Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alan Yarrow, will be touring the streets of the City on Wednesday 30^th September, visiting a number of firms and seeing first-hand what they do to give back to society.

As part of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, annual City Giving Day will be launched with over 200 companies signed up in support. The day will be an opportunity for the Lord Mayor to champion companies and organisations across and connected with the City, regardless of their size or sector, for the good that they do.

He will be joined by company leaders, CSR champions, volunteers and charities at a selection of Square Mile company foyers and receptions where they will be showcasing their amazing charitable and community work – and letting their staff and visitors know about the difference they are making and the lives they are changing. Amongst many activities, during the day he will be meeting City volunteers running funding workshops for local charities, apprenticeship inductions and skills training for students and meeting primary school children who have significantly improved their literacy and numeracy thanks to these volunteers.

This year the Lord Mayor’s Appeal charities are disability charities Mencap and Scope with further support for The Royal Academy of Arts, City & Guilds of London Art School and the Royal Ballet School.

Lord Mayor Yarrow will formally start the day with a photo call opportunity in the Guildhall Yard (0800, 30 September), joined by representatives from some of the 200 firms involved in City Giving Day, the Lord Mayor’s Appeal charities and Charlotte Hogg, Bank of England Chief Operating Officer . The Lord Mayor will then be visiting the following companies during the day:

0900-0930 Euroclear PLC (Canon Street, EC4M 5SB)

0940-1010 NatWest (Princes Street, EC2R 8BP)

1020-1050 Alium Partners (Old Jewry, EC2R 8DD)

1215-1240 Societe Generale (Tower Hill, EC3N 4SG)

1250-1315 City A.M (Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5DJ)

1325-1350 Barclays (Fenchurch Street EC3M 5JT)

1405-1430 Lloyds Register (Fenchurch St, London EC3M 4BS)

1440-1505 Jardine Lloyd Thompson PLC (Houndsditch, EC3A 7AW)

1515-1540 UBS Ltd (Finsbury Avenue, EC2M 2PP)

He will finish the day by presenting the awards to the winners at the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards at a Mansion House ceremony. The awards, now in their 28th year, are among the most established and distinguished awards that recognises corporate community engagement in the UK. Among the shortlisted companies are Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and IBM.

Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow said:

“Wonderful work goes on in the City of London. But too often, it is drowned out by the bad behaviour of the few – bad behaviour that has stained the Square Mile. The idea of City Giving Day is to redress that balance and promote the fundraising, the employment, the apprenticeship schemes and the activities that firms do to help people across London who are living with disabilities and disadvantages.

“Today is also a great opportunity for firms to highlight their community outreach work to their own staff. Research shows that only about 20% of City employees know what their employer does in the community.

“If we can get people to talk more loudly about what they’re doing for good causes, then maybe more people will get involved. This really is a win-win. We should take pride in all that this City – our City – stands for.”

Andrea Orcel, President, UBS Investment Bank, said:

“We are honoured to be a part of City Giving Day. This is a great opportunity to recognise the work that the Lord Mayor's Appeal has done in bringing together so many City firms in support of this cause, and also to celebrate the positive impact that their contributions and those of their employees have had on our local communities.”

Bala Viswanathan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, said

“I am proud that JLT is taking part in City Giving Day – it’s a wonderful initiative, bringing together very different businesses which, nonetheless, share a common commitment to give back to the communities in which we operate. My colleagues across JLT are passionate about getting involved and they have turned out in force again today in support of City Giving Day and the Udaan Foundation, based close to JLT’s offices in Mumbai, which empowers vulnerable children in the local community through education.”

Ian Fisher, Chief Country Officer and Head of Coverage and Investment Banking,

Societe Generale, said:

“City Giving Day is a unique opportunity for us to recognise the many achievements and successes of our CSR programmes. It also allows us to celebrate and foster one of our core values of team spirit within the Bank as well as collaborating with other companies, charities and schools.”

Nigel Peters, Managing Partner, Alium Partners, said:

“We are delighted to be involved in City Giving Day as it provides us, and other companies in the Square Mile, with the opportunity to demonstrate the excellent community work we do with our charity partners and really ‘make a difference’. Feedback we have received from our charity, UpRising, has shown that the young people we have worked with have gained increased levels of confidence and ability in their employment search, ultimately securing a job. City Giving Day is the perfect showcase for this work and we are very pleased to support it.”

