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National Numeracy celebrates City Giving Day with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills

30 Sep 2024

By Sophie Sweatman and Siân Devine, Partnerships Managers 

On Tuesday 24 September, National Numeracy were delighted to celebrate City Giving Day once more.

As part of a collective commitment to create a fair society, City Giving Day is a unique event led by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, uniting businesses in the City of London and beyond to celebrate their philanthropic achievements and showcase the positive impact they can and do have on their local communities, by supporting and partnering with essential charities.  

National Numeracy's Sophie and Sam at City Giving Day launch breakfast

A day to celebrate good causes

Through raising awareness, fundraising and volunteering, an abundance of creative activities took place across London for good causes.  

And in National Numeracy’s final year of partnership with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, we were delighted to get involved with the festivities and even made the front page of London newspaper, City AM!  

Main image above: National Numeracy Partnerships Manager, Sophie Sweatman, and National Numeracy CEO, Sam Sims, at the City Giving Day launch breakfast

Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills host a special roundtable event for City Giving Day

Our partner Bloomberg, supported by our partner Barclays LifeSkills, kindly hosted a unique roundtable event for City Giving Day, where we convened with representative members of the National Numeracy Leadership Council from Bloomberg and Barclays, our CEO Sam Sims and our ambassador Timi Merriman-Johnson. There was also a special appearance from the Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli, himself.  

Together with philanthropic, ESG, and corporate responsibility experts, the group explored the central role numeracy can play in driving employability and breaking down barriers for opportunity, and the ways working in partnership can supercharge UK-wide impact.  

Pictured right: Alex Clifford-Turner, Global Head of Financial Solutions, Knowledge and Product Engagement, Bloomberg, Kate McGoey, Head of Barclays LifeSkills, Lord Mayor, Alderman Michael Mainelli, National Numeracy ambassador Timi Merriman-Johnson, AKA Mr MoneyJar, National Numeracy CEO, Sam Sims

Attendees at City Giving Day roundtable hosted by Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills

What is really going on at the heart of the UK’s numeracy skills?  

  • Over a third of adults in the UK say that they would be put off a job role if it mentioned having to deal with numbers and data, while a fifth believe their lack of confidence has affected career choices and impacted their earnings.  
  • Around half of working-age adults in the country are estimated to have the numeracy level expected of a primary school child. (Pro Bono Economics, 2021).

Incredible fundraising efforts on display at City Giving Day

The day didn’t stop there! The National Numeracy team also got involved with other events taking place for City Giving Day, including:

  • Attending the ‘Opening the Markets’ at the London Stock Exchange with National Numeracy’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, Perdita Fraser, where the Lord Mayor, Michael Mainelli, opened the markets to kick off City Giving Day’s festivities.  
  • Cheering on the incredible efforts of different organisations pedaling for charity at the Tour de City Wattbike challenge. Teams of five were able to register in advance of the event, and each team involved is asked to raise a minimum sponsorship of £500 per team. The live leaderboard encouraged teams to compete in ‘furthest distance cycled by team’ and ‘furthest distance cycled by individual’ which really kept the competitive energy up!  

At National Numeracy, we're incredibly grateful for initiatives like City Giving Day, expertly led by The Lord Mayor's Appeal team, and supported by Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills with a special event for our final year.  

Working together, we can make a difference to the issue of low numeracy, in London and beyond.  

Attendees at City Giving Day roundtable hosted by Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills

A huge thanks to our partners, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills…

 

The Lord Mayor's Appeal  

In 2022 National Numeracy was chosen as a charity partner of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal. Joining together for an initiative called ‘Every Londoner Counts’, the partnership will help Londoners gain the crucial number confidence and skills that will help them thrive, as part of efforts by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal to make London ‘A Better City for All’. 

Every Londoner Counts will aim to improve employability and financial inclusion by supporting thousands of Londoners in greatest need through a network of 500 newly trained Numeracy Champions.  

Bloomberg  

Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration.

Since 2019, Bloomberg has enabled National Numeracy’s educational reach and impact within target communities as a Lead Supporter of the National Numeracy Day campaign, as a founding member of the National Numeracy Leadership Council and through broader events support.

"At Bloomberg, we are committed to giving back to the cities in which we live and work, drawing on the time and talents of our employees. We believe that more inclusive access to data and technology can deliver powerful results for society, which is why we're proud to support National Numeracy to help communities build confidence in numbers and unlock opportunity." - Caroline Rowley, Head of Corporate Philanthropy, Europe   

Barclays LifeSkills  

Since 2022, Barclays LifeSkills and National Numeracy have worked together in partnership, combining expertise to support people in developing their number confidence and skills, both early on and throughout their lives. Barclays LifeSkills are a Lead Supporter of National Numeracy Day and Number Confidence Week and offer crucial perspective and insight as a member of the National Numeracy Leadership Council. Barclays LifeSkills is created with Barclays bank.

“Numeracy is critical in preparing people for work. With low numeracy confidence and maths anxiety disproportionately impacting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, the need for support is more urgent than ever. Barclays LifeSkills is thrilled to be supporting National Numeracy and working with the charity to help people build vital confidence with numbers earlier on in life.” - Kate McGoey, Head of Barclays LifeSkills  

Our partners play a crucial role in tackling low number confidence and skills in the UK. Together, we create positive change for individuals, communities and society through the transformational power of numeracy.  

For more information about partnering with National Numeracy, email: partnerships@nationalnumeracy.org.uk

Attendees at City Giving Day roundtable hosted by Bloomberg and Barclays LifeSkills

Photo credit: Bloomberg photography  

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