Over 200 of the UK's largest companies signed up yesterday to back a day of giving in the City of London, including Allianz, Barclays and J.P. Morgan.
Yesterday was the second City Giving Day, coordinated by the Lord Mayor's Appeal.
Speaking to Civil Society News today, a spokeswoman for the appeal said that the companies - largely big financial and legal organisations - would raise money internally for their own foundations.
The spokeswoman also said that, having failed to reach its £350,000 fundraising target in 2014, the LMA decided to change the way in which City Giving Day works – putting the emphasis more on corporations to raise money in their own offices for partner charities.
The spokeswoman said that ascertaining a fundraising figure for this year's City Giving Day was impossible at this stage, but said with the number of companies registered the figure was likely to far exceed the 2014 total.
“We’ve radically altered the way in which the City's companies sign up so far and they will be encouraged to raise money for their corporate partner charities in their own offices, rather than in a single event held in the Guildhall. We’re also trying to encourage more people working in the city to volunteer for charities too.”
The LMA has revised its own fundraising target this year to £120,000 and has said its primary charity partners are disability charities Mencap and Scope. The spokeswoman said that the two disability charities were particularly important to incumbent Lord Mayor of London Alan Yarrow and his wife Gilly, who have a disabled son.
A full list of companies who have signed up for City Giving Day is available here.
Penny for London
A number of the biggest firms involved in City Giving Day will also be urging their employees to sign up to Boris Johnson’s Penny for London initiative, aiming to raise money for disadvantaged youth living in deprived areas of the capital through micro-donations.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Visa and Barclaycard are all leading the drive to sign up employees and city workers to register at the Penny for London website and each give 1p every time they travel on TfL or buy a coffee or lunch in the city.
The initiative was launched by the Mayor’s Fund for London with the help of Barclays Social Innovation Facility which made a £25m commitment towards the micro-donation technology development costs in 2012.
The first tranche of money raised through the scheme was donated in October 2014, with £30,000 given to a number of projects, including the Dallaglio Foundation - a charity founded by former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio.
Paulette Rowe, chair of the Mayor’s Fund for London, said: "On City Giving Day, employers and employees will be coming together to support Penny for London. If 100,000 Londoners register, we can raise more than £1m a year and revolutionise the life chances of the many young Londoners who need our support."
