Driving Social Impact
Our partnerships with purpose-driven businesses create positive impacts, fostering a healthier, happier, and more resilient community.
Maximising Social Impact in Islington: Islington Giving & The BIG Alliance
At Islington Giving and The BIG Alliance, we’re committed to maximising social value in Islington through collaboration and innovation. Our partnerships with purpose-driven businesses create positive impacts, fostering a healthier, happier, and more resilient community.
Navigating Social Value and CSR Developments
Having a positive impact on people and the planet is of increasing importance to stakeholders and employees. Procurement processes now emphasise social value, with Islington Council and others recently increasing the social value weighting of bids to 20%.
We can help connect your business and employees to the communities and causes you care about and help you to navigate CSR and social value challenges efficiently, ensuring meaningful contributions to local communities in Islington.
Our Role as local advisors and consultants
With deep local knowledge and extensive community networks, we provide consultancy support for our partners. From understanding the diverse challenges facing the Islington community and identifying local charities, to facilitating meaningful corporate volunteering opportunities, we streamline social value efforts, ensuring maximum impact.
Practical Support We Offer
- Identifying Islington charities and partners
- Due diligence and administration
- Facilitating corporate volunteering, from mentoring to one day team events
- Employee engagement
- Facilitating platforms to engage directly with the Islington community
- CSR strategy consultancy
- Tailored social value offers for bids
- Impact measurement frameworks
- Compelling storytelling and reports to demonstrate impact
- Facilitating collaboration with other stakeholders, including access to BIG Alliance’s Reference Group, a quarterly networking and information sharing session across business partners and stakeholders.
- Leveraging cross-borough partnerships through the London’s Giving network
Track Record of Success
Over the past decade, our partnerships have supported numerous community projects, including:
The Islington Food Fund – Distributing £250,000 over two years through the Islington Food Partnership thanks to a generous grant from Google.org. With over 25 local groups supported, this fund provided vital food services to more than 3,000 local people experiencing food insecurity, and supported several groups to build a sustainable local food economy.
Partnering with four local Housing Associations to pilot and sustain the Make it Happen fund – distributing over £60,000 to more than 50 projects, these £500 micro grants boosted community action and continue to bring residents’ ideas to life.
Case study
A decade of partnership Macquarie
Through our long-standing partnership with Macquarie, we’ve made a significant impact in the local community. Macquarie’s contributions have exceeded £1 million over the past decade, with a commitment to future funding. The partnership has engaged almost 90 businesses and facilitated the involvement of over 12,400 volunteers in local community projects. Programs like CoRe and Mentoring Works have transformed the capacity and sustainability of over 120 local charities and benefited 1,800 students in Islington.
“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
By leveraging our network and expertise, we ensure every contribution benefits Islington residents, creating healthier, safer, and more resilient communities where everyone thrives. Read Lara’s story, beneficiary of the Kurdish Middle Eastern Women’s Organisation, funded by Islington Giving’s Mind the Gap programme.
Get in touch!
Get in touch with Isy, Fundraising & Communications Manager at Islington Giving on Isobel.Miller@islingtongiving.org.uk, to find out how we can support your CSR and social value strategy.
