Deloitte has said its ‘One Million Futures’ initiative has reached its goal a year ahead of target, with over £21m and 115,000 volunteer hours contributed to UK charities, schools and social enterprises since its launch in 2016.
The professional services firm has praised the contribution its employees in Belfast have made towards achieving the firm’s goal of positively impacting the lives of one million people across the UK.
One Million Futures aimed to ‘help one million people get to where they want to be through access to education and employment’.
It focused on improving skills, education and inclusion through partnerships with 90 charities, schools and social enterprises.
Deloitte said the programme has been so successful that the firm is now aiming to impact ‘Five Million Futures’ as part of Deloitte’s global World Class ambition of supporting 50 million people by 2030.
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Across the UK more than three quarters of the company’s people have volunteered hours and the firm has carried out 36,500 pro-bono business hours, equating to over £21m of benefit to organisations.
In Northern Ireland, its society partners are the NOW Group, Simon Community NI and Hazelwood Integrated College.
More than 300 employees in Belfast have contributed almost 4,250 volunteer hours between them to projects.
Deloitte announced that its work with NOW Group has helped the organisation to support 250% more people with autism and learning difficulties into work.
Deloitte has provided strategic advice on the expansion of its catering division ‘LOAF’ and is currently helping the Group to pivot their LOAF strategy to effectively respond to COVID-19 and protect jobs.
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The company has also helped the team at Simon Community NI analyse its service design, helping the charity identify potential opportunities for service improvement.
During the period Northern Ireland spent in lockdown, the firm provided laptops to the charity to allow staff to work remotely and clients to keep connected to the rest of the world. The firm has also reached £20,000 in fundraising in the first year of its partnership.
With Hazelwood College the firm developed a Business Internship which sees students working for six months on real ‘future of work’ dilemmas facing local businesses and industries.
Deloitte has also supported the team at Kinship Care in and helped raise over £80,000 for the charity and its work for vulnerable children across NI.
Jackie Henry, Office Senior Partner at Deloitte in Belfast commented: “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus how important charities and social enterprises are to our society and highlighted the resource pressures many of them currently face.
“It is incumbent on the business community to support the vital work they do in Belfast and we at Deloitte are committed to playing our part.”
Source: Written based on press release
