Supporting London's communities

The Square Mile houses some of the richest concentrations of economic activity in the world. In contrast, our neighbours include some of the UK's most deprived communities, as illustrated by the London map of deprivation. (351kb) As the City should not prosper in isolation, the City of London Corporation is committed to ensuring that the City’s neighbouring boroughs thrive too.

Seven London boroughs border the Square Mile (Camden, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster) and this “City fringe” includes some of the most deprived areas in the country. To support these London communities, we run a wide range of community engagement programmes, included below. For further information please contact corporate.responsibility@cityoflondon.gov.uk

All our corporate plans and many of our committee reports reflect the communities we work for.

The City Corporation plays a proactive role in encouraging organisations and individuals to become more engaged in their communities, and we have been driving this agenda forward for many years. We have a long and proud tradition of promoting volunteering, community engagement and other forms of corporate social responsibility such as local recruitment and local procurement to City businesses, workers, residents and our own staff. Read more about our long standing activities relating to Social Action (201kb)

Employee Volunteering Programme

As part of our commitment to Corporate Responsibility, we established our own internal Employee Volunteering Programme in 2002. Since then, City of London Corporation employees have volunteered over 10,000 hours for local charities and schools. The scheme, which supports staff to volunteer their skills in a wide range of opportunities across neighbouring boroughs, offers all staff two days of volunteering leave per year.

City of London Residents are invited to volunteer through Community Service Volunteers. Volunteering opportunities are varied and include befriending, escorting, helping at youth clubs and schools, coaching sports, supporting older people, families and carers. For further information please contact jkelly@csv.org.uk.

The City of London Corporation also welcomes volunteers at its Open spaces, Attractions, museums and galleries and at the City of London Police.

Payroll giving

The City of London Corporation supports employees to donate to any charity, directly through their pay each month. Since 1999, our employees have donated over £250,000 to causes of their choice. For more information on how your organisation can implement payroll giving, check Workplace giving.

Grants and charities donations

The City of London Corporation oversees a number of grant-giving trusts and awards grants to organisations through its Finance Committee e.g. we often give key early donations to major British Red Cross international relief appeals.

Among the City of London Corporation’s grant-giving trusts is the City Bridge Trust, the grant-making arm of Bridge House Estates, an ancient charity managed by the City of London Corporation. It was established to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants of around £15million a year towards charitable activity in Greater London. Lord Mayors also each have a major annual appeal, raising many millions over the years.​

Read more about our trusts, charities and awards.

Sustainable procurement

The City of London Corporation has a strong commitment to the environment and London’s diverse communities. With sustainable procurement and service provision playing an important role in the ‘triple bottom line’, we check the economic, environmental and social aspects of the purchasing decisions we make. See Responsible procurement for further information.

If you are a small business, in a City-neighbouring borough, seeking assistance on becoming fit to supply the City, or a City business wishing to help provide support to small businesses wanting to become fit to supply the City, see Ready to supply the City for more information.​

Supporting City businesses with community engagement

The City of London Corporation promotes Corporate Responsibility and works with the public, private and voluntary sectors to bring lasting social, economic and physical regeneration to the City’s neighbouring boroughs. See how we support businesses to engage with their local communities.​​

Supporting economic regeneration in neighbouring boroughs

The City of London Corporation runs an extensive programme of projects which help local residents into work, raise the aspirations of local young people and support enterprise and small businesses.​​​​


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