Community involvement is high on the agenda for Zurich.  We take our responsibilities seriously and aim to be a good corporate citizen.

We encourage and support our employees to get involved, and since 1981 have donated over £53 million to local, national and overseas communities.  Indeed, we have received recognition from Business in the Community and the Insurance Times for our innovative work.

Zurich's Community Trust, a registered charity, is funded by the business and donations from our people.  It provides the umbrella for all grant giving, sharing of time and expertise and fundraising activity in the UK.

Through our employee involvement programme, we:

• Give over £500,000 each year to over 700 charities.
• Volunteer 46,000 hours from our people.  This includes our annual 'Challenge' event with around 200 challenges, ranging from decorating to day trips and from garden makeovers to BBQs.
• All grants are selected by our people, and there are varied opportunities for employees to fundraise, share their time and skills with charities.

Though our Community Trust Transformation programmes, we:

• Support issues which are often less popular and where we can make a huge impact.  For example, breaking the cycle of generational drug misuse, telephone support to older vulnerable people and our latest programme addresses supporting families where there is a mental health issues.
• Run a programme in Southern India which combines long term funding and skill transfer for our senior managers.
• Choose partners whose projects are innovative, sustainable and which could be replicated elsewhere.
• Fund typically for 3-5 years.