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community
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- Community: financial support
- Community: impact on society
- Community: staff involvement
- Community: customer involvement
- Encourage and increase the level of support given to ethnic minority and disability groups as part of the community involvement policy.
TARGET ACHIEVED
- Review the 'Customers Who Care' scheme, whilst maintaining the core aim of campaigning on issues that have the support of customers, and seek involvement opportunities for customers and staff.
TARGET ACHIEVED
- Refine the 'community accounting system' methodology and seek an appropriate point within the bank to embed it.
TARGET ACHIEVED
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performance
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Sources:
Co-operative Bank Figures: Corporate Affairs 2002
Comparative Figures: The PerCent Club Benchmarking Report 2000i
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The PerCent Club logo is awarded to those organisations
contributing at least 1% of pre-tax profit as community investment.
Note: The graph indicates The Co-operative Bank's community
investment as a % of pre-tax profit in 2001, calculated in line with
PerCent Club guidelines. The total of £3,373,430 is made up of
cash support (£2,113,220), staff time (£628,335) and management
costs (£631,875). Comparisons have been made with the
community investment in 1999 (latest available figures from BITC
as at 19 April 2002) of other leading financial services
organisations.
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In July 2001, Business in the Community declared the bank to be
Company of the Year in their Awards for Excellence 2001. The
bank was also highly commended as part of the Cause Related
Marketing Award for 'Customers Who Care: Refugee Story'.
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Analysis of Community Involvement According to the
London Benchmarking Group Modelii, 2001
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Sources of 'Charitable' Aid, 2001
(cash contributions)
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The Head Office donation figure includes monies donated from the bank's fund with
the Community Foundation for Greater Manchester. The Head Office donation figure
excludes £50,000 allocated in late 2001 for a new black and minority ethnic fund.
No payments were made from this fund in 2001; these monies will be reported on
in 2002.
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Areas of Charitable Support, 2001
(cash contributions)
Allocation of 'Customers Who Care' Monies, 2001
'Inspiring Young People' Campaign
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In addition to the above, £41,000 was also donated to Landmine Action for
the postponed cluster bomb campaign.
In addition to direct contributions, a further £249,460 was spent on associated
campaigning activities in partnership with the charity sector.
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| The four organisations benefiting from the 'Inspiring Young People' Customers Who Care monies. |
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commentary
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London Benchmarking Group For the first time this year, the
bank discloses its community investment against the widely
recognised London Benchmarking Group (LBG) modelii. The
LBG model helps organisations to analyse their community
investment on the basis of the motivation underpinning the
involvement. According to the model, the majority of the bank's
community involvement is classified within 'commercial
initiatives in the community'; this is largely due to the fact that
customer expenditure on affinity and bank debit and credit
cards determines the destination of 75% of the bank's cash
community contributions.
Financial support The bank has identified that disability and
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups make very few funding
requests. In line with its community involvement policy, the
bank has been working with Ilene Hoyle Associates to
encourage BME groups to apply for funding. This work has
included a review of the community involvement funding pack,
liaison with recognised BME umbrella organisations and
working with potential applicants in funding workshops. A
dedicated BME Fund (£50,000) has been established with the
Community Foundation for Greater Manchester to ensure that
funding is available for appropriate requests. A separate
Disability Fund will be established in 2002. During 2001,
funding for Disability and BME groups has increased by 39%
and over 100% respectively.
Impact on society According to the London Benchmarking
Group model, impact measures assess the effect of the
ultimate goals of community activity and may take several
years to emerge fully. The bank has not yet developed
systematic measures of the impact of its community support.
Staff involvement During 2001, staff donated 6,130 days to
community organisations, resulting in a donation of time worth
£628,335. The bank is committed to ensuring that all staff have
the opportunity to participate in community volunteering. In
early 2002, the bank announced the launch of a programme
enabling all staff to engage in a range of community
volunteering projects for up to three days per year, where
participants are willing to donate the same amount of time
themselves (follow this link for details of staff involvement in community volunteering projects). In parallel, the bank has expanded
the scope of the 'community accounting system' which
measures the value of donated time. Members of staff supply
details of any time spent on community activities in work time
or whilst representing the bank (fundraising, attending
meetings or delivering presentations). For example, the bank
assisted the merger of two organisations dedicated to
promoting sustainable development in the North West of
England. The 'merger' of the charity Sustainability North West,
which is chaired by the bank's Chief Executive, and the
National Centre for Business and Sustainability, a joint venture
between the bank and the four universities of Greater
Manchester, involved staff from a range of disciplines
(accountancy, legal, tax, human resources, strategic planning
and public relations) and amounted to a total of 27 days
support.
Customer involvement
- Customers Who Care: The bank donates 1.25p per £100
spent by customers on their bank credit and debit cards to
its Customers Who Care campaigns. In 2001, the donations
were split between two campaigns: the 'Inspiring Young
People' campaigniii and a campaign on cluster bombs.
'Inspiring Young People' is providing both financial and
practical support, including mentoring and personal
development, to groups of young people to help themselves
and their local communities. The cluster bombs campaign
had been due to launch in October. However, the campaign
launch was postponed following the events of September 11.
It was a difficult decision, but it was felt that the bank's
timing might have been misinterpreted as 'opportunistic'.
Some funds had already been spent in the planning phase
of the campaign, mainly on background research. The
remaining £41,000 was donated to Landmine Action for
distribution to their member organisations, which operate
mine clearance programmes around the world. The cluster
bomb campaign was eventually launched in February 2002.
Further information follows.
- Affinity relationships The bank currently issues credit
cards for twelve national charities/non-governmental
organisationsiv. Affinity partners generally receive a donation
from the bank for each new card and a margin on the use of
the card. The charities/non-governmental organisations, in
order of income received in 2001, are: The Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Oxfam, Amnesty
International (UK), Greenpeace, Tearfund, Save the Children,
The Hospice Movement, Barnardo's, ActionAid, Schools
Card, Help the Aged and Children's Aid Direct.
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- www.percent.org.uk
- www.lbg-online.net
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/cwc/ethical_cwc_archives.html
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/personal/visa_affinity.html
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
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ethical and ecological value analysis
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- Cost of providing community investment (excluding ethical
and ecological management costs) £2,845,825
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new targets
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- Measure the impact of the bank's Customers Who Care campaign on unexploded cluster bombs.
Kate Daley, Campaigns Manager
- Continue to develop the bank's Ethical Purchasing Index which is designed to recognise and encourage Ethical Consumerism.
Barry Clavin, Ethical Policy Manager
- Assist in establishing and developing new Community Development Financial Institutions.
- Assist in establishing The Co-operative Foundation, designed to translate the principles of mutual support and community into practical action.
David Dickman, Head of Co-operative and Sector Development
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cluster bombs: the great clear up operation (launched february 2002)
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What are cluster bombs? Cluster bombs consist of an
outer dispenser containing hundreds of submunitions or
'bomblets' - explosive projectiles which, on release,
separate and spread to achieve optimum ground
coverage. In military terms, the aim is to attack armour and
cause immediate casualties, with each cluster bomb
designed to explode close to, or above, a target area.
The number of unexploded bomblets is a major concern.
Official military figures on failure rates range from 5% to as
much as 20%*. For example, in Kosovo in 1999 NATO
used three types of cluster bomb, including 521 Britishmade
RBL755 bombs, each containing 147 bomblets.
Assuming a failure rate of just 5% this would result in
approximately 3,900 unexploded bomblets.*
Facts on Cluster Bombs*
- By the 1970s, all major international powers had introduced cluster bombs into their armouries.
- Latest figures put the failure rate of cluster bombs in Kosovo at around 11-12%.
- Up to June 2000, after the bombing of Kosovo, 94 people had been killed and more than 400 injured by landmines and unexploded munitions.
- At least 40% of Kosovo's post-conflict casualties can be attributed to cluster bombs.
- CBU87 cluster bombs, like those used in Kosovo, contain 202 bomblets.
* Source: Landmine Action
The bank is working in partnership with Landmine Action - a coalition of 50 organisations including Amnesty, Oxfam, Christian Aid, Tearfund, Mines Advisory Group and others for a freeze on the use of cluster bombs.
This work includes:
- research: a new research report - 'Explosive Remnants
of War - unexploded ordnance and post-conflict
Communitiesi, was produced by the bank's campaign
partner, Landmine Action with funding from the bank.
The report looks at the social and humanitarian impacts
of cluster bombs and other unexploded ordnance, on
post-conflict communities in Cambodia, Kosovo and
Eritrea. This report will be presented at the United
Nations for discussion at inter-governmental meetings
planned for later this year.
- funding of clearance operations: the money raised
by Customers Who Care will go to organisations
working to save lives by clearing cluster bombs and
other unexploded ordnance in former war-zones such
as Cambodia and Eritrea.
- seeking a global commitment: Ultimately, the bank
would like to see international agreement that those
who use these weapons should take full responsibility
for their clearance. The bank is supporting Landmine
Action in their efforts to bring about the introduction of
a new international law requiring those who use cluster
bombs and other explosive weapons to take full
responsibility.
Visit Landmine Action's websiteii for more information on landmines and cluster bombs.
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NGOs, like HALO Trust, clear the land of cluster bombs and other ordnance, reclaiming previously unusable land and allowing communities to return safely. |
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- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/cwc/ethical_cwc_new_campaign.html
- www.landmineaction.org
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
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