Charities and communities

Our staff charities

We know that charity awareness and support are important to our employees, and we want them to feel supported when they give to charity, so we asked them who our group charity partners should be. This year, we have two charity partners – Cancer Research UK (a long standing partner) and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

We have continued to build on our roster of fundraising and giving activities through a combination of group-wide initiatives and locally organised events.

141 magical wishes granted

We are proud of the positive impact we have through our charitable partnerships, and Make-A-Wish Foundation is one of these.

Since our partnership launched in 2019, thanks to staff efforts, we have helped grant 141 magical wishes for children with life threatening illness by donating over £283,000.

Whether it's having a princess ball, becoming a scientist, or meeting a favourite YouTuber, granting a wish restores hope for a child and improves their mental well-being and can be a turning point in their medical journey.

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Changing the story for children

Supporting children's literacy and education recovery

Through our donation of £100,000 and our employees delivering voluntary reading sessions through the Bookmark programme, we are giving disadvantaged children the reading skills and confidence they need for a fair chance in life.

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Supporting social mobility

We are proud to be an inclusive organisation that supports social mobility and creates equal opportunities for all, regardless of background.

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Assistance Puppy Dogs

Close Brothers Group are the exclusive sponsor of two Dogs for Good assistance puppies; a lively black labrador named Reggie and a yellow coat labrador called Kenny. Both puppies were named by our employees in a staff vote. The group’s sponsorship will help support the puppies during their socialisation and training. This includes breeding and welfare costs, equipment and support to the volunteer socialisers. The puppies may go on to be autism assistance dogs, working with a child with autism and their family, or highly trained assistance dogs helping an adult or a child with disabilities.

This sponsorship is in partnership with Dogs for Good, a life-transforming charity, creating partnerships between people living with disability and specially trained assistance dogs.

Fundraising events

We host a variety of charitable events throughout the year in which all employees can participate. There is consistently high turnout across the group for our popular Charity Week, which offers a range of activities to suit each of our employees’ interests and expertise.

Some past events during Charity Week have included:

• Sports matches
• Silent auctions
• Cake sales
• Pub quizzes

Local support

In addition to centrally organised activities, many of our local businesses also support causes that are important to their communities. Some examples of local charity initiatives include our Wimbledon office, who have previously supported First Touch, supporting sick and premature babies at St George’s hospital, and Jigsaw4u which supports local Mitcham services aimed at helping young people who have faced trauma and bereavement.

Recruiting and training a new generation of apprentices

The Close Brothers SME Apprentice Programme is part of our long-standing commitment to supporting SMEs and local regions and is now in its fifth phase. We believe the SME sector is the lifeblood of the UK economy and strongly encourage the role of apprentices in helping SMEs grow. The programme continues to contribute to the funding of new apprentices in the manufacturing and transport sectors, and to date we have funded over 100 of these apprentices around the Midlands, helping SMEs to secure the skills they need for the future.

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