A force for good

Learn more about our community programmes

Employee volunteering is a core component of our community engagement strategy. It enables our employees to do the right thing, strengthens their relationships with colleagues and the communities we operate in. Each employee is entitled to up to three days of paid volunteering leave a year, which can be used for Bank wide volunteering initiatives or supporting charitable causes of their choice. 

Goal Accelerator is a sport-powered, gender-responsive economic resilience initiative that aims to create concrete pathways for disadvantaged girls and young women to obtain decent employment, earn an income and become economically resilient.

The programme takes a holistic approach to women’s economic empowerment, promoting financial independence, leadership development, and facilitating access to decent employment and entrepreneurship. Core to the programme, sport and play provide a unique methodology that is foundational in cultivating key transferable skills. Sport also provides opportunities for participants to strengthen their leadership, increase their self-confidence and improve mental health.

In the UK, Goal Accelerator is delivered in London and Liverpool by UK charity, Street League, in partnership with Women Win. The programme is funded by The Standard Chartered Foundation.

The RISE programme creates meaningful interventions for young people from underserved communities who have plenty of ambition but face disproportionate barriers to economic opportunities.

By offering mentorship, bespoke workshops and skill-building sessions , RISE enables ambitious young Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people from underrepresented communities to access the tools to hone their employability skills, to help position themselves for success with potential employers and start their careers on the front foot.

The programme is funded by Standard Chartered and supported by the East London Business Alliance (ELBA)

Standard Chartered is a proud supporter of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal which aims to find solutions to London’s most pressing societal issues.

Each September, we go Red for City Giving Day to raise awareness of the many ways in which the City can and does support our communities to thrive.

Our participation in the Lord Mayor’s ‘We Can Be…’ aims to support our Philanthropy strategy by raising aspirations for young women and enabling the potential and employability of this underserved group. Through We Can Be… we can help to change perceptions, share skills and demystify the city to help empower young women to make informed career decisions. Each year, the Bank invits a group of students from a London school to our Global Head Office in London for a taste of City careers and to hear from a number of ‘real-models’ with varying paths into employment. Volunteers help to illustrate life at Standard Chartered while exploring the skills that are applied within a wide range of roles within the organisation.