Becky Northey, Community Leader City of London, Barclays, said:

“Barclays has a long history of playing a broader role in the communities in which we live and work beyond what we deliver through our core business activities. Communities face unprecedented social and financial challenges; this is especially acute for disadvantaged young people. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is a fantastic example of where our purpose and values as organisations align.”

John Trundle, CEO of Euroclear UK & Ireland, said:

“Serving the market and the wider community in which we operate is part of Euroclear’s DNA. City Giving Day provides us with an excellent opportunity, not only to showcase our community and environment programmes, but also to share best practices with our clients and partners in the City. City Giving Day is a great way to celebrate our relationships with Junior Achievement and Build Africa, who partner with us on our skills based volunteering programmes. At the same time, we’ll be recognising the great work that our local charity committees do in the community, giving them a platform from which to engage even more of our staff.

Prof. Richard Clegg, Lloyd’s Register, said:

“As the leading UK charity supporting engineering-related research and education worldwide, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation is delighted to be part of the Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day, showcasing the City’s extraordinary contribution to society.”

Phil Northey, NatWest’s Regional MD for Personal & Private Banking and Chair of its London Regional Board, said:

“I’m delighted to support the Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day and celebrate and showcase the many ways that NatWest and RBS employees make a positive difference to their local communities through volunteering and fundraising. Everyone is welcome to visit our Princes Street branch on 30 September to meet Nelson, the Hearing Dog we’ve supported and funded through training.

Jan Tregelles, the chief executive of Mencap, said:

“This City Giving Day we are delighted that Mencap is one of the charities that will benefit from today’s activities. There are 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK and many face a life of poverty, isolation and inequality. The City is uniquely placed to make a real difference to the lives of many people with a learning disability, their families and carers. With the funds generously raised from the Lord Mayor's Appeal, Mencap will continue to fight for a world where people with a learning disability are valued equally, listened to and included. “

Alan Gosschalk, Director of Fundraising, at the disability charity Scope says:

“City Giving Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the crucial support that City businesses provide for charities like Scope.

“Money raised through the Lord Mayor’s Appeal enables Scope's Fund for Families, an initiative which gives disabled people and their families daily support with the difficult challenges they face, so that they don't struggle alone.

“Too many disabled people and their families still face barriers to living fulfilling lives. Scope's support for disabled people is needed now more than ever.”

Notes to editors

1. More information about City Giving Day can be found here.

1. About the City of London Corporation 

The City of London Corporation provides local government and policing services for the financial and commercial heart of Britain, the 'Square Mile'. In addition, the City Corporation has three roles:

• We support London’s communities by working in partnership with neighbouring boroughs on economic regeneration, education and skills projects. In addition, the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust makes grants of more than £15 million annually to charitable projects across London and we also support education with three independent schools, three City Academies, a primary school and the world-renowned Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

• We also help look after key London’s heritage and green spaces including Tower Bridge, Museum of London, Barbican Arts Centre, City gardens, Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest, Burnham Beeches, and important ‘commons’ in south London.

• We also support and promote the ‘City’ as a world-leading financial and business hub, with outward and inward business delegations, high-profile civic events, research-driven policies all reflecting a long-term approach.

1. About the Lord Mayor of the City of London

• The Lord Mayor is head of the Square Mile’s City of London authority for one year and the position is unpaid and apolitical. It is an exceptionally demanding role. The Lord Mayor spends some 90 days abroad and addresses some 10,000 people face-to-face each month (making around 800 speeches a year).

• The Lord Mayor represents City businesses and helps the City Corporation advise the Government of the day on what is needed to help the financial services sector to function well.

• The Lord Mayor frequently travels to represent the City; and travels overseas with the status of a Cabinet Minister. On average, the Lord Mayor will meet one head of state a month and will meet a prime minister or finance minister each week to discuss financial services, often in conjunction with senior City business representatives. The Lord Mayor, who is unpaid, lives in the Mansion House for the Mayoral year.

1. See www.cityoflondon.gov.uk for more details.