The Bank encourages colleagues to support the community and charitable causes that they care about. Each year, Bank staff are invited to nominate and then vote for the charities that they particularly wish to support. The Bank's current charities of the year are Child Bereavement UK and Samaritans.
Last year, the Bank staff chose Haven House Children's Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support as the charities they wished to support. The Bank helped raise £320,000, through a range of staff fundraising initiatives, the largest amount ever raised by staff.
- The money raised for Macmillan could pay for over 3 Macmillan Nurses for over one year, helping people living with cancer and their families receive essential medical, practical and emotional support.
- The money raised for Haven House children’s hospice will go towards their core services which includes vital respite and overnight care. Last year the charity supported 353 children across all of their services.
Part of last year’s fundraising total was raised at the charity auction of low or special serial numbered polymer £10 banknotes. The proceeds were split evenly between the Bank’s two charities of the year and a third charity - Candlelighters, a children’s cancer charity in Leeds - voted for by Bank staff in the banknotes area. Each charity received almost £90,000. The Bank also held a charity banknote auction for the polymer £5 in 2016 which raised £194,500 for the charities chosen by Bank staff (which were then the Lily Foundation, Myotubular Trust and Bliss).
In addition, Bank staff supported a wide range of other charitable causes, in line with the Bank’s charitable giving guidelines. In the financial year 2016/17, Bank staff helped to raise over £164,000 for other good causes within its guidelines. The Bank has also played host to multiple events and receptions for a wide variety of charitable causes ranging from research into Alzheimer’s disease, supporting children in the UK who are blind and partially sighted, Target Ovarian Cancer and the Carers’ Trust.
The Governor and Deputy Governors have also personally committed time to raise funds for charities. For example, the Governor has supported many events for the Bank’s charities during his tenure, including planting a tree in the gardens of Haven House Children’s Hospice, hosting a Macmillan coffee morning and supporting the Bank’s recent ‘Brew Monday’ event for the Samaritans.
The Bank also supports charities in other ways. For example, Bank staff undertake a wide range of volunteering activities and during financial year 2016/17 gave 785 days of their time. This includes mentoring children from less advantaged backgrounds, taking on a role as a school governor, and volunteering to support the homeless or elderly.
Charitable giving policy
The Bank’s community relations section receives in excess of 1,600 charitable appeals a year. Most are from registered charities – the number of which exceeds 165,000 – ranging from ‘household names’ which operate nationally or internationally to very small groups unknown outside their immediate locality. Appeals are also received from non-registered charities and from individuals seeking assistance with further education, specialised medical treatment, expeditions abroad, etc.