Under the company’s India Programme, many Allied Dunbar employees have been able to spend time working with an NGO in southern India. The company has no business interests in India but nevertheless feels that all concerned benefit from the programme.

UK company Allied Dunbar, part of the British American Financial Services (BAFS) Group, has given more than £28 million to charitable causes since the company was founded in 1971. It is now the tenth largest corporate donor in the UK and has built up a strong team which manages its corporate community involvement work in the UK and overseas. This team also promotes and supports involvement in the community by employees and by Allied Dunbar’s self-employed financial advisers.

Since 1981 the 3,500 financial advisers, under the banner of the Allied Dunbar Foundation, have been running their own charitable giving programmes, raising their own money and selecting annual ‘themes’. The 1998–99 theme ‘On the Road’ is geared to assisting people mobility with mobility problems; the intention is to allocate £1 million over two years.

The Staff Charity Fund represents all BAFS Group employees based in the Swindon headquarters. This fund concentrates its work within a 30-mile radius of Swindon and involves staff in fundraising, grant-making and volunteering activities.