28 September

5 reasons why this year’s City Giving Day was the best one yet

On Tuesday 26 September, The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of the City of London, Alderman, Sheriffs and 571 City businesses came together for City Giving Day. Hosted by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, the annual event unites the City to celebrate and promote the positive impact of philanthropy. Here’s 5 reasons this year’s City Giving Day was the best one yet…

1. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress really roamed the Square Mile

From an early start to London Stock Exchange and annual photocall at Guildhall Yard, The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were kept busy on City Giving Day. 

The Lord Mayor spent the morning playing mini golf at Fidelity International, limited-edition City Giving Day coin-pressing at Pewterer’s Hall and meeting General Manager & CEO of Bank of China UK, Mr. Fang and taking part in the company wide Town Hall event. After lunch, it was on to hear about skills building for school children at Lloyds Banking Group and a visit Aon’s bake sale before some cocktails in the name of charity at Drake & Morgan’s The Anthologist. Finally, he was at Barings to help pack up over 700 meals for charity partner The Thomas Franks Foundation; on to The Ned London for pizzetti and to Mansion House to cheer on City Giving Day Treasure Hunters.

It was an equally packed schedule for The Lady Mayoress, starting with breakfast at Brown’s Old Jewry to meet women’s property collection, Women In Property then to Square Mile Farms to help harvest hydroponically farmed greens for London Community Kitchen. Next visits to Standard Chartered Bank to record top tips for young people starting their careers and Janus Henderson for children’s booking signing; cocktail-making at The Drift, choir-singing at Music in Office’s Big City Sing and a quick historical stroll for City Walks. In the afternoon, it was on to Bloomberg to visit their listening garden in aid of the Samaritans, knitting squares for community blankets with The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters and afternoon tea at Brown’s with Past Masters. 

2. Support Dog Angus was the Star of the Show

It was a busy day for all, but at least Alderwoman Dame Susan Langley DBE had support. In the form of her Beadle, Tim Wright’s cocker spaniel, Angus. Joining her on visits to Lloyd’s Banking Group’s annual branch relay and Gallagher for a coffee morning, Angus decided to take up Sue’s Chair seat at the global insurance company while she was busy fulfilling her #CGD duties. While she spent time at Hays’ charity partnerships Angus had a snooze, before joining her to cheer on the Tour de City participants.

3. The City loves to #GoRed

Celebrating with a splash of red has long been a City Giving Day tradition and this year was no exception. Plenty of offices across The City encouraged employees to wear red, these included Gallagher, Pallas Partners who fundraised for chosen charities The Trussell Trust and Mind, Lloyds and First Sentier Investors who also joined Tour de City, where the familiar red t-shirts were worn by all cyclists. Red outfits were also spotted on the City Walk guides, who lead historical lunchtime strolls around The City dressed in scarlet hues. Finally, The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers kept to the colour theme by giving out red apples for a donation at Guildhall Yard in the morning and Pewterers’ Hall in the afternoon.    

4. More City businesses took part than ever before

Rising from 526 in 2022 to 571 in 2023, The City supported City Giving Day in record numbers this year. Activities varied from office bake sales at CPC Project Services, bake-offs at City AM, rowing at The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers to a 5k relay race across Barclays branches. The Charity Bridge Foundation hosted an open event to discuss the impact of bringing a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) to charitable funding practice, while Integra Group helped at a storage facility for Care4Calais. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal Charity Partners National Numeracy joined a ‘Maths in the real world’ session at KPMG with children from Noel Park Primary School, while Lloyd’s and Halifax had 23 teams competing in either a 7k riddle route or a 16k relay race.  Over at Pewterers Hall, The Worshipful Company of Pewterers were striking pewter coins with the City Giving Day logo to commemorate their 550^th anniversary. 

5.The sun shone on City Giving Day

Thankfully on September 26^th, the sun shone across the Square Mile meaning City Giving Day participants could enjoy alfresco events without the worry of a downpour. The weather kept vocal cords warm for Music in Offices’ Big City Sing sponsored by Culture Mile Business Improvement District; and meant the City Giving Day Treasure Hunt teams including Hays Macintyre, Pools Reinsurance Company, Procurato and many more could focus on the clues and not their umbrellas like last year. Over at Tour de City sponsored by EC Business Improvement District and supported by Third Space , companies such as PwC, Haggie Partners and Gallagher would have liked cooler temperatures as they peddled on static watt bikes to raise funds for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal. 

Sign up for City Giving Day 2024 here