Deloitte’s people choose new charity partnerships to make an impact that matters

Deloitte is continuing the success of its 5 Million Futures responsible business programme, which aims to help five million people get to where they want to be through access to education and employment, by partnering with 12 new charities in the UK.

The 12 new charities will join 10 charities who just renewed their existing partnerships with Deloitte. A key theme through many of the partnerships is to support children and young people, and six of the new charity partners are aligned to mental health and wellbeing. The remaining are aligned to homelessness, health, education, employment, and inclusion (disability, diversity, and social mobility).

Claire Burton, director of responsible business at Deloitte, said:

“We invited our people across the UK to nominate a charity they felt passionate about to be a potential charity partner for the Deloitte region in which they work. After receiving over 200 nominations, we created a shortlist based on alignment to our social impact strategy of access to education, employment and inclusion, and invited each charity to apply. The final vote by our people was for the charity that they felt they could strongly support on a specific project or programme in their local area.

“Our goal is to break down barriers to education and employment, giving individuals the skills and opportunities to succeed. It is our pleasure to welcome these new charities, alongside our national charity partnerships, to our 5 Million Futures programme and further demonstrate our purpose to make an impact that matters.”

Dan Barlow, managing partner, Regional Markets at Deloitte UK, added:

“Our people have identified organisations that are supporting some of the hardest to reach groups in society and we will help them access learning, skills and employment opportunities through volunteering, fundraising and pro bono business advice.

“Partnering with organisations and communities in the locations in which we operate is important to our people. Working with our charity partners not only gives our people the opportunity to support their communities, but it also helps us develop our skills and knowledge, enabling us to deliver more inclusive services to our clients.”

IntoUniversity has been a 5MF charity partner in Leeds since 2017. Rosie Kenwood, Regional Operations Manager at IntoUniversity, added: “It is an honour to work closely with Deloitte. Their support has been wide-ranging and has benefitted so many of our young people – from our Year 8s having their eyes opened to new paths by Deloitte volunteers running careers sessions, or to our Year 13 and current university students receiving incredible support with their networking skills and CVs. Our staff have also hugely benefited from the partnership, from learning more about how we work as a team through the Business Chemistry framework to receiving amazing mentoring from senior staff and partners. We are so grateful to have this opportunity and thank everyone at Deloitte for their support and involvement.”

In May, 1,300 Deloitte volunteers took part in ‘Better Futures Month’- a month-long volunteering initiative that directly supports Deloitte’s ambition to build better futures across the UK through skills, education and employment.

Richard Houston, senior partner and Deloitte CEO, was one of the 374 volunteers who joined Debate Mate by helping school pupils across 138 schools with their pitching and communication skills. Volunteering activities during the month also included recording more than 300 audiobooks for young people with learning disabilities, creating 100 flashcards on transferrable skills and filming more than 50 videos on employability and career tips. In addition, Deloitte’s volunteers conducted mentoring and career conversations with refugees and asylum seekers, and 360 urban beach cleaners took to the streets of UK cities.

In the last three years, volunteers for Deloitte’s societal impact programme have clocked up more than 80,000 volunteering hours and 30,000 hours of pro-bono work, making an impact on over 900,000* futures in the UK.

Deloitte will continue to work with its 33 school partnerships across the UK. Last year Deloitte pledged to donate 7,500 of its laptops to UK schools, charities and families. The latest batch of more than 1,000 laptops have been donated to Ukrainian refugees arriving in the UK to help families stay connected with loved ones, support access to education and employment and connect to communities in the UK and elsewhere.

Deloitte’s charity partnerships will support its WorldClass ambition to improve 100 million futures globally by 2030.