OakNorth’s approach to giving: a commitment to impactful change

Gone are the days of sending a donation to your company’s annual chosen charity and ticking the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ box. As businesses and policy makers continue to realise the benefits of having a strong social purpose, research shows that many philanthropists and businesses are now looking to channel their capital into initiatives where they feel they can contribute more than just pounds and pence.

One charity that OakNorth has supported for years, Pro Bono Economics (PBE) correctly notes that charities like to explain the impact of their programmes in this way as it is a universally recognised understanding of value, but we know from our own experience of giving and supporting PBE’s work since 2014, that ‘value’ comes in many forms beyond just monetary.

As a philanthropist and founder of a business with a strong social purpose, this is something I'm personally very interested in. At OakNorth, our mission is to serve and empower established small-to-medium sized businesses (SMEs) that are seeking to scale but are routinely underserved or overlooked by traditional banks. These businesses create jobs, boost productivity, drive innovation, and help increase GDP. Indeed, the c.￡10B OakNorth has lent to scale-ups since we launched in September 2015 has directly supported the creation of 29,000 new homes and 40,000 new jobs.

To further enhance the impact we have, we made a pledge in 2018 to donate 1% of our group profits to supporting charitable causes and socially minded enterprises. In 2023, we expanded on this commitment by pledging 1% of our team’s time to volunteering, fundraising, doing pro bono work, and mentoring.?

One project that embodies this commitment is our ‘Mentorpreneurship’ Programme, launched in collaboration with the 英国伦敦政治经济学院 (LSE) LSE Generate in 2021. It supports the development of socially minded businesses and inspires entrepreneurial thinking by focusing on the fundamental role of mentorship, while empowering young entrepreneurs to connect, network, and build mentoring relationships. To date, the Programme has supported over 6,600 people in their entrepreneurial journeys, and we are working with a Professor at the LSE to follow the progress of these individuals, to determine the long-term impact.

Last year, we were proud to announce a partnership ( OakNorth- F4S Partnership ) with F4S , an award-winning ed-tech charity for teachers, to support 100,000 secondary school students (11-16 year-olds) – including 40,000 from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds with maths education, mentorship, and career opportunities?– over the next three years.?

These are just a couple of examples of our giving, where the success of that giving is not being determined or defined by how much money or time we put in, but rather by the positive outcomes and lasting impact that it’s having. If individuals and businesses want to ensure the giving they’re doing, we need to shift the conversation from inputs (i.e. how much money can be donated), to impact (what can be achieved).