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Strengthening our communities
We began as a Friendly Society to help communities afford a funeral - even in times of trouble - so they could avoid having a 'pauper's funeral' and the accompanying stigma.
Making a difference
In 2019, working with our people and local charities, we developed our new community theme, ‘helping people prevent a life shock becoming a crisis’. This theme focuses on financial vulnerability and resilience, an area where we think we can really make a big difference, and that also builds on our aim of supporting people to protect themselves.
As part of this, we will work with charities that go beyond being a helping hand by supporting people to prevent life’s shocks, and who also work with their clients to build them up again after facing a shock.
Making a difference
£148,000
Total donated overall to charity. We match a portion of our people's fundraising efforts. in 2019, we and our people donated a total of £148,000 to charity.
10,188
Number of people supported in 32 local schools, charities and community centres through our team challenge programme.
6,886
Hours volunteered by 947 of our people. Our Employee Volunteer programme gives our people two days annually to volunteer in their community.
86%
Percentage of colleagues that say Royal London is genuinely committed to having a strong social impact.
£523,000
Amount given in grants from the Royal London Foundation last year. We also introduced continuation grants; providing a second grant of £10,000 to 10 nominated organisations, a year after they received the first one, in order to help them continue their good work.
363
Amount of children supported through our volunteer programme in partnership with Business in the Community, focusing on the development of enterprise and employability skills.
Our local partnerships
In 2020, our people voted for six local charity partners as part of Royal London's Community Programme. These initiatives focus on smaller, local organisations, ensuring that the impact of our activity meets the needs of local groups and people.
These local partners are:
- London - The Food Chain
An organisation that provides vital groceries and hot meals for the most vulnerable people living with HIV in London - Glasgow - PETAL
An organisation that supports people affected by homicide or suicide in Scotland. - Wilmslow - The Booth Centre
An organisation that exists to bring about positive change in the lives of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to help them plan for and realise a better future. - Edinburgh – Held In Our Hearts
An organisation that provides baby loss counselling and support to families. - Dublin – Feileacain
An organisation providing support to anyone affected by the death of a baby during pregnancy or shortly after
We also support the causes that matter most to our staff by matching their fundraising efforts (Capped) and offering time off for volunteering in their local communities.
Case study: Business in the Community
Our skills-focused volunteering supports elements of the school curriculum where pupils need real-world experience. Working with Business in the Community, we have developed a classroom-based volunteering scheme that directly tackles a key skills gap in education: our financial capability module is a workshop run by volunteer teams for older primary school pupils. Using games, it’s designed to raise awareness of risk, debt and the importance of long-term savings.
In 2019, 61 volunteers ran classroom workshops in enterprise and employability skills. Our business and the expertise of our people were brought to life for pupils so they could see a connection between the skills they’re learning now and their future working lives.
"Our partner schools view this regular support as a crucial part of the pupils’ learning, creating a memorable and positive experience that teachers refer to throughout the year."
James Tindell, Business in the Community
Case study: The Silver Line
We are proud to work with The Silver Line. We have 18 of our people volunteering as ‘Silver Line’ telephone friends, giving 30 minutes once a week to make a real difference. They really enjoy it too!
“I became interested in volunteering for The Silver Line after visiting the stall at the 2019 Group Conference. Our team speak to customers over the age of fifty every day and I felt that by volunteering for The Silver Line we would be giving something back to the age group that we speak to. There are now seven members of the team having weekly conversations with the person they have been matched with. We’ve attended telephone based training sessions with Silver Line trainers who advised on how the scheme worked and what support we would receive. The feedback we have received from our friends is heart-warming and the conversations really do make a difference to their lives."
Julie, The Silver Line volunteer, Consumer team member
Our partnerships for 2020
The Royal London Foundation
Our foundation allows members to nominate a local not-for profit organisation to receive funding from us. Find out more about the Royal London Foundation.