As so many of our readers are Prince’s Trust supporters, like me, I am delighted finally to be able to announce that the Trust has received its largest ever single corporate donation from HSBC towards its work helping disadvantaged young people in the UK. The £12m donation, over three years, is part of a wider £30m support package from HSBC to The Prince's Trust, Catch 22, St Giles Trust and Tomorrow's People. It will help c25,000 into work or training.
The Trust will use the funds to expand its well established and successful Get into… programme with particular emphasis on jobs in retail, hospitality and social care. It will also be used to fund 100 Job Ambassadors over three years, to help signpost young people to work and training opportunities in their areas. There is also a strong digital element as funds are available to help The Trust build much greater online support for young people – for example via job-search, CV creation etc.
HSBC is already a long-term partner of the Trust and, last year, pledged £1m a year to the Trust’s Fairbridge programme.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of a major job creation programme for the Trust announced with Marks & Spencer a couple of weeks ago. M&S is offering 1400 work experience jobs in their ‘Make your Mark’ programme in partnership with the Trust. (See more here) It all shows that the Prince’s Trust is becoming the ‘Charity of Choice for Corporate UK” as youth unemployment rises to the top of the CSR agenda for many companies.
It’s all being announced at a breakfast briefing with HSBC and Nick Clegg today.