In order to target our available resources in a meaningful and effective way, and to deal fairly with all the deserving calls on our funds and resources, we have to focus our efforts. We concentrate particularly on disadvantaged young people in our immediate communities - on raising their educational achievement, developing their employability skills and enterprise and encouraging good citizenship. Our programmes also focus on involving our people and any commitment of funds from the firm almost always goes hand in hand with their active engagement.

We are involved in projects at both strategic and grassroots level in disadvantaged communities close to our offices. Our programme provides a combination of cash, staff involvement and other "help in kind", to community organisations within our focus areas. Our approach is to bring together these three strands into a series of integrated projects.

Examples of the type of projects we are involved in are described in the section on Community Affairs in our report “There’s More...”

Our community funding is specifically targeted in the following areas, with preference given to:

• Organisations working with the disadvantaged communities in the immediate vicinity of our offices. In London, we currently support projects in the boroughs of Southwark and Westminster.
• Programmes which provide opportunities for the involvement of our people.
• Community organisations and schools, rather than individuals.
• Revenue rather than capital funding.

If you wish to contact the Community Affairs team, please send an email.

Support for our people

The involvement of our people is a key component of all our community programmes. The time they give ranges from one off team building challenges to regular, consistent volunteering, usually on a weekly basis. The firm supports these activities by giving our volunteers time off to undertake these activities. Over 3,800 of our people volunteered during the year to 30 June 2007, equating to some 37,400 working hours.

Outside working hours, many of our people choose to give up their free time to charities and voluntary organisations. We value the sustained commitment, time and energy that this involves and to recognise and reward this effort, the firm has established our matched giving programme and volunteering awards scheme.

For those who wish to donate to charities from their salary, we operate a payroll giving scheme.

1. Matched Giving Programme

   PwC people who actively raise funds for charities/voluntary organisations can apply to the firm for matched funding. The firm matches the first £250 raised per PwC person per year. We also support groups and teams who fundraise.

2. Volunteering Awards Scheme

   PwC volunteers who commit more than 20 hours to a charity/community group per year, and have been doing so for more than six months, can apply for a volunteering award.

3. Payroll Giving Scheme

   The firm operates a Give As You Earn scheme through the Charities Aid Foundation. We support staff who donate through this scheme by paying the 4% administration charge levied by CAF for administering the scheme.