The challenge
When National Gas separated from National Grid, it marked a fresh start — but also meant they had to rebuild their social impact programme from scratch and right-size their programme for their new business — with less budget and minimal resources. The team faced multiple challenges: fewer resources, limited budget, reduced manpower and the need to re-establish their purpose as a newly independent company.
The success of the programme was now rested on just one environmental, social and governance (ESG) analyst, Kiera Pullen. Her mission? Relaunch their giving, volunteering and grantmaking programme in a way that would resonate with employees and be feasible to run with limited internal support in a self-sufficient, employee-focussed way.
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The solution
Choosing the right internal and external partners
- Engage early and broadly: Kiera brought in stakeholders from IT, Finance, Legal and Human Resources early in the process and leaned heavily on Benevity’s Implementation Team.
- Secure executive sponsorship: By engaging the Chief People Officer as a sponsor, the programme gained visibility and prioritisation at the leadership level.
Maximize resources
- Know your partners: Knowing many of their community partners were small, grassroots organizations, they deliberately chose to make the application process simple, inclusive and non-intimidating.
- Make it easy: With Benevity, they built a programme that’s easy to use and fair — enabling a single-form application, collaborative feedback and equitable access for charities of all sizes.
Make it simple
- Rescope and simplify: With fewer resources, the team redesigned a social impact programme that was manageable and scalable, starting with Benevity’s giving and volunteering tools.
- Launch with a bang: A £5 seed donation was offered to each employee during a Valentine’s Day-themed launch. Any unused funds were donated to their corporate charity partner, Barnardo’s, encouraging passive participation.
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The result
National Gas used the grants programme to position itself as a “good neighbour” and a business that cares — reinforcing its identity as a newly independent entity with strong community values. National Gas achieved impressive results within their first year after launching with Benevity:
- 50%+ of employees engaged with the programme by logging into the platform
- 90% of engaged employees donated to a cause
- 57% of frontline (non-office) workers donated, thanks to mobile-friendly access and cause relevance
- Streamlined grantmaking process made funding accessible to small, rural charities
- Employee giving was gamified by department, boosting friendly competition and engagement
- Their LinkedIn posts about social impact received 3x the engagement of their average corporate content
“We knew we wanted a granting process that was as streamlined and easy as possible… to establish ourselves as a good neighbour, a business that cares.” — Kiera Pullen, ESG Analyst, National Gas
