Islington Giving has been working with the Macquarie Group Foundation for over ten years. During this time Macquarie has contributed over £1m 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.
“We believe that by partnering with organisations, funders, residents 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, Head of the Macquarie Group Foundation in EMEA Macquarie Group
The partnership includes two signature elements:
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Developing an employee volunteer programme
Early on in our partnership, Macquarie and Islington Giving established the Businesses for Islington Giving (BIG) Alliance together with the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) with the aims of connecting businesses with local charities and mobilising employee volunteering.
The BIG Alliance brokers partnerships for businesses to give back locally in meaningful ways through financial support, pro bono skills and expertise sharing, mentoring young people and improving community spaces.
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Young Jobs Programme
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.
“My five-week programme has taught me a lot about the field and helped me to think about the route I would like to take after college” ~ Student on placement with Open
In addition to these programmes, the business also matches all donations made by employees and promotes the work of Islington Giving among staff. Whether through monthly matched donations or one-off staff fundraising events, these unrestricted donations help us to allocate money to where it is needed and to run our core programmes. This has included helping Islington Giving to raise £400,000 for local people during covid and mobilizing support from employees during the cost-of-living crisis.
Benefits of the partnership to Macquarie:
Over the last two years over 440 Macquarie staff have volunteered in a range of programmes helping them to have a social impact and collaborate with one another, which may not normally happen in the workplace. Offering this type of social impact work builds staff retention, providing well-being through giving back and positive stories of community support, which have led to employer brand opportunities.
