indonesian business, who helped children to develop basic communication and financial skills.

The other shortlisted projects in the 2011 Chairman’s Challenge were:

• Junior Achievement, Hong Kong: more than 1,900 students benefited from financial management workshops run by over 290 employees;
• Junior Achievement, US: 176 employees dedicated 651 hours to educating young people in financial literacy skills;
• Plan International, Thailand: 230 employees conducted a variety of educational programmes on financial management and disaster relief, benefiting more than 300 students;
• Prudential UK: 65 employees dedicated 1,884 hours to Age UK’s Call in Time programme, which supports over 500 isolated older people.

Financial education

As a provider of financial services we believe that encouraging and supporting financial literacy helps to underpin overall economic development.

In addition to the financial education projects included in the Chairman’s Challenge, we support a number of other initiatives that aim to improve financial knowledge. These include skills training for adults and children. For example, in Asia we run financial training seminars for women who, while often responsible for their families’ financial planning, have traditionally had limited financial education. In the UK, we partner with organisations such as Citizens Advice, the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg), and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

Disaster relief

The Group maintains a fund which is activated to support relief efforts in the event of disaster in the countries where we operate.

Our commitment to disaster relief often goes beyond financial aid, providing on-the-ground support to address the most critical needs. Following the earthquake that struck Western Sumatra in Indonesia, near the city of Padang, at the end of 2009, we contributed approximately £1 million, and many of our employees worked as volunteers. Funding was used to support initial emergency relief efforts and subsequent reconstruction work, leading to the completion of 220 new houses, a children’s library and a play centre in 2010.

Save the Children became a new charity partner through the Group’s support for its Children’s Emergency Fund.

View our community investment policy.