Our communities
Strategic philanthropy, volunteering and pro bono
We strengthen charities and community groups by supporting them with funds and expertise, so they can do more.
We are proud of the support our people have given to the National Emergency Business Response, to help our communities recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone in our firm gets an allowance of six days per year to use on volunteering and during the pandemic, we boosted our volunteering support by granting colleagues an additional six days to volunteer for NHS Volunteer Responder and St John Ambulance vaccine support programme. We also granted an extended period of paid leave to Army Reservists and colleagues within the firm called upon by the government for public service including: special constables, ambulance drivers and ex-clinicians.
1 in 5 children in the UK have suffered abuse. Abuse robs children of their childhood, reducing their life chances and opportunities to succeed in the future. The NSPCC and KPMG UK share a passionate belief that young people should have the power to shape their own future, rather than letting it be determined by circumstances beyond their control. By combining our voice and influence, we've helped to unlock the potential of young people.
Our national charity partnership with the NSPCC ran between April 2018 and October 2021 and we are proud of all that we achieved together through:
Our support over three years…
Every two years, our colleagues help choose the charity we'll support on a national scale. As our partnership with the NPSCC was coming to an end, we asked our colleagues to vote on which UK charity we should support next through fundraising, volunteering, pro bono and thought-leadership opportunities. We wanted this charity to be one that is supporting society to build back better following the COVID-19 pandemic and one that promotes cohesion and connection to communities. We are delighted to announce that our colleagues have chosen to support Marie Curie as our national charity for the next two years.
We’re delighted to be supporting Marie Curie and their mission to ensure that everyone with a terminal illness, no matter who they are or where they live, has the care and support they need; whether that’s dementia, cancer, heart disease or any other terminal condition. It’s a cause that has clearly really resonated with our colleagues, with the majority of them voting for Marie Curie to be our next national charity partner.
Rachel Hopcroft / Head of Corporate Affairs, KPMG in the UK
COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the people we support. It has kept families apart when human contact was the one thing they needed. Inequity has been exacerbated, and bereaved people have been isolated. And as a charity, fundraising has just not been possible at the level required. But now, thanks to KPMG UK, we can start to address these issues and strive to reach more people with a terminal illness and their loved ones. I want to thank KPMG and the staff who voted to make Marie Curie its charity partner. Together we will create a positive legacy of change for each person affected by terminal illness, for every community in which they live, and the UK as a whole.
Matthew Reed / Chief Executive, Marie Curie
Our strategic pro-bono offering not only helps to support our National Charity, but also offers professional skills and expertise to multi-sector organisations, in need of support.
We know that COVID-19 has created challenges for schools and charities, so in response, we've volunteered our time and skills to help the NSPCC adapt to the new reality of working. We've used our expertise to support the NSPCC in its development and implementation of a refreshed organisational strategy and are supporting them to navigate the operational challenges presented by the pandemic. We've also provided digital and analytical support: facilitating the implementation and training of Microsoft Teams, for use by NSPCC colleagues; and leveraging advanced analytic and visualisation techniques to analyse Childline online message board data. The NSPCC will be able to use this to assess children's needs and shape future programmes and support.
Educational disruption caused by COVID-19 risks widening the attainment gap between poorer students and their more advantaged peers. To support students, and to help teachers and students guard against further disruption, we helped create the online classroom Oak National Academy. With the support of the Department for Education we helped produce 8,000 lessons in a four-week period to complement the provision of lessons both in school and virtually. Our people worked as project managers, volunteering 2,000 hours to support teams of teachers and oversee the quality assurance of lesson production. In Oak's first term, 20 million lessons were delivered to 4.7 million Oak visitors.
I've always been passionate in addressing the educational disadvantage in the UK and strongly believe in the power of education, so when I came across the opportunity to support Oak National Academy, it instantly caught my attention! We were an army of people, passionate about making sure students have access to good education regardless of the circumstances. Despite never having met anyone in person, we built a great friendship. The experience enabled me to work on something new and gave me a real sense of purpose and achievement. It was such a rewarding experience.
Haengeun / Assistant Manager
The support of KPMG has been outstanding. Their expertise meant our 300 teachers could focus on what they do best – teaching – safe in the knowledge the team from KPMG was making everything run smoothly behind the scenes.
Matt Hood / Principal, Oak National Academy
During the pandemic, the leadership skills our volunteers bring to charities and schools are even more valuable. We provide everyone with six days per year to volunteer. For governance roles, this increases to eight days in total.
The KPMG Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of some of the UK's most vulnerable children.
The KPMG Foundation, created in 2000, is an independent charity supported by KPMG. It shares a passion for promoting social mobility and achieving long-term change, wherever possible.
The Foundation makes grants to selected partners to improve the life chances of some of the UK's most vulnerable children and young people, including those in care or on the edge of care. Work to prevent and reduce school exclusions is just one example of the change that the Foundation is helping to make.
Over the next few years, the charity will invest up to £1.5m per year in initiatives across England, Scotland and Wales, wherever and however the greatest benefits for children can be achieved – in the early years, through families, school and through adolescence.