City Gateway was setup to link the skills & resources of local businesses into the needs of the surrounding community and corporate social responsibility and volunteering has been at the heart of what we do from the very beginning - we've worked with everyone from small social enterprises to multinational giants.

With bases near both Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf we are on the doorstep of some of the World's most succesful businesses and are proud to say that many of them have chosen to work with us. Our beneficiaries are navigating a difficult path out of deprivation and social exclusion and they benefit hugely from the support of volunteers. Corporate support has helped us greatly expand over the past decade and given those we work with the insight, experience and confidence they need to break out of the negative cycles that hold them back.

Our experience has shown that companies which do get involved with us get a range of business benefits back from the process including staff training, team building and morale boosting - some companies have gone on to employ women and young people from our projects and benefitted from their local knowledge and determination.

There are a wide range that individuals or groups from companies can get involved, some of which are listed below, for more information e-mail Jerry Daykin.

Providing Work Placements:
This is possibly the biggest single way in which you and your staff team can support our service users as they put essential work skills into practice. One or more individuals who have been trained and mentored in Employability Skills by our staff are specially selected to come on work placements at a basic level in your firm. Our apprenticeship schemes (in IT, media, customer service, fitness and sports coaching) have young people in over 20 host firms and we are looking for 100 placements in 2009.

Current supporters include: Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, HSS Hire, Reebok Gym, Allen & Overy
Read more on the Apprenticeships Placement page.

Team Volunteering:
We understand that businesses often prefer to concentrate their charitable enagement around one-off team-building days and we are happy to discuss ways of using these to have a lasting impact on our work. A group of volunteers can provide close personal involvement with our beneficiaries ans are a valuable resource to help tackle large challenges at our centres.

Past opportunities have included group trips to sites across London, gardening & decorating projects, business planning exercises, one-off events and training workshops. We've succesfully linked in with established mass enaggement schemes, worked through mediatory companies and even helped firms pioneer new volunteering policies.

Opportunities for Individual Volunteering:
Volunteering is a powerful tool that enables us to extend the reach of our work far beyond the limitations of our own staff team and also provides valuable new experiences and development opportunities for the individuals involved.

We welcome volunteers across our projects in anything from one off roles or intensive volunteering projects to regularly weekly engagements. We aim to make the best use of the skills & passions individuals have, rather than treating them simply as an extra pair of hands.

Individuals have previously led sessions on our courses, provided staff training & mentoring, helped our core admin & marketing team, helped out at our youth centre and get involved in a wide range of different ways across the organisation.

Supporting our Courses:
Our core training courses are key opportunities where our work most benefits from corporate engagement. Nothing has more impact in helping those we work with aim higher in their own lives than meeting others who've worked their way up and beign treated with respect by senior corporate representatives.

Read more on our supporting our courses page.

Pro Bono Support/Donations:
Financial donations from our corporate supporters allow us to run much-needed programmes that would otherwise not be funded. We have a range of specific sponsorship options and are happy to discuss spending funding in ways that meet your business goals.

Much of our work is only made possible by vital in-kind support from businesses such as yours:

• Capital donations in the past have included: unwanted IT equipment, furniture, stationery and even smart clothing for our trainees to wear.
• We have a range of hospitality needs over the course of a year, from one-off meeting rooms to our high-profile Annual Showcase event.
• Professional services such as legal advice, accountancy, PR and management training are essential to our organisation as we grow but are expensive and draw money away from our core projects.
• Marketing and promotional opportunities and materials help us raise our profile, reach more individuals and expand our impact

Our Corporate & Business Partners Include:
Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Balfour Beatty Carillion, Bank of America, Berryman’s Lace Mawer, Bloomberg, Canary Wharf Group, Chaucer, Credit Suisse, DB Group Services, Denton Wilde Sapte, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young LLP, Finsbury PR, Fuse Jobs, GLL, Goldman Sachs, Google, HSS Hire, IT Insideout, Kilnbridge, Lansons PR, Lewis Silkin, Liquid IT, MLS Business Centres, Reebok Sports Club, Reed in Partnership, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street, Thomson Reuters