Encouraging employees to take up payroll giving

RBS volunteers paintingThe Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group is committed to supporting giving by its employees. It has always encouraged staff to take part in volunteering and fundraising and has shown its support in the form of both time and charitable donations.

RBS proved its commitment to charitable giving by signing up to our Give As You Earn scheme when payroll giving was first introduced in 1987. Since then, it has been at the heart of the RBS Group’s community investment programme. In 2001, RBS became the first organisation to double match employee donations. This means that RBS gives £2 for every £1 donated by a member of staff.

14,000 RBS staff are currently participating in Give As You Earn, generating around £700,000 every month for 3,200 charities across the UK. In addition, many staff take part in fundraising and volunteering activities with community organisations and good causes which RBS recognises through its Community Cashback Awards.

Alan Richardson, Group Community Investment Manager, said: “We chose CAF because it had both the experience and the scale to deal with the size of the RBS payroll giving scheme. It is important that a strong relationship exists on an operational level between CAF and RBS – this means that the best service can be given to donors.

“Payroll giving is a simple and highly tax-effective way for individuals to donate to charities on a regular basis. Where matching or double matching is offered, it can also be an excellent way of determining where organisations direct their community investment budgets, with individual employees selecting the charities that are most important to them. From a charity’s perspective, payroll giving provides a much needed, unrestricted and regular income.”