Celebrating our centenary with £100K donation to local charities

We are delighted to be celebrating a milestone 100 years as a mutual during 2023. Our centenary celebrations will include multiple initiatives, events and fundraisers to occur throughout the year, all featuring the number 100.

The largest of our centenary initiatives will see us donate £100,000 to local charities. The majority of the funds will be divided between three main charitable causes, which have already been agreed and will be announced in the coming months.

Furthermore, £15,000 will remain for our Swansea, Carmarthen, and Cowbridge branches to donate to charities related directly to their local communities, which will be decided by the teams at these offices.

This £100,000 donation will be made in addition to the usual annual fundraising for our official staff charity, which we are delighted to name as Maggie’s Swansea for the second year in succession.

Other Society initiatives during 2023 include: 100 days of volunteering, where the Society will encourage our staff to volunteer on local projects; 100 trees planted, planting trees across Wales in collaboration with Stump Up For Trees; and a 100-mile fundraising trek, which will be broken up over a nominated timescale across various locations in South Wales, with the funds raised going to our staff charity.

The centenary celebrations will also include a fundraising gala dinner at Swansea Arena for past and present Society staff members and Non-Executive Directors, along with our partners, supporters and local dignitaries.

Later in the year, we will announce the launch of our Charitable Foundation – a legacy project linked to our 100-year celebration – which will commence at the start of 2024. The aim of the foundation is to enable charities to apply to us directly for support, allowing us to bring focus to charities that might currently be overlooked. The funds will then be awarded by an independent board of trustees.

Alun Williams, our Chief Executive Officer, said:

“2023 is, understandably, a big year for the Society. To be able to celebrate 100 years as a mutual is a tribute to all the Society’s staff, directors and members across the years. Our Society has had to deal with many ups and downs over the last century, but it has weathered all of the storms – financial and otherwise – that have come its way, which makes us all very proud.

"Currently, the Society is seeing a period of sustained growth, with many successful years recently behind us. We have passed many significant milestones, including exceeding £500 million in total assets, and having been named the most profitable building society of our size in the UK – all this while increasing investment, expanding our offering, and continuing our ethos of opening and not closing branches.

“With all that in mind, it is wonderful to be able to reach our centenary on a genuine high and be able to give back to our local communities with this £100,000 donation as well as the myriad of initiatives we have planned for the year. There is more to come, in terms of announcements of our forthcoming centenary celebrations, so keep an eye out for what we have planned and how you might be able to get involved and help us to support our local communities across South Wales and beyond.”