Yorkshire Building Society Careers: Our Community

Corporate Responsibility

"Here at the Yorkshire playing an active role in our local communities is part of day to day life. Our Corporate Responsibility programme – Societies Together – reflects the Society’s values which are fun, fairness, passion and people working together."

Bev Cox, Corporate Responsibility Manager

Our Vision

Our vision is to have a community programme that inspires, motivates and engages our members, staff and local communities to get involved in our community activities.

We know that time can be just as valuable as money to charities and community groups which is why we are just as committed to our volunteering activities as we are to our grant giving schemes. We are proud of the success we have achieved in our community efforts, which is a result of the dedication and enthusiasm of our staff for getting involved and also the support of our members in identifying causes that are important to them and supporting our fundraising efforts.

YBS Charitable Foundation

The Foundation was set up in 1998 and has so far helped over 11,500 charities and good causes local to our members and staff. The focus is on providing small grants to small local causes to buy specific items which means it is very clear to see how the money is helping local communities. A large proportion of the Foundations’ funding comes from the Society’s unique Small Change Big Difference schemes where each year members who take part donate the pence of their interest to the Foundation. Since 1998 Small Change Big Difference has collected more than £1.9m and when you bear in mind the average annual donation from each account is around 50 pence – this shows that pennies really can turn into pounds.

As well as accepting applications on an ongoing basis throughout the year the Foundation supports two annual national campaigns.

Charity of the Year, which in 2011 replaced the previous National Christmas Appeal, encourages staff and members to get involved in fundraising activities throughout the year. In 2011 we have partnered with The Alzheimer’s Society to raise funds to provide a support programme to carers of those with dementia.

Make a Difference week, which will be held around the Christmas period, encourages members to nominate their own local causes to receive a small donations from the Foundation. With the assistance of our members we can help more local charities that are sometimes overlooked by large organisations and where a small donation will make a real difference to their activities.

Actionteering (staff volunteering)

Established in September 2007, every member of staff is encouraged to take paid leave to work in our local communities. In total over 5,400 voluntary hours have been completed so far. There are a wide variety of activities that staff have been involved with including creating outdoor classrooms at primary schools, brightening up community centres and working with local youth projects. In addition, a number of staff also get involved by being school governors, sports coaches and student mentors.

Environmental

We all have a responsibility to our environment and we are very aware of our individual impact both within the business and local communities. Our extensive recycling programme allows us to recycle up to 90% of Head Office waste and over 80% of our branch premise waste. Our commitment to purchase electricity from renewable sources continues and by the consistent monitoring of our energy usage we are reducing and eliminating wastages wherever possible.

Societies Together – the way forward

In the second half of 2010 a review of the community practices of the Yorkshire, Barnsley and Chelsea Building Societies was undertaken. The aim was to identify the best elements of each programme and design a new combined approach across all areas of the Society based on best practice.