Community engagement
Powerful partnerships for tomorrow’s generation.
£2.4m
Total charitable contribution in 2022
37,000+
Beneficiaries reported by our partners
2,800+
Volunteering hours by our colleagues
Charitable giving
Supporting tomorrow’s generation
Powerful partnerships strategy
A commitment to significant funding with partners where our support will help make a transformative impact.
People
We are helping people overcome barriers and gain access to opportunities aligned to education, employment and financial wellness.
Planet
We are protecting nature and addressing climate change.
Technology
Partnerships that are enabled through technology and innovation.
Engage colleagues
We want partners that engage our colleagues to use their skills in volunteering to benefit society.
Enrich connections
Enrich colleagues through meaningful connections to our partners.
Enhance fundraising
Colleague fundraising can be increased through company matching initiatives.
Strategic and regional charity partnerships
Our strategic partners
Hello World
Providing up to 80,000 people with access to internet and digital education content
In 2021, we announced our partnership with Hello World, whose mission is to bridge the digital divide by improving connectivity for disconnected communities. Hello World partners with communities to build ‘Hello Hubs’ – solar powered internet kiosks, so that children can learn, access digital educational resources, and improve their future by connecting globally. Our funding is enabling Hello World to build 64 abrdn Hello Hubs across Uganda, with an aim to provide 80,000 people with access to the internet and digital resources.
UNESCO
Promoting environmental sustainability through research and education
In March 2022, we announced a three-year partnership between the abrdn Charitable Foundation and UNESCO, and we are supporting UNESCO programmes focused on environmental sustainability, climate change and ocean science. During the first year of the partnership, our funding is supporting five projects in five countries, with key focus areas aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each project places an important emphasis on education, as well as promoting the importance of innovative ‘blue’ and ‘green’ solutions for climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
MyBnk
Supporting financial education for young adults in the UK
In 2022 we partnered with MyBnk, whose mission is to empower young people to take charge of their future by bringing money to life. Over our three-year partnership we will support MyBnk to deliver financial education programmes to young adults in the UK through a series of money management workshops, focused on household finance including budgeting, banking, and digital financial skills – with the potential to reach up to 10,000 individuals during the partnership. We are looking for opportunities for our people to support directly through skills-based volunteering, as we reflect reflect a commitment to support financial inclusion as abrdn.
Our regional partners
In 2022 we asked of our colleagues to vote for an aligned charity partnership across the UK, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Americas. We have established two-year partnerships with the selected charities and are funding localised programmes in further support of tomorrow’s generation.
UK
Our UK partner Street League use the power of sport to support young people into employment.
US
Invest in Girls are our partner in the US, their mission is to usher in the next generation of financially literate girls and increase the number of women working in finance.
EMEA
Chosen by our colleagues in EMEA, Malala Fund are working for a world where every girl can learn and lead.
APAC
Our colleagues in APAC selected WWF Singapore as their partner. Our funding will contribute to the protection and restoration of forests in Thailand by supporting farmers to implement agroecology over four hectares, plant over 5,000 trees.
abrdn Charitable Foundation
aCF’s Board of Directors has six members, including two independent Directors. The Board provides oversight and guidance for our charitable giving activities.
- Julian Baddeley - Director
- Sarah Moody - Director
- Rene Buehlmann - Director
- Jim O'Connor - Director
- Amali de Alwis - Independent Director
- David Gorman - Independent Director
Charity Registration details (Address and OSCR number):
- SC042597
- 10 Queens Terrace, Aberdeen, AB10 1XL
To apply for funding from the abrdn Charitable Foundation you must meet the below terms and conditions:
- You must be a registered charity with a valid charity number.
- You must have a bank account in your charity’s name.
- Your charity, or proposed project, must align with our giving strategy.
- The charity must be inclusive and must not discriminate. It must not be in relation to the practice of religion or affiliated with any political party or organisation.
- Your charity must have operations in our key locations in the UK or within 5 miles of one of our regional offices.
- You can only apply for funding once in a 12-month period.
- The funding request is not solely for one of the following: salary, general overheads and expenses, grant or bursary to be awarded to an individual, or related to event sponsorship.
How to apply for funding
- Check proposal aligns with our charitable giving strategyWe review proposals against our planet and people strategy for tomorrow’s generation.
- Complete this expression of interest formProvide a few brief details to allow us to review your proposal.
- We will contact you if funding is consideredWe will contact you if funding is considered for funding, we will be back in touch for more information.
