Our incredible corporate partners

Our partnership with Advent International began in May 2020. Their generous donation contributed to our Emergency Fund, our Family Partners programme, and Parent Talk - Action for Children’s online parenting support service.

With Advent’s generous support, we continued helping families with essential provisions throughout the pandemic, provided one-to-one help online support to parents, and delivered intensive family support to reduce child neglect. We also received generous support through Advent International employee donations and volunteering.

From April 2022 to March 2025, we partnered with global design and consultancy organisation, Arcadis to improve the quality of life for vulnerable children across the UK. Their support played a vital role in amplifying our impact, enabling us to achieve outcomes that would otherwise be beyond our reach, raising over £200,000 to support vulnerable children, young people, and families.

Through fundraising, their commitment to Action for Children allowed us to expand and develop essential services, such as multiple Breaking the Cycle programmes, reach new audiences and engage with diverse supporters, and ultimately, ensure that more children, young people, and families can access the support they need to thrive.

They proved themselves to be passionate fundraisers. From Glasgow to Plymouth, colleagues across UK offices had been trekking, running, baking, and auctioning their way to their fundraising success. Together, we have created a legacy of hope and transformation.

We worked with CBRE between 2018-2020. In that time, they raised over £1 million to help transform the lives of children in care. This includes corporate donations, significant pro bono support, and employee fundraising.

CBRE staff from across all 19 offices volunteered more than 2,291 hours of their time and provided expertise to various pro-bono projects. All the funds raised by CBRE help support children and young people in foster care.

The partnership allowed us to develop a digital tool for children entering foster care. We’ve introduced six workers to support those leaving foster care, and set up a fund to cover essential items for living. CBRE also supported our government campaigning work to make improvements across the sector.

In 2020, the partnership won Charity Partnership, Property and Construction at the Business Charity Awards. We are so proud to have achieved so much during our three-year partnership with CBRE and cannot thank them enough for the opportunity to work together to build a better future for children and young people in foster care.

Our partnership with CMC Markets launched in January 2020. The partnership has extended until 2023, with a commitment to raise more than £236,500.

CMC has funded a new coordinator for our London Independent Visitors service. This is thanks to a corporate donation, employee fundraising, and matched giving. The coordinator matches volunteer mentors with children and young people in care, helping them to gain vital independence skills.

In 2021, we launched the CMC Markets Education & Enrichment Fund. The fund provides support to disadvantaged children and young people in London to build confidence and help them fulfil their potential. The package includes tutoring, educational days out, and essentials like school uniform and equipment.

From 2018-2022, Action for Children partnered with FirstGroup to support young people on their journey to better mental health.

Our partnership has now been valued at more than £3.7 million in employee and customer fundraising, corporate donations, and the commercial value of gift in kind advertising support. This is thanks to the incredible enthusiasm of staff and customers across all operating companies.

The partnership funded a number of initiatives including a national Mental Health Training programme to ensure that Action for Children staff can meet the growing needs of young people with mental health problems - keeping them safe from harm.

FirstGroup’s funding will also be invested in the Enrichment Fund, which enables all children supported by Action for Children - and particularly those who might otherwise miss out - to access enriching activities and experiences, which are basic pre-requisites of good mental health and wellbeing. Examples could include day trips and activities for young people, activity packs, or family barbecue events.

Our formal partnership has now come to an end but we’re incredibly pleased to say that with funds already raised and some continued support, we will be supporting young people on their journey to better mental health through to March 2023.

From June 2022 to May 2023, we partnered with the Thai restaurant group, Giggling Squid, to help vulnerable children and young people to thrive. It's hard to grow, learn, and fulfil your potential when you're hungry or cold, scared or alone. But with Giggling Squid’s support, Action for Children could be there for children, young people, and families in need across the UK.

From beach cleans to bike rides, sponsored treks to supporting our Christmas Secret Santa campaign, colleagues and customers from over 40 Giggling Squid restaurants raised over £60,000 to support vulnerable children and young people in need of life-changing support.

Thanks to our partnership with Giggling Squid, Action for Children were able to create a brighter future for children and young people across the UK.

From 2020-2022, Action for Children partnered with Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation to support the most vulnerable children and families across the UK through the Winter Crisis Fund. In 2022, we were thrilled to be their lead charity partner.

Thanks to Iceland’s incredible sponsorship of our Secret Santa campaign and the amazing fundraising efforts of the 30,000 colleagues across the UK, our partnership has raised over £1 million.

Over the past couple of years, colleagues have blown us away with their creative fundraising ideas in store, and initiatives like The Big Lunch and Charities Week. Not to mention, taking on the London Marathon and Action for Children’s Boycott your Bed challenge - which they hosted in a cave at Zip World in North Wales!

Iceland’s funding was invested in Action for Children’s Winter Crisis Fund, which provides grants to families across the UK so that they have everything they need to be able support their children. Examples could include food packages, food vouchers, gas, electricity, cooking appliances and kitchenware. This support has been vital during the past few years of economic upheaval, which has forced many vulnerable families deeper into poverty.

We’re incredibly pleased to continue our relationship with Iceland as one of the Foundation’s partners, which will ensure we can continue to support vulnerable families across the UK.

Metro Bank chose to support Action for Children for their 2020 Christmas marketing campaign. They were encouraging their staff, members, and the public to donate to our Secret Santa campaign via their Magic Money Tree.

Alongside a corporate donation, Metro Bank offered us ample marketing value, featuring us in their social media posts and a grand display in each of their 77 stores. In every store, Metro Bank displayed a huge Christmas tree, full of decorations and gold coins which customers were encouraged to take and follow the QR code through to a co-branded Donation page.

Our partnership with Royal Mail began in June 2017 and aimed to raise £2 million through a mix of employee fundraising and matched funding. All funds went to the Blues Programme for 13-19 year olds who are suffering from, or at risk of developing, a mental health condition.

The fundraising efforts of Royal Mail’s 140,000 staff meant we reached thousands of young people.

Royal Mail also offered pro bono support, collaborated on campaigning for better youth mental health, and donated Apprenticeship Levy Funding which was used used to fund training and apprenticeship programmes for Action for Children staff.

Lin Heinemann, Head of CR & Community Investment, Royal Mail Group said: "Mental ill-health is one of the most serious and challenging health issues facing us today. I am proud that Royal Mail are partnering with Action for Children, working together to help prevent young people from developing depression and other mental health problems."