Give as a business
Are you looking for a meaningful way for your business to give back to the Islington community?
Islington Giving’s vision is of a borough where everyone has the opportunity to live a good life. Since we began our work in 2010, we have worked with a range of local businesses to raise funds, support communities and projects, share local knowledge, and create access to opportunities for local people.
There are many ways to get involved – from becoming a Coalition Partner and helping to make strategic decisions about our approach to social change in the borough, to supporting specific projects that benefit the local community.
By partnering with Islington Giving, businesses can connect their CSR, Responsible Business or Social Value goals with our local knowledge and insights about areas of unmet need on your doorstep, to make a positive and meaningful impact for the long-term.
Current and previous business partners have helped us to developed innovative community programmes in collaboration with local charities, helped to improve access to employment opportunities for local young people, supporting social mobility, and supported the shifting of decision-making power back into the hands of the community.
We also have a number of employee volunteering opportunities in Islington available, via our partner the BIG Alliance. Get in touch to find out more – we’d love to hear from you.
Examples of our business partnerships
Since 2022, the Macquarie Group Foundation has contributed over £1m to Islington Giving, fostering innovative approaches to local need and helping to support hundreds of 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.
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.
Hear about what we have achieved in partnership with Macquarie during our ten years of working together.
Argent is the property developer behind the Coal Drops Yard regeneration in King's Cross. In developing the space, Argent wanted to ensure that they could support the existing communities surrounding the site, and to ensure these community could access the new facilities.
Working with Islington Giving and Arsenal in the Community in response to a survey of Islington's young people which reported a lack of weekend activities and places to go, in 2014 Argent helped to develop the Friday Night Out project. Their role in the project has been to support Global Generation - an organisation that runs hands-on activities in their Story Garden site, located on an acre of space in King's Cross.
The Friday Night Out project at Global Generation is run fortnightly at the Story Garden with occasional Trips in the local area. Young people take part in fun activities and cook together with ingredients grown in the garden, giving them the opportunity to learn more about how food is grown, build their confidence with cooking and to enjoy eating together. In 2022, the young people also designed and made their own products to sell at the Story garden Youth winter Market, giving them the opportunity to explore their creativity and build entrepreneurial skills. The project actively engages young people who might not otherwise access the Story Garden, organising pickup locations from surrounding estates to cross to the site.
Central District Alliance (CDA) Business Improvement District sits between Islington and Camden, and acts as the collective voice of over 370 organisations.
With their work spanning both boroughs, CDA have been valuable supporters of both Camden and Islington Giving. Over the past years, they have helped to fund a range of programmes at Islington Giving, including resident-led grant making [LINK] and the Good Neighbour's scheme, an outreach programme delivered by Help on Your Doorstep.
In 2020 CDA also supported Islington Giving's Crisis appeal in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, helping us to raise £413,000. This enabled us to provide funds to residents to meet immediate needs for food, laptops, data, and to support organisations having to make changes to delivering their services in a different way during a challenging time.
This year, CDA have supported us with unrestricted donations, demonstrating their trust in our relationship and enabling us to channel funding to where it is most needed. Working together enables CDA to ensure that they are giving back to the communities that their business operate in in the most meaningful and effective way possible. This in turn, helps showcase their values and social responsibility to businesses within the network.
“Following lockdown and the economic fallout from it, we were very pleased to support an important local charity, Islington Giving. An organisation who is committed to working with the most vulnerable in our community, addressing inequality and ending poverty. Chair of Central District Alliance
The Business Design Centre is an iconic conference and exhibition space in the heart of Angel. Family run, BDC supports Islington Giving both via the business and the Morris Charitable Trust.
As a Coalition Partner BDC/The Morris Charity Trust are a core funder of Islington Giving and have helped to shape our work over the past 10 years. A representative sits on the Islington Giving board, contributing to the governance of the organisation, helping us to make decisions about how best to support the community, and ensuring that BDC can have a the most meaningful impact locally.
In addition to providing core support to Islington Giving, BDC staff have supported our work in a number of other ways including raising money though a sponsored bike ride from Angel to the Angel of the North and supporting the Big Bike appeal, a campaign to provide newly arrived Ukrainian refugees with bikes, when the BDC building was used as the hub for the project. The team have also supported with marketing and promotion during our annual appeals, including providing the use of their large billboards in front of the building.
“Our partnership with Islington Giving goes much further than just funding. We do a lot of close collaboration, and it means a lot to our team to be able to support the community we work and live in.” ~ Kate Vandenburg Business Design Centre and Islington Giving Board member
Open Creates is an award-winning strategic and creative agency started over a decade ago by local Islington residents. As value-driven agency that support charities to change the world, they have always been keen to support the local community however they can.
Open have been involved with Islington Giving in a number of ways, including providing ongoing pro-bono marketing services to help us spread the words and raise funds, and being involved in our Young Jobs Programme, co-funded by Macquarie. In the first two years of this programme, Open have provided placements for local young people to join their team and support on exciting projects, including a UNICEF campaign in the lead up to COP-26. As well as encouraging students to go on gain further experience and skills at university, Open have since employed one of the placement students on their team full-time.
Frederick's is a family run restaurant in Camden Passage. An iconic part of Islington since 1969, Frederick's have been supporting Islington Giving since we were established in 2012.
In addition to hosting events which help us reach new people in the community, the restaurant has also created the Frederick's House Cocktail, with £1 donated to Islington Giving for every cocktail bought. In 2022, Frederick’s raised over £1,000 from sales of the House Cocktail.
Want to explore how your business can give back to the Islington community?
If you feel motivated to discuss further, we’d love to hear from you. Contact Lisa Robinson, Director of Development and Communications for an exploratory chat.
The business of giving in Islington
When many of your customers live locally, it makes sense to let them know you are committed to changing local lives for good.
Businesses give money, offer space, introduce contacts and help to create ideas that can have a life changing impact for local people.
Whether by opening spaces for people to talk about their mental health, giving children and young people more opportunities, or easing loneliness, your business can be part of an inspiring network who are giving something special every day.
Your business or employer can start giving to Islington today.
Please get in touch with our Development and Communications Manager Anu at Anu.Liisanantti@islingtongiving.org.uk to discuss partnership opportunities.
Do you work or do business in Islington? Your skills and connections can change lives
Our partners The BIG Alliance (Businesses for Islington Giving) connect people who work, or run their own business, in Islington with the local community.
- Your employer or business can give time as a mentor to help our young people shape their futures.
- You can also sign up to volunteer as a workplace, by using your skills to give back to the wider community
You can read more about how businesses are changing lives by mentoring.
Our promise to our supporters
Our promise to our supporters is that your money is well spent. Because everything we do is local, you can connect with inspiring work, and with other people who are committed to making change in the borough.