- Board of Directors quarterly reviewThe abrdn Charitable Foundation Directors meets and reviews funding requests that are aligned to our strategy on a quarterly basis.
Corporate sustainability
About us
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Impact supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals
We require all our strategic partners to outline project-specific objectives and to estimate the contribution of the project towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We do this so we can better understand how our contribution translates to support for sustainable outcomes for people and planet over time.
Throughout the year we receive updates from our partners, which we collate and report on annually. Impacts take time to measure, with our partnerships often being multi-year programmes that reflect the specific nature of a project. Our 2022 impact chart reflects the estimated contribution of 8 of our partnerships towards the SDGs. This is based on impact reports received as of 31 December 2022 related to approximately £1 million of funded projects.
Our partners self-report using a standard template and we aggregate these inputs to give an illustrative view of the SDG alignment of our contributions. We are therefore reliant on the accuracy of this reporting and the information should be treated as an approximate illustration of focus areas, and not as an absolute contribution.
Our Sustainability and TCFD report includes more detail, with project specific case studies for some of our strategic partners.
How colleagues supported our communities
We encourage colleagues to be part of our local communities and to develop meaningful connections with our partners. Our policies enable this and include three days volunteering leave in the UK, and matched contributions up to £200 for fundraising 1. Our volunteering policy is flexible and allows colleagues the opportunity to claim time back for volunteering done in their own time.
In 2022 our colleagues spent 2,800+ hours volunteering, and we illustrate how this time was spent in the related chart. Its important to note that the disclosing nature of volunteering time is a voluntary disclosure for colleagues; therefore, the disclosure rate is not 100% and is presented based on available information as of 31 December 2022.
Over time, we aim to increase the time that colleagues spend in our communities, and we engage directly with our charity partners to find opportunities for our people to make an impact. This is an important component of our giving strategy, and we see a clear alignment with our people and planet focus areas in how our colleagues choose to spend their time.
1 As of 31 December 2022 our volunteering policy does not include colleagues in interactive investor, which joined the abrdn Group in 2022 with a separate benefits package.
Adding value through collaboration:
We create powerful partnerships with the intention to support partner charities to deliver transformative impacts aligned to our strategy. We also look for opportunities to collaborate and support our partners beyond our financial contributions.
MyBnk: ‘Work Dosh’ and building financial confidence
In 2023 we supported MyBnk to feedback and refine their ‘Work Dosh’ sessions, a specialist money management programme that empowers young professionals to track habits and gain financial confidence. MyBnk trialled the sessions with some of our early careers colleagues to gain feedback and insight to help improve the programme and delivery. We are also supporting MyBnk to produce a research paper focussed on financial confidence for young people across the UK. We look forward to the outcome later in 2023, which we hope will have a meaningful impact on our collective understanding of financial inclusion – and how we can better support tomorrow’s generation to take charge of their future.
abrdn Charitable Foundation
aCF’s Board of Directors has six members, including two independent Directors. The Board provides oversight and guidance for our charitable giving activities.
- Julian Baddeley - Director
- Sarah Moody - Director
- Rene Buehlmann - Director
- Jim O'Connor - Director
- Amali de Alwis - Independent Director
- David Gorman - Independent Director
Charity Registration details (Address and OSCR number):
- SC042597
- 10 Queens Terrace, Aberdeen, AB10 1XL
To apply for funding from the abrdn Charitable Foundation you must meet the below terms and conditions:
- You must be a registered charity with a valid charity number.
- You must have a bank account in your charity’s name.
- Your charity, or proposed project, must align with our giving strategy.
- The charity must be inclusive and must not discriminate. It must not be in relation to the practice of religion or affiliated with any political party or organisation.
- Your charity must have operations in our key locations in the UK or within 5 miles of one of our regional offices.
- You can only apply for funding once in a 12-month period.
- The funding request is not solely for one of the following: salary, general overheads and expenses, grant or bursary to be awarded to an individual, or related to event sponsorship.
How to apply for funding
- Check proposal aligns with our charitable giving strategyWe review proposals against our planet and people strategy for tomorrow’s generation.
- Complete this expression of interest formProvide a few brief details to allow us to review your proposal.
- We will contact you if funding is consideredWe will contact you if funding is considered for funding, we will be back in touch for more information.
- Board of Directors quarterly reviewThe abrdn Charitable Foundation Directors meets and reviews funding requests that are aligned to our strategy on a quarterly basis.