We're here for our community
Four Colleagues At Pride

Our community impact

At Nottingham Building Society, community isn’t an add-on. It’s part of who we are.

As a mutual, owned by our members, we exist to serve people, not shareholders. That responsibility extends beyond financial products and into the communities where our colleagues live and work.

Since launching our formal community programme in 2011, we’ve donated more than £1.6 million to charities and non-profit organisations supporting people who need it most. But our impact goes far beyond funding alone. Through volunteering, fundraising and long-term partnerships, our colleagues play an active role in creating positive, lasting change.

In 2025, our teams contributed nearly 4,000 hours of volunteering time, with half of colleagues getting involved - our highest level of colleague volunteering time on record and the fourth year in a row in which our colleagues have broken the record set the previous year.

We were also proud to be shortlisted by The Business Desk in the Community Impact Award category during 2025s East Midlands Business of the Year Awards.

Our focus: tackling homelessness and unlocking opportunity

Over the past few years, we’ve sharpened our community strategy to focus where we believe we can make the greatest difference: supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and helping young people build pathways into stable futures.

This focus reflects both the growing need across our communities and our belief that safe housing, opportunity, and security are fundamental to long-term wellbeing.

We work with trusted charity partners to deliver practical support, fund essential services and give people the stability they need to move forward.

382,618

As of December 2025, latest data from Shelter show that 382,618 people are estimated to be homeless in England - 175,000 of which are children. This represents an 8% increase from the previous year.

Emmanuel House

Emmanuel House is the leading Nottingham-based independent charity supporting people who are homeless, rough sleeping, in crisis or at risk of homelessness across the city.

We’re proud to be a long-term partner of Emmanuel House, providing £200,000 of funding over the last three years to support the development of its support centre as well as its seven-bedroom supported accommodation project. This programme helps people move on from homelessness by developing independent living skills, sustaining employment, and transitioning into stable housing.

Our colleagues also support Emmanuel House hands-on, volunteering time throughout the year to help with practical activities such as serving hot meals, preparing accommodation, sorting donations, and supporting the charity’s winter fundraising appeals and services. 

Donate to Emmanuel House
Emmanuel House
Donate to Emmanuel House

Shelter

Shelter is one of the leading national housing and homelessness charity working to defend the right to a safe home.

Our partnership with Shelter supports its Sheffield-based emergency helpline and webchat, which provides critical advice and support to people facing homelessness, poor housing conditions and housing insecurity across the region.

Alongside financial support, our colleagues regularly fundraise for Shelter through challenges and local activities, helping to raise awareness of the scale, and complexity of the housing crisis affecting communities across the UK.

Donate to Shelter
Shelter Logo
Donate to Shelter

ThinkForward

ThinkForward is a charity dedicated to empowering young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through long-term coaching and career support.

We’re proud to support ThinkForward as part of our commitment to tackling inequality at its roots. Through our partnership, we help fund programmes that provide young people with sustained coaching, guidance and mentoring, and access to opportunities, supporting them to stay engaged with education, build confidence, and move into employment. Our colleagues play an active role in the partnership, offering their time as mentors, hosting work insight and experiences, and as advisories through student social action projects.

This partnership reflects our belief that preventing future hardship is just as important as responding to immediate need.

Donate to ThinkForward
Thinkforward
Donate to ThinkForward
Denis Tully, former CEO of Emmanuel House

"Nottingham Building Society makes a real and material contribution to our ability to prevent people becoming homeless and finding accommodation solutions for people who need them."

Polly Neate, CBE, and former CEO of Shelter

“With homelessness levels at an all-time high, Shelter’s work to fight the housing emergency is more important than ever. We couldn’t do this work without the vital support from Nottingham Building Society and their loyal customers.”

Ashley McCaul, CEO of ThinkForward

“We’re grateful for the long-term partnership with Nottingham Building Society, which allows us to provide consistent, tailored support at a critical point in young people’s lives, creating brighter futures and tackling inequity.”

Our commitment to championing inclusivity

During 2025, we reaffirmed our commitment to championing inclusion and community by sponsorship Notts Pride for the second successive year.

However, we took our commitment to inclusivity another step by also becoming lead sponsor of ‘Pride in Belper’ for the first time in 2025.

The announcement comes as the Society also marks two years of its colleague-led Pride Network — a growing and vibrant community of colleagues championing an inclusive culture for the LGBTQIA+ community within the society.

Led by Sue Hayes, the Society’s CEO, and chaired by colleagues from across the organisation, the network, alongside our five other inclusion groups has been instrumental in shaping a more inclusive culture and building awareness both within the Society and across the communities it serves.

Our partnership with the University of Nottingham

We’re proud to partner with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Business School to support the next generation of business leaders and decision-makers.

Through this partnership, we work closely with MBA students across a range of programmes - from Business Practice Weeks and guest lectures, to live company challenges, and summer placement opportunities. Students engage directly with our colleagues and leadership team, gaining insight into how a modern mutual operates and tackling real business challenges that reflect the realities of today’s financial services landscape.

The partnership is a two-way exchange. Students bring fresh thinking, curiosity, and challenge, while our teams offer practical experience, mentoring, and exposure to meaningful work: from customer experience and pricing, to strategy, innovation, and inclusion.

This work reflects our belief that unlocking opportunity starts early, by investing time, expertise, and trust in people who will shape the future of our sector and our communities.

Powered by our people

A defining feature of our community impact is the role our colleagues play.

Across our branch network and head office, colleagues take the lead on supporting not only our charity partners, but the causes that are important to them and they care about, giving their time, skills, and energy. From volunteering days and fundraising events to long-term charity engagement, this local involvement helps ensure our impact is real, visible and rooted in the communities we serve.

Looking ahead

We’re committed to building on the momentum we’ve created. That means continuing to invest in long-term partnerships, responding to emerging community needs, and empowering our colleagues to keep making a difference — locally and nationally.

Because when communities are stronger, everyone benefits.

Nottingham Building Society colleagues at Pride 2025