“It was about getting money and aid to where it was needed most”

“When the world is in crisis, it can’t be solved by one group,” says Sasha Wiggins, Barclays’ Group Head of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility. “Governments, organisations and individuals have to pull together and align to support communities in need.”

Wiggins is reflecting on Barclays’ biggest ever community relief effort, the £100m COVID-19 Community Aid Package, which was launched in early 2020 as the scale and potential social and economic impact of the pandemic started to become clear.

Impetus for the programme came from the top of Barclays, with Group CEO Jes Staley, Group Chairman Nigel Higgins and Group Finance Director Tushar Morzaria each donating a third of their fixed salaries for six months to kick-start support.

“We talked really early on in the pandemic,” she remembers, “about how important it was that Barclays took swift action to help the communities in which we operate and support the people that were being most impacted by this crisis.”

Just over a year on, the global programme has now supported more than 290 charity partners around the world to deliver relief efforts right into the heart of communities. The support for colleagues’ fundraising efforts and personal donations has seen a further £6m+ raised which, with Barclays matching, has meant a total of more than £13m for 1,985 charities. Colleagues from 20 different countries came together in support of the causes that meant the most to them.

Wiggins describes the effort as “phenomenal”, adding: “If you’d asked me two years ago whether we’d have been able to establish so many impactful partnerships at such pace, as well as run a new matching programme, and all while working from home, I just couldn’t have imagined it.” 

In ensuring the right support was delivered where it was most needed, the bank built on existing partnerships with trusted charities across the world and reached out to new charities who were well placed to deliver COVID-19 relief efforts. This enabled the bank to draw on partners’ on-the-ground knowledge of what communities needed during the crisis and the best ways to work at a local level.

“The programme was about partnering with charities, asking them about the funding that was needed to make a positive impact, but, as importantly, also telling us how we could support and help them more widely,” says Wiggins.  “In particular the skills we have within the organisation.”

She cites the example of Samaritans, which – like many organisations – was facing the challenge of running in-person call centres under the restrictions of lockdown: “Barclays run a significant number call centres around the world, and we shared with them how we were adapting our technology to enable us to work in a different way while still meeting the needs of our customers.”

Partnerships have often worked both ways, with Barclays colleagues volunteering, for example, to work with charity partner Age UK as phone befrienders to help tackle loneliness and isolation, and, conversely, Marie Curie running a wellbeing programme for the bank’s colleagues, focused on coping with bereavement and loss. Refuge, meanwhile, helped to train branch-based colleagues to look out for warning signs of domestic abuse.

While many charities were working hard to meet the demands of the pandemic, the COVID-19 Community Aid Package was consciously focused on getting help to those who needed it, with charities being a vital partner to making that possible. “It was about getting the money and aid to where it was needed the most, in the right way, with the right partners,” explains Nigel Higgins. “Because we can’t do this on our own. To be able to respond so quickly and spread this support across our communities – I think it showed Barclays at its very best."

Assistance focused in the four main regions in which Barclays operates, namely the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. The type of support offered was tailored by charity partners to fit local needs, from the provision of essential items such as food, hygiene kits and PPE, to emotional and mental health support, helping families in financial distress and offering support for people facing domestic violence.

In the UK, the 100x100 Programme – which invited charities to apply for one of 100 donations of £100,000 each – attracted more than 1,000 applications and was expanded to be able to support 187.

“By finding the right organisations that really understand their communities, either by geography or specific need, that's how we get the right help to the right place,” says Wiggins.

With the impact of the pandemic still being felt, support through the COVID-19 Community Aid Package continues, with the recent crisis in India meaning further contributions of vital medical supplies, PPE and food. The 100x100 Programme in the UK has also been expanded further, with 50 more donations of £100,000 being made.

As we emerge from COVID-19, Wiggins sees it as “our responsibility as an organisation to continue to support communities over the long term, beyond periods of crisis”. She adds: “This isn't a new thing that Barclays has done, this is part of us and who we are. This is about the purpose of the organisation, and we'll continue to play a positive role in society – it’s more important now than ever.”