In 2017, our social investment increased to £20.4 million (2016: £19.5 million), equivalent to 0.97% of reported profits before tax (2017: 1.03%). Cash donations to charities stood at £7.7 million and our pro bono work – based on fees the organisations would have paid for our work if we had charged commercially – was worth £12.7 million. The value of our social investment (pro bono work and charitable donations) increased by 5% on the previous year.
Free media space negotiated by our companies was worth £29 million in 2017 (2016: £22.8 million) bringing our total social contribution to £49.4 million (2016: £42.3 million).
Social impact
Our support helps NGOs and charities to carry out important work in areas such as improving health and education, and protecting human rights. We have conducted research to understand the value of this impact to society. This shows that our pro bono work and charitable donations generated social benefits worth around £165 million in 2017, (2016: £156 million) for example, by helping to improve health and well-being in communities.
Pro bono contributions
£m
WPP companies undertook pro bono work worth £12.7 million in 2017. This is up 1% on 2016.
Charitable contributions
£m
The Group and its companies made cash donations to charities worth £7.7 million in 2017, up 10% on 2016.
Free media space
£m
WPP media agencies negotiated free media space worth £29 million on behalf of pro bono clients, up 27% on 2016.
Pro bono work by sector
%
- Arts 6%
- Education 21%
- Environment 2%
- Health 16%
- Human rights 13%
- Local community 42%
Charitable donations by sector
%
- Arts 3%
- Education 19%
- Environment 1%
- Health 15%
- Human rights 11%
- Local community 51%
Total social contribution
£m
- Free media space
- Charitable donations
- Pro bono
Our total social contribution in 2017 came to £49.4 million, up 17% on 2016.
Volunteering and fundraising
We encourage our people to get involved in our social investment through volunteering and fundraising. This benefits our business by improving team working and engagement. Around 53% of our companies have a formal volunteering policy and 60% organised volunteering activities for their people during 2017.
Recent examples include:
WPP company: m/SIX London
Cause: The Mix
m/SIX shut its office for the day to host an away day with charity, The Mix, which supports people under 25 struggling with issues such as mental illness, money, housing and drugs. Staff from m/SIX and The Mix spent the day together coming up with creative ideas to engage with young people including a gamification app enabling young people to get help with mental health issues in a more informal way.
WPP company: Ogilvy New York
Cause: Food Bank for New York City, the Actors’ Chapel and the Bowery Mission.
Ogilvy New York made 1,320 sandwiches and 100 bagged lunches for the Food Bank for New York City, the Actors’ Chapel and the Bowery Mission
WPP company: GroupM Australia Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane
Cause: UnLtd Charities
On Friday 24th February, all offices across the agency network took time to give back to the local community, delivering over AUS $150,000 for several UnLtd charity partners. Each employee chose a specific charity to support through volunteering or fundraising initiatives. Some of the 17 projects supported included: Be Centre, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Salvation Army Project 614, The Pyjama Foundation, White Lion, Oz Harvest and Youth off the Streets.
WPP company: GroupM Korea
Cause: Bobfor
GroupM Korea, supported Bobfor, serving lunches to homeless and elderly people and others in need of support. During the course of six days, 216 GroupM employees got involved, serving 3,090 meals.
WPP company: MediaCom New York
Cause: Hurricane Relief Day
MediaCom New York ran its ‘Gives Back Day’ to help victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Employees got involved by giving blood and donating items for those impacted by the hurricanes and heard first hand from NGOs involved in the hurricane relief efforts.
WPP company: Burson Cohn & Wolfe Milan
Cause: Cooperativa Sociale Arimo
Cooperativa Sociale Arimo helps children in care and vulnerable teenagers to become socially and economically independent. The Burson Cohn & Wolfe volunteers supported the charity by decorating its library, including creating new graphics for its windows and providing new books and board games.
Common Ground
We launched Common Ground in 2016 – a collaboration between the world’s six biggest advertising and marketing services groups and the United Nations. Together, our aim is to use the power of communication to accelerate progress towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Our focus as WPP is gender equality. More than 26 of our companies have participated so far, developing over 33 projects. Our industry has particular responsibility for identifying and addressing gender-biased stereotypes in the media and for promoting equal opportunities for women and girls. To ensure the longevity of this initiative, we have developed a long term, strategic partnership with UN Women, focusing on collaboration between local UN offices and WPP companies.
Examples of our work for Common Ground and other pro bono campaigns are included in our Pro bono book and the Common Ground website.
Pro bono work by WPP research, PR and media companies
WPP the parent company
Our social investment is largely determined at local level where our operating companies are well placed to identify where our contributions can play a significant role. But WPP, the parent company, also makes donations to organisations working in the areas of education, the arts and young people.
Our senior executives also act as communications advisors to many NGOs and non-profits and WPP, the parent company, provides pro bono support directly to a number of charities.
WPP India CSR Foundation
The WPP India CSR Foundation invested £1.12 million in 2017 to reach over 15,000 children from vulnerable and marginalised communities, supporting education and vocational training projects focusing on English, science and computer programming as well as personal development and life skills such as financial management and job interview techniques. See www.wppindiafoundation.com for more information.