Our goal is to have a meaningful, positive and measurable impact on society, the environment and the economy. RBC supports a broad range of community initiatives through donations, sponsorships, environmental initiatives and employee volunteer activities.
At RBC, we are committed to helping young people reach their full potential. Our employees are passionate about volunteering their time and energy to provide support and opportunities - whether it's to help open doors, overcome ill health or disadvantage, or realise their academic, athletic or entrepreneurial ambitