In your community
CommunityForce is just one of a wide range of initiatives through which
we support our customers and communities – we recognise that our success
is linked to your success.
We work with charity partners, trusted advisors and our own people as well
as anyone else who wants to get involved whether they are customers or not.
We direct our resources towards a wide variety of community projects, charities,
education and enterprise support programmes across the UK.
Our employees, our communities
We are committed to supporting the communities where we all live and work. Many of our employees get involved with charities and volunteering projects and we actively encourage and support them.
Each employee is offered a minimum of one day's paid leave, annually, to volunteer in their local community with a charity of their choice.
Additionally we have worked with nine well-known charities to create volunteering opportunities through which our employees can contribute to the success of their local communities. Last year 40,000 people spent 170,000 work hours volunteering.
Financial capability
We are passionate about improving financial education and capability. Our MoneySense programme helps young people manage their money better, with tools that can help them budget for today and plan for the long-term.
Through our MoneySense for Schools programme they can also learn money management skills for everyday life, in the classroom as well as online. We explain banking terms and the way banks work, so that they have the confidence to manage their own money when they become financially independent. Since 2005, our MoneySense lessons have reached over 2 million school children in 65% of secondary schools in Great Britain.
Supporting enterprise
We are committed to providing services for viable businesses of every size and at every stage. Through our partnership with the Community Development Finance Association, we make finance more accessible for smaller businesses, many of which play a vital role in the local community.
We work with charitable partners to help potential entrepreneurs access the skills, knowledge and finance they need. Youth enterprise is one such area in which we focus. Through our work with The Prince’s Trust and the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, we create opportunities for young people and give them access to business start-up advice, mentoring and finance.
Support for sport
Many people think of cricket clubs as being at the heart of the local community. We actively encourage our employees to support their local clubs, developing youth involvement and general facilities through NatWest CricketForce.
NatWest CricketForce encourages cricket supporters, friends and families to give something back to their local cricket club. This year we have also launched the NatWest Cricket Club in order to galvanise the support of fans across the country. The Club aims to generate £20m worth of additional support for the grassroots game through a combination of volunteering, fundraising and contributions from local businesses and communities.
Access to banking
As part of our commitment to you, we want to ensure access to our banking services, no matter where you live. We provide a range of options to ensure a local banking service is available.
Our mobile bank provides banking services to rural communities. Access is further enhanced by our partnership with the Post Office. This allows customers to withdraw cash and check account balances at 12,000 Post Offices across the UK.
Giving back
We invest in our communities and provide financial support to thousands of charities across the UK. Our people get involved through our payroll giving programme, where we match any charitable donations that are made by our employees through their salary.
Additionally, through our Community Cashback Programme, we reward our people who either volunteer over 80 hours per year or raise a minimum of £250 for a charity by giving the charity a further £250.
Over £8 million was donated across RBS Group in 2010 through these programmes.
Figures quoted above apply to RBS Group.
For more information on any of the above please visit the 'About
Us' section on
www.rbs.com
