Charities of the year

Our charities of the year

Our ‘charities of the year’ are individual charities that we support for a set period of two years. We highlight the work they do and help to raise funds for them.

Currently we are supporting London Search and Rescue (LONSAR), Maggie's and Petals until November 2027. 

London Search and Rescue (LONSAR) is a 100% volunteer-led team supporting the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, and emergency services, to find vulnerable missing people across the capital. They provide specialist search capability, early intervention, and compassionate safeguarding to protect those in crisis and strengthen London’s resilience.

Maggie’s has nearly 30 years of experience providing free cancer support and information from our 27 centres across the UK, over the phone and online. Built in the grounds of NHS cancer hospitals, their centres are warm and welcoming spaces run by expert staff who help people live well with cancer.

Petals offers free specialist counselling for parents affected by any type of baby loss. Their unique programme has been specifically developed to help parents process trauma, understand their grief, and move forward. Counselling is delivered online and available for individuals or couples. Around 2,200 parents access Petals Counselling each year.

How we choose our charities 

We choose our charities of the year by inviting our colleagues to advocate for the causes they are passionate about. Then we create a shortlist and ask all our colleagues to vote on which three they want to raise funds for and support.

To make sure we are representative we support a wide range of causes and aim for:

• one charity that that aligns with our diversity and inclusion agenda 
• one smaller local charity with a regional focus
• one nationally or internationally recognised charity

Our previous charities of the year

In previous years, we chose the two charities that received the highest number of votes, regardless of the cause. Those two charities became our charitable partners for 12 months. 

One of the ways our colleagues have donated to our charities of the year for over 15 years is through the Pennies from Heaven scheme. In 2022 we received a Platinum Award from the scheme for continued high level of support. They have given us their top award for 10 years.

Our recent charities of the year with the amounts we’ve been pleased to donate are:

2021 / 2023
We raised over £225,000 for Carers UK, Demelza and WWF-UK.

2020 / 2021
We raised over £320,000 for Childline (a service provided by NSPCC) and Shelter. 

2019 / 2020 
We raised over £240,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Young Minds. 

2018 / 2019
We raised over £180,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity and London’s Air Ambulance.

2017 / 2018 
We raised over £136,000 for Child Bereavement UK and Samaritans.