Introduction
ICG is committed to investing back into the communities where we live, work and operate. This report seeks to capture the strategic focus of our charitable giving approach and highlight the social impact the business has achieved through its social investments and through its people giving back their time and expertise.
Benoît Durteste, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer:
I’m proud to share our first social impact report, which is a chance to capture and highlight the growing ways in which ICG is giving back and investing in new and innovative ways in our society.
Executive Summary
In May 2022, ICG announced £3.75 million in funding over three years to support innovative partnerships with three leading charities committed to improving educational opportunity and driving social mobility.
In addition, ICG’s Million Meals initiative has provided over £1m of funding over two years, with 8 grants across 12 countries and over 1.1 million meals delivered in its second year.
This report summarises ICG’s impact over the first full year of delivery for the educational opportunity programme, and the second year of funding for Million Meals.
The report shows ICG funded 1.1 million meals across 12 countries and its long-term charity strategic partnerships in Educational Opportunity and Social Mobility enabled organisational growth and created more pathways for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to financial careers.
Educational Opportunity & Social Mobility
ICG is passionate about improving social mobility through access to higher education and levelling the playing field for people entering our industry. We believe that this serves an important purpose for individuals and society; while creating a more equitable and more representative investment industry.
The primary focus for our charitable giving is dedicated to enhancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through creating opportunities for disadvantaged individuals in the key markets in which we operate. In particular, we focus on:
- Secondary education and university access
- Succeeding at university
- Entry into employment and beyond – widening access to our industry
Our approach provides more than just financial capital, allowing us to leverage the expertise of our colleagues to build stronger relationships and make a bigger impact.
A growing number of ICG colleagues mentor young people through the programme and dedicate time which enriches their experience of being part of ICG.
Our main partnerships are with SEO London and SEO New York, upReach and The Access Project with delivery on the ground across the UK, France and the US.
This support feeds into the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2-4 and 8 – aiming to provide quality education and decent work for all.
Summary of social impact:
- A tougher environment: All 4 partners report tougher operating environments – for schools, students & funding.
- Young People supported: 4,803 young people have been directly supported in the last 18 months, with significant evidence of increased confidence, skills, opportunities
and progression. - ICG Educational Opportunity funding has enabled organisational growth & capacity building: The 3 year funding approach has provided them with financial security and consistency to improve their systems, processes and invest in future planning strategies. Partners have been able to appoint new staff, expand services and partnerships to create greater depth of impact & leverage an additional £2.5million funding over the last year.
- Partners have expanded their provision: SEO Europe was funded to expand into France; The Access Project has expanded into North West England with eight new programmes
and upReach’s partnership with The Access Project has offered upReach opportunities for expansion with more organisations supporting children under 18. - ICG employee volunteers engaged with volunteering facilitating internships & hires.
Million Meals Initiative
In 2022, ICG launched its Million Meals initiative to support charities providing free meals to individuals and families in need due to the cost of living crisis and food insecurity. In its first year the initiative provided a total of £500,000 of funding to six charities globally. Year two of the initiative provided over £550,000 of new funding across eight leading charities worldwide.
Working with high quality delivery partner charities, the programme enabled those organisations to source and deliver food to nearly 4,000 community organisations working on the ground to support vulnerable people.
This project directly responds to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2, aiming to eliminate food insecurity and hunger.
Read the full report
This social impact report has been produced by Bean Research, working alongside The Giving Department. Bean Research helps organisations create and measure social value, The Giving Department helps companies deliver disproportionate social impact.
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