Since the first donation in 2007, the Foundation has given more than $23 million to charitable organisations across an ever-increasing range of causes. 

The Lancashire Foundation is at the centre of the Group’s charitable activities and has made donations totalling more than $23 million since 2007.

The Foundation supports a range of causes each year and in 2023 had a particular focus on organisations working on environmental programmes.

In early 2023, the Foundation also helped those in need following earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. A donation of £50,000 was made to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) via the British Red Cross. The Foundation also matched all employee donations to the DEC/British Red Cross.

It is important to the Foundation that our employees are involved in nominating charities for support through smaller donations alongside larger donations to longer-standing charitable partners. During 2023, a total of more than $0.7 million was donated to organisations, including those nominated by employees.

Many of these charities are close to them through personal experience and others are organisations they put forward for funding because they believe in the good that helping those less fortunate can do for wider society. Donations to staff-nominated charities are a minimum of £2,000. These donations have an incredible impact, particularly for smaller charities for whom the funding can mean they can continue their work.

The Foundation has been a UK-registered charity since September 2012.

 

The annual donation made to the Foundation to fund its work is aligned to the financial performance of the business. The Foundation receives 0.75% of Group profits with a minimum donation of $250,000 up to a maximum of $750,000. This creates a sense of ‘ownership’ among our employees who are aware that the financial success of the Group has an impact on the wider community.

 

This is further strengthened by an emphasis on supporting charitable causes – which meet the Foundation’s criteria – where there is a personal or community connection among employees.

 

We believe that the success of the Foundation in making a real difference to the lives of those less fortunate is due to the enthusiasm of our people. Whether actively getting involved in helping others through volunteering or requesting funding for causes close to them, their support is invaluable.

During 2023, Lancashire was pleased to relaunch Project Transform, which offers employees the opportunity to take part in volunteering activities overseas. The first Project Transform visit took place in 2010 in the Philippines and since then annual trips have been arranged, with a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 activity saw 12 employees from across the Group travel to Tanzania to assist with a construction project to build a new home for 68-year-old widow Beatrice. Figures from the UN Development Programme show that more than 57% of the population in Tanzania lives in poverty, making assistance initiatives, such as Project Transform, extremely valuable.