Posted: 11 Dec. 2020 8 min. read

5 Million Futures gets festive with a power hour, florentines and celebrity carols

It may be cold outside but we’re feeling pretty warm and fuzzy thanks to the incredible fundraising our colleagues have been doing this month to support our 5MF charity partners, all from the comfort of their own homes.

From singing their hearts out to cooking up a storm, let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to…

Lots of employees put on their pinnies and whipped up some festive florentines with the guidance of our social enterprise Luminary Bakery and their expert bakers to raise money for our London charity partners - Mind, The Prince’s Trust and Scope.

Colleagues in Belfast held a ‘12 days of Christmas’ raffle with a prize draw on each day. The raffle raised an incredible £12,000 for charity partner Simon Community NI. That’s the equivalent of 1,200 Christmas dinners for those spending the festive season in a hostel or providing shelter for 12 people in December.

In Birmingham, colleagues tuned in with their families and pets to a celeb-studded (Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis to name a couple!) carol concert organised by charity partner Place2Be.

A midnight (ish - well actually 4pm) walk took place in Gatwick raising money for St Catherine’s Hospice. And in Leeds, lots of people sported their jolly jumpers to spruce up their Zoom calls, all while raising money for IntoUniversity.

We have also been running our One Hour appeal, where any employee can donate one hour of their salary to their local 5 Million Futures charity partner. So far we’ve raised over £75,000.

Through 2020 and its challenges, we are proud to have supported our society partners across the UK. They in turn are helping some of the most vulnerable people across the country, providing critical frontline services to those who need it the most. Here are our highlights:

• We reached (and exceeded!) our initial One Million Futures goal a year ahead of schedule

• And launched our new NSE social impact ambition to reach 5 Million Futures (5MF) by 2030

• Across the firm we gave over £6.2m including pro bono support, matched funding and other donations

• in response to COVID-19 we:

  • raised close to £80,000 of much needed cash for our 5MF charity partners through the COVID-19 Fundraising Appeal
  • donated 7,500 coffees to NHS workers via Change Please (another 5MF social enterprise partner)
  • delivered ‘thank you’ care packages to 22 of our 5MF school partners.

We can’t wait to see what impact we’ll make in 2021 with our society partners. Until then, have a relaxing and safe break.

Sign up for the latest updates

Key contact