2 June

We celebrate National Volunteers' Week

We’re marking National Volunteers' Week from 2-6 June by asking City Giving Day participants to tell us how they and their employees give back.

From giving staff paid volunteer time to creating volunteering opportunities at charities including Fairshare and Earthwatch Europe – read the impact City companies are creating below… 

Anna Bennett-Wilkinson, Assistant Social Value Manager at Skansa 

At Skanska, volunteering is a vital part of our commitment to building a better society. Each employee is given paid time to volunteer, with the freedom to support causes close to their hearts or participate in initiatives aligned with our ongoing projects.

This approach enables us to leverage local knowledge and partnerships, ensuring our efforts meet real community needs. 

These activities not only create meaningful change but also strengthen our role as changemakers within the communities we serve.

Volunteering enriches both the business and our people. It cultivates teamwork and leadership skills while fostering a strong sense of purpose and pride in contributing beyond construction.

Employees gain invaluable experiences through hands-on involvement in diverse projects, from supporting employment skills workshops to enhancing local green spaces or providing professional advice to community organisations.

These engagements build lasting relationships with partners and residents, reinforcing our commitment to creating a legacy within the communities which we work.

Ultimately, volunteering strengthens our culture of care and collaboration, driving positive social impact while inspiring and developing our workforce.

Sarah Mahomed Ross, Head of Corporate Philanthropy at First Sentier Investors 

Volunteering is very important to First Sentier Investors and is at the heart of the First Sentier Foundation’s vision and mission to fostering sustainable lives through education. 

We offer a generous three days of volunteering leave which employees can use through organised activities with our strategic charitable partners globally, or to support their own personal causes. 

From my own experience I feel that engaging in volunteer activities provides an ideal opportunity to give back to the local community, develop new skills, meet others and enhance personal growth. 

In the UK, our employees participate in a wide range of volunteer activities, from mentoring students and providing educational workshops on CV skills and mock interviews, to supporting environmental conservation and citizen science projects. 

For example, colleagues in our London and Edinburgh offices recently took part in the Great UK Water Blitz, testing local waterways for chemicals through our charity partner Earthwatch Europe.

Also in Edinburgh, we work with The Turing Trust to regular supply volunteers to their warehouse to help sort and pack repurposed laptops which are sent to Malawi. These computers enable thousands of students to learn IT skills whilst saving hundreds of tonnes of CO2 emissions.

We also have a long-standing partnership with the Surrey Cricket Foundation where we have in excess of 50 volunteers helping out annually at the much-anticipated Disability Day aimed at young people with disabilities, to support inclusion through sport. 

First Sentier Investors are also firm supporters of City Giving Day each September and strongly encourage other organisations in the City and beyond to take part this year! 

Sophie Orr, Associate Director of Pro Bono and Responsible Business at White & Case LLP

At White & Case, our London office nominates and supports a Chosen Charity for a two-year period.

Currently, we are proud to support City Harvest, which is an organisation dedicated to alleviating food poverty in Greater London by rescuing food from waste and redistributing it to 350+ community organisations including food banks, homeless shelters and women’s refuges.

Supporting City Harvest aligns with White & Case’s global food security initiative, through which we are aiming to contribute to solutions through pro bono work, volunteering and charitable giving.

Recently, a group of our people volunteered at City Harvest’s main food redistribution centre in Acton, West London. Their tasks included sorting through large quantities of donated cucumbers, leeks, potatoes and tomatoes to ensure only high-quality produce was sent out for delivery.

They also packed dozens of crates of long-life pantry ingredients for same-day distribution to City Harvest’s community partners.

Volunteering with City Harvest is a meaningful way for our people to give their time to support some of the most vulnerable members of their local community.

Our volunteers found it highly rewarding to see the direct impact their contribution has on reducing the dual issues of food waste and food poverty in London. 

Liz Magill, Regional Associate at Macquarie Group Foundation

The Macquarie Group Foundation supports our people, businesses, and communities to build a better future, and engagement with our people is at the heart of everything we do. We do this through social impact work and supporting place-based giving through volunteering.

This has become embedded in the Macquarie culture, evident through the volunteer months that different business groups organise annually. 

For example, regionally, the Macquarie Risk Management Group (RMG) and globally the Commodities Global Markets (CGM) group each host a Volunteer Month initiative in May and June, respectively.

During these months, teams of volunteers actively engage with local communities offering their time and support local organisations. RMG launched their Volunteer Month in 2022, and this year in London, 96 volunteers participated in activities supporting five organisations.

Reflecting on a day spent volunteering at a City Farm, Sarah Stewart (Senior Manager Compliance, RMG), shared,

"While the charity worked us hard (I’m sure there were a few aches the following day), we felt proud of the results, but it was also a great opportunity to build relationships and share a few laughs with our RMG colleagues which will last well beyond the day itself!"

Similarly, the CGM team has been hosting their volunteer month since 2022. In June 2024, volunteers contributed over 2,000 hours globally! 

City Giving Day 2025 will take place on Tuesday 23 September.

Register for City Giving Day here