Lloyds Banking Group makes largest ever annual donation to its charitable foundations
Melanie May | 15 March 2024 | News
Lloyds Banking Group has made its largest annual donation to its foundations since 2013, with £35.2 million to be split between the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, the Bank of Scotland Foundation, the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland and the Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands Foundations.
The funding will help the foundations support local services in the communities that they operate, and is an increase of 42% on 2023.
In total, Lloyds Banking Group has donated £243mn million to the Foundations since 2014 to help tackle social disadvantage in the communities that need it most. This includes over £131 million since 2020, at a time when other sources of income for charities are declining, and fundraising is increasingly challenging.
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In 2023, over 2,400 charities were supported by the foundations through a mix of grant-making and colleague matched giving for their local fundraising and volunteering.
Sir Robin Budenberg, Chair, Lloyds Banking Group commented:
“Our four independent charitable Foundations play an incredibly important role in communities across the UK – maximising the impact of grassroot organisations with direct funding and support.
“At a time when the demand for services provided by local charities is higher than ever, we will help protect and enhance their vital work by donating £35 million to the Foundations – our largest annual donation in the past ten years. This funding will strengthen our Foundations’ partnerships with hundreds of small charities across the UK – supporting millions of people who are most in need, and helping Britain prosper.”
Lloyds Banking Group colleagues also spent more than 90,300 hours volunteering in 2023. This includes skill sharing, mentoring, digital support, and on-the-ground practical support.
Projects for Nature
Lloyds Banking Group has also recently announced that it has become a Founding Partner of Projects for Nature, which was launched by the Secretary of State for Defra at COP28 in December 2023 to connect companies with nature recovery projects that have been screened by Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency.
As such, the Group is making a £250,000 donation to fund three nature projects in England, working with Knepp Wildland Foundation, West Cumbria Rivers Trust and the National Trust.
The projects are:
- Weald to Waves: Creation of a 100-mile nature recovery corridor, connecting over 20,000ha of habitats along three main rivers in Sussex to the coast to boost biodiversity, reduce flooding, capture carbon and enhance the rural economy. The land-manager led project is run in collaboration with the Knepp Wildland Foundation, and aims to provide a blueprint for nature recovery across built-up landscapes.
- Resilient Glenderamackin: This project in Cumbria aims to deliver nature-based solutions to reduce flood risk, restore nature and mitigate climate change. Led by the West Cumbria Rivers Trust, it will be co-designed with farmers and land managers. Over 40 land managers, including three commons associations, covering 11,000ha are already supporting the project.
- Peak District – Nature Recovery at Dalehead: The National Trust is working with partners and tenant farmers in the High Peak to establish more trees, healthy peatlands, and thriving wetlands and grasslands. This is help to improve soil health and water quality, create more space for nature, increase resilience in a changing climate, as well as increase and provide public access. The funding will support the restoration of 2.6km of wetland on a site between Mam Tor and Kinder Scout.
Lloyds Banking Group will gather learnings about both the commercial risk management and environmental benefits of nature-based solutions, including flood risk management and regenerative agriculture to support its long-term nature strategy and own biodiversity gain with customers and clients.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.