So, we’d like to take this opportunity to delve deeper into all the amazing things our people have done and the difference we’ve made through the initiatives we’ve been working on over the last year.
Supporting a greener future
Sometimes, when companies pay dividends, they go unclaimed by a small number of shareholders. Despite our best efforts to track those shareholders down, some unclaimed dividends remained. We wanted to put them to good use, so RSA launched a dividend forfeiture programme to distribute these funds to charities, community interest companies (CICs) and community organisations in line with our climate and education goals.
We were able to grant £295,000 to support 43 grassroots organisations and schools actively working on projects tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions. One of the beneficiaries, Guildford Living Lab, has used our £10,000 grant to fund their Heat Cool project at the University of Surrey. The Heat Cool project involves educating children in Guildford on the adverse impact of local heat sources, climate change and the importance of control measures via blinds, air conditioning and fans. This vital project helps raise awareness of the impacts of climate change while encouraging people to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.
We’re pleased that we have been able to distribute the unclaimed dividends, on top of our existing charity grant schemes which we run each year. Through this, we estimate that we’ve been able to support 47,561 people in need.