Leeds Building Society

Thanks to the incredible hard work and generosity of Leeds Building Society’s colleagues and members, Samaritans has been able to invest in future-proofing our service and respond quickly to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed.

Our storybook tells the story of our amazing two-year partnership.

At the outset of the two-year partnership, Leeds Building Society set out to raise £250,000. The funds have been ring-fenced to go towards updating vital IT infrastructure across our local branches, so our volunteers can respond to the increasing number of calls and emails from vulnerable people.

By the end of the charity partnership in March 2020, Leeds Building Society had raised an incredible sum of over £315,000, well exceed their initial target.

It was important for the Society to partner with a charity with a strong national profile, as well as roots in local communities. Samaritans is one of the UK’s most trusted charities, with more than 200 branches and locations across the UK and Ireland and around 22,000 volunteers.

Thanks to this local presence, many of the Society’s branches have linked-up with local Samaritans teams to volunteer their time and raise money in their communities.

Employees across the Society embraced the partnership, including visiting Samaritans branches to see first-hand how our listening service operates. We’ve also benefitted from the Society’s skilled and experienced staff volunteering at our local shops.