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Strategic philanthropy and volunteering

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Supporting our communities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic

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 this year, 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.

Volunteers step-up to support the COVID-19 recovery

Karen signed-up as a volunteer vaccinator with St John Ambulance, to support the COVID-19 recovery. "People were feeling anxious and I wanted to help reassure them things were going to get better."

After participating in thorough First Aid and vaccination training, Karen was deployed to support communities across the Midlands. "The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. For so many people, their vaccination appointments were the only thing they had left the house for in past twelve months."

"I am proud to have been part of the biggest vaccine drive in British history, and truly grateful to KPMG for giving me the volunteering hours to deliver this vital work."

Karen / Senior Manager

Fundraising and volunteering for our national charity: the NSPCC

Colleague hours spent fundraising / 9,938 FY20

Funds raised for the NSPCC / >£1.3m As at August 2021

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're helping unlock the potential of young people.

We are proud of our National Charity partnership with the NSPCC and everything we have achieved together so far. In recognition of this, and in light of the significant challenges the pandemic has created for children and young people, we decided to extend our partnership to October 2021. This will allow us to continue to fundraise, share our skills and expertise and support the NSPCC and Childline in delivering its 10-year strategy.

Our colleagues volunteer their time through skilled volunteering, by: becoming a Childline counsellor; mentoring NSPCC staff; and supporting the NSPCC to navigate internal challenges they're facing through the Bright Sparks Lunch Clubs. We're also volunteering our expertise and talent through pro-bono work, to help strengthen and support the NSPCC as an organisation.

Of our £1.5m fundraising target, we have raised over £1.3m. Even though the pandemic disrupted many of our planned fundraising events, our people have demonstrated their commitment to the NSPCC through innovative virtual fundraising opportunities instead. More than 1,000 participants took part in our virtual Around the World fundraiser, which resulted in our people collectively travelling over 100,000km for Childline. In addition, our people have organised virtual quizzes, exercise classes and taken part in the NSPCC's Run 30 and Ride 300 challenges, with more to come in the pipeline.

Shaping strategy through technology and teamwork

Ga Lok has been supporting the NSPCC for over a decade. On Sundays, he volunteers as a Childline counsellor, something he has now done for eight years. He's also raised over £5,000 for the charity by running the London Marathon. To add to this admirable list of support for the NSPCC, earlier this year, he took the unique opportunity to combine his passion for volunteering with his consulting skills, on a pro-bono strategy project.

The NSPCC needed our support to find a mechanism for gathering ideas across the organisation, to help shape its strategy, so Ga Lok led a team of KPMG experts to deliver a workshop responding to this ask. "We demonstrated how we use journey maps to show rich, multi-dimensional visualisations of the customer/employee experience. We covered creative problem-solving and frameworks to prioritise ideas, so the NSPCC can make maximum impact with its funds."

Shaping strategy through the use of technology has been exciting for Ga Lok, but it's the teamwork he's enjoyed most. "It's been great to work with like-minded people, who are passionate about making a difference."

Ga Lok / Technology Project Manager

Pro bono for better

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.

Colleague hours spent on pro bono support / 1,245 FY20

Value of time, skills and expertise support / > £940,000 FY20

NSPCC

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.

Oak National Academy

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

Governance for better

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.

Number of charity trustees, school governors and enterprise advisors / >500 FY20

Colleague hours volunteered through these roles / >10,000 FY20

Changing young lives

Working with the most vulnerable

Hamza became a charity trustee to play his part in supporting the most vulnerable in the London borough of Harrow. As the pandemic struck, his charity had only been operational for less than six months, but it worked hard to respond quickly to the needs of the community. By converting a disused warehouse, located in central Harrow, to a fully functioning food bank, the charity made a huge difference to those most impacted by the challenges the pandemic presented. "We provided nearly 7,500 hot meals to frontline NHS staff in Northwick Park Hospital and to vulnerable residents in Harrow. We now support nearly 50 families with food parcels on a weekly basis."

Reinvesting in his community, to ensure a safer and more equal environment for all, has been a rewarding experience for Hamza. "It has made me more humble by recognising the fortunate position I'm in."

Hamza / Data Protection Officer

Helping students start their career journey

Throughout her university years, Kasturi felt as if she didn't always have access to meaningful careers advice, support and opportunities. She wanted to help change this cycle of social immobility for others, so signed up to become an enterprise advisor. "I wanted to work with young children to make sure that they received the support, mentorship and guidance they needed to flourish in their chosen career paths".

Kasturi enjoys the unique opportunity this role gives her to inspire students across London. "My highlight was when I shared my career journey with hundreds of students and received warm and positive feedback in return."

Being able to create such a positive impact on society makes every part of this role worth it for Kasturi. "It has given me a sense of satisfaction to know I am motivating someone to embark on a great journey".

Kasturi / Assistant Manager