As the cost of living crisis takes hold, charities and volunteers continue to deliver critical services across the UK, including in communities around our places. That’s why we’re using the resources available to us to support the vital work they do.

Taking prompt action to help our community partners survive these tough times is not only the right thing to do – which it definitely is – but also makes good commercial sense. Our places thrive when local people and organisations prosper too. We’re here for the long term.

Cost of Living Fund

Straightaway, we’ve committed over £200,000 to a dedicated Cost of Living Fund to support partners through the coming months. We’ve already pledged £25,000 to the Trussell Trust’s emergency appeal for foodbanks across the country and £25,000 to Shelter’s hardship fund for people experiencing a homelessness emergency. This is on top of our annual donation of the same amount to Shelter’s national helpline.

We’re also in discussion with our close partners on the best ways for us to support their work, as efficiently as possible. Plans include one-off donations for targeted programmes that reflect changing local needs. We’ll be distributing funds within weeks.

Coaching support

Building on the success of our collaboration during Covid, the Centre for Charity Effectiveness will once again provide one-to-one coaching to many of our community partners. We’ve also commissioned factsheets, bringing together key information to help hard-pressed leaders by simplifying a deluge of guidance.

Non-profit leaders told us how much this coaching and support helped them before. A charity CEO commented: “I hadn’t even realised how much I needed the support of a coach until I had one.” We hope our renewed collaboration continues to help partners navigate the current crisis.

Sharing our strengths

Diverse non-profits and social enterprises benefit from affordable space at our places, including community groups, employment organisations, theatres and youth charities. We’re looking at additional ways we can use our strengths to support them. Early ideas include our energy experts completing net zero audits to identify extra cost savings for them, and shared procurement, so they benefit from our economies of scale.

We already host foodbank donation points at multiple locations across the UK, including all our London campuses, Plymouth and Stockton. We’re now identifying where else we can host donation points to help foodbanks cope with rising demand, as more people struggle to make ends meet.

Facilitating customer and community relationships is one of our strongest social contributions. Our campus community funds with customers are more important than ever, connecting businesses with each other and local partners to make a real and long-lasting social impact. Together, we’ll continue focusing on local priorities, pledging funds and volunteering skills.

Partnerships

We’ve been privileged to have built strong partnerships around our places over many years. Through a challenging couple of years, community groups and charities have been at the frontline for society. Many vulnerable groups would not have got through the pandemic without them. As the cost of living crisis brings new pressures, it’s in all our interests to work together, as businesses, as communities, as individuals – as partners.