Despite growing ESG scrutiny and rising employee expectations, many firms still rely on ad hoc initiatives — a one-off volunteering day here, a charity raffle there. Participation is often limited to the same small group of willing volunteers, and traditional charity engagement rarely fits high-pressure workplaces where time away from the desk is hard to justify. The result: low engagement, overstretched HR teams, and limited long-term impact.
This is a pattern we’ve seen repeatedly — particularly in the finance sector. Firms with a genuine appetite to make a difference, but no clear infrastructure to make it happen.
“The problem isn’t a lack of will. Companies need a partner who understands their pressures, brings charity-sector expertise, and builds trusted relationships with charities from the outset.”
— Slaney Wright, CEO, Raise Your Hands
What Raise Your Hands Partners offers
Raise Your Hands Partners is a fully managed corporate partnerships platform, built specifically for finance SMEs — asset managers, private equity and investment firms — that want to build credible, measurable social impact programmes without it falling on already-stretched internal teams.
Each partnership is bespoke, tailored to the firm’s size, team interests and ESG objectives. We handle everything: charity selection, due diligence, programme design, skills-based volunteering, workplace giving and transparent impact reporting. What we don’t do is hand over a giving platform and leave firms to figure it out themselves.
All charities in our portfolio focus on improving the lives of children and young people across the UK. Every one has undergone a rigorous vetting process — we look for proven impact, strong leadership, and genuine capacity to absorb and deploy corporate support effectively.
Already up and running
Raise Your Hands Partners isn’t a concept — it’s already operational. Our current partners include: Marshall Wace, Stenham Asset Management and Lumyna Investments.
“Their unique platform ensures that every pound we donate goes directly to smaller charities, enabling them to make a real and lasting impact in their communities. Through this partnership, our employees have also had the chance to volunteer and give back in meaningful ways.”
— Neelima Shah, Director of Human Resources, Stenham Asset Management
Why trust and transparency matter more than ever
We’re operating in a tougher giving climate. Donors — whether individuals or companies — are more discerning, and rightly so. People give more confidently when they can see exactly where their support goes and the difference it makes.
Raise Your Hands Partners is built on that principle. Long-term relationships with a small number of carefully chosen charities, combined with transparent impact reporting from day one, means our partners can point to real outcomes — not just participation numbers.
In a world where ESG commitments are increasingly scrutinised, that kind of evidence matters.
About Raise Your Hands Partners We’re a UK-based social impact consultancy working exclusively with finance firms, asset managers, and PE houses to build bespoke corporate giving and volunteering programmes. Since 2015, we’ve directed over £4M to a vetted portfolio of 16 high-impact small charities supporting children and young people across the UK.
If you’d like to explore what this could look like for your team, we’d love to hear from you.
