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.

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.
• Bath – Bath City Farm
  An organisation that delivers projects in horticulture and animal care to improve the lives of adults living with complex health and social needs and children facing adversity.
• 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