Societe Generale UK Foundation

The SG UK Foundation’s new fund, Bright Futures, is investing £1 million over three years to empower and equip people from marginalised groups to access education and employment, driving lasting social and economic impact.

Designed by the Foundation with input from the Bright Futures Committee of representatives across SG UK, the fund’s two investment pillars include:
•    Donations: One-off investments (£2.5k) to staff-nominated organisations supporting health and wellbeing for marginalised people.
•    Grants: Larger, longer-term investments (£10-50k) in organisations supporting confidence, aspirations, and mental health for marginalised people.

Find out more here.
 

Our small grants fund aims to diversify opportunity and help people on their journey to education and employment in communities local to Societe Generale UK offices. Delivered in partnership with the East End Community Foundation (EECF), projects have been supported across East London, Bristol, and historically, the Channel Islands.

Over its first six years, the Fund donated over £750,000 to community projects, enabling almost 3,000 people to learn new skills and over 600 to secure employment.

Find out more about the Fund’s first five years of impact by watching EECF’s video here.

The CEO of YOH Ltd, an organisation which has been supported since 2017, shared “The funding from Societe Generale UK Foundation has enabled us to engage some of the hardest to reach young people in East London, develop their skills and support them into sustainable employment”. Find out more about their work here.  

We’ve recently committed a further three years’ funding, bringing the total investment to over £1M since the Fund began.

Evolve is a unique collaboration between Linklaters, UBS, Societe Generale, and the SG UK Foundation delivered by the East London Business Alliance (ELBA).

Over the past four years, the focus has been on supporting the charity sector to build capacity and strengthen resilience through the Evolve project. The Foundation delivers a third of the funding for Evolve while the Societe Generale team provides the invaluable volunteers. Find out more.

Street League uses the power of sport to give young people the opportunities they need to move into sustainable jobs, education, and training opportunities. The Foundation helps fund their East London Academy in Tower Hamlets, which supports 40+ young people every year. SG UK employee volunteers also share their skills and experience through CV sessions and mock interviews. Find out more.

Initially created by EECF to help grassroots organisations recover from the pandemic, the Life Chances collective fund creates lasting change by addressing the critical issues of wellbeing and employment for young people, digital exclusion, and pensioner poverty in East London. The Foundation is a lead funder and key supporter for the young people strand, in line with our strategic investments. Find out more.

SHAKE Climate Change was a landmark project for the Foundation, established in 2019 with a £3.5M commitment. After four successful cohorts of the entrepreneur programme, Shake has now moved to a multi-funder model to ensure its sustainability.

Combining agricultural research expertise, technological know-how and deep business experience, SHAKE 2024 - Climate Change is an entrepreneurship programme that invests in the brightest minds and best ideas to ensure food and farming are part of the solution to climate change. SHAKE 2024 brings together experts from Rothamsted Research, Cranfield University, University College London, and the University of Hertfordshire.

Based on a unique funding and operating model, SHAKE provides high-quality training, ongoing mentoring, unsurpassed sector connectivity, and an initial investment for successful ventures.

Original funding for the initial four cohorts came from the Foundation, who are now joined by three more investors to enable SHAKE 2024 - Climate Change Cohort 5: Beeches Capital, the Lawes Agricultural Trust, and The Novo Nordisk Foundation (Novo Nordisk Fonden, by way of The Novo Nordisk Foundation grant number NNF23SA0084672).

The Foundation contributes matching and direct donations to UK aid charities in response to local, national, and international disasters.

In addition, the Foundation provides annual donations to winter appeals supporting vulnerable people and communities across East London, Bristol, Slough, and historically, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar where Societe Generale has offices.

By matching donations, we double the impact of employee fundraising for the selected charity partner of Societe Generale UK: Shelter. The Foundation’s donations and matching account for around 47% of the £1.8M raised so far for Shelter. 

The Foundation also matches the volunteering and fundraising contributions of Societe Generale UK employees who choose to support specific local and personal causes, amplifying their positive impact.