We’re excited to celebrate 10 years of working with our coalition partner, the Macquarie Group Foundation! During this time Macquarie has contributed over ÂŁ1m to Islington Giving, fostering innovative approaches to local need and helping to support hundreds of local community projects.
Macquarie has an ethos of supporting the communities in which their employees live and work. Working in partnership with Islington Giving provides a collaborative way to leverage local knowledge, share expertise and have a meaningful impact in the community.Â
Establishing the BIG Alliance together
In 2012 Macquarie and Islington Giving established the Businesses for Islington Giving (BIG) Alliance with the East London Business Alliance (ELBA). The aim was to connect businesses with local charities and to mobilise employee volunteering. To date, the partnership has leveraged the support of almost 90 businesses and facilitated the time, expertise and skills of over 12,400 volunteers for local community projects. Through the CoRe programme, over 450 employees from Macquarie, Slaughter and May and Expedia have used their skills and expertise to transform the capacity and sustainability of over 120 local charities. 1,800 students in Islington have also benefitted from the Mentoring Works programme so far.
We believe that by partnering with organisations who know the borough and the know the issues – we’re going to have the most impact. In my opinion, it’s not good enough for a corporate to arrive in a community, parachute in and decide what the issues are. We need to be signposted, to collaborate and invest for a better future.” ~ Rachel Engel, Regional Head, Macquarie Group Foundation
Young Jobs programme spotlight
Islington is a place full of opportunity, but many young people feel unable to access these opportunities. A project developed in partnership with Macquarie provides work placements for local young people, enabling them to gain experience, build skills and develop their networks. In the first two years of the programme, 39 work placements were brokered through three local organisations: Local Village Network; People’s Place Community Partnership and Soapbox Youth Hub. Placements included a number with local marketing and communications agency Open, where some students had the exciting opportunity to work on a Unicef campaign in the lead up to COP-26. “It has taught me a lot about the field and their day-to-day tasks which helped me to think about the route I would like to take after college” ~ Student on placement with Open
Islington is the most densely populated borough in the UK and has just 13% green space – Macquarie and other business volunteers help to upgrade and maintain the 12 adventure playgrounds in Islington each year, which provide over 1,500 children with safe, green, and fun spaces to play.
Featured image: BIG Alliance, Mentoring Works Celebration
