Most City firms "committed to community involvement"
Howard Lake | 30 October 2003 | News
A survey for Heart of the City finds that 97% of large companies (those with over 250 employees) make donations to charities, good causes or community projects.
The survey by MORI also found that two in three City firms (67%) recognise the benefits of having a community programme. Medium-sized firms (those with between 50 to 250 employees) are also demonstrating commitment, with 72% now making a contribution to the community, as are small companies (those with between 10 and 49 employees), 64% of whom are involved.
Heart of the City is a joint initiative launched in 2000 by the Bank of England, the Corporation of London and the Financial Services Authority, to encourage City and Docklands companies to engage in Community involvement and charitable giving.
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It estimates that £360 million is donated by businesses operating in the City of London and Canary Wharf, of which £47 million represents benefits in kind. In addition, the Livery Companies and City trusts also make important contributions.
Firms are engaged in other types of support as well. Seventy five per cent of large firms now encourage employees to take an active involvement by supporting them in some way, or by allowing staff to take time off to do this. However, only one in five (19%) of the medium sized companies and one in eleven (9%) of smaller companies have voluntary programmes in place.
This is the second survey of community involvement undertaken by Heart of the City and shows an increased level of engagement among larger companies. However, it points to the need for more focus on the small to medium sized sectors.
Overall, 1,260 questionnaires were sent out in early August 2003 to firms based in the City, City fringe and Docklands. The average response rate was 7.5%, although 16% of large firms responded. A weighting procedure was used to scale the results so that they more accurately reflected the total population. Data was obtained from secondary sources on City-based charitable trusts and Livery Companies.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.