Lloyds Banking Group: Staff choose us as Charity of the Year

We are delighted to announce that Lloyds Banking Group has chosen Save the Children as its 2011 Charity of the Year – a partnership worth at least £1m.

The relationship will allow us to significantly scale up our work to transform the lives of vulnerable children living in poverty across the UK.

Save the Children was revealed as the company’s choice following a staff vote in which more than 9,000 Lloyds Banking Group employees voted for us ahead of two other contenders.

It means staff working for all companies under the Lloyds Banking Group umbrella – including Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Cheltenham and Gloucester (C&G) – will get the chance to collectively raise money for Save the Children throughout 2011.

Douglas Rouse, Corporate Partnerships Director at Save the Children, said: “Everyone at Save the Children is thrilled to have been chosen as Lloyds Banking Group’s next Charity of the Year. We are now looking forward to working together to transform the life chances of thousands of children living in poverty in communities served by the group and its staff across the UK.”

Money raised through the partnership will support nearly 5,000 children by funding 52 Save the Children Families and Schools Together (FAST) Programmes. These will work with 2,400 families at 26 key locations across the UK.

FAST is a groundbreaking programme that strengthens parents’ relationships with their children, stimulates learning outside school and encourages parents to become more active in their children’s education.

Angie Risley, Group HR Director at Lloyds Banking Group, comments: “We are excited to be working with Save the Children over the next twelve months. The large majority of Lloyds Banking Group employees voted for the charity and we are therefore very confident in the level of support we can expect to see across the Group.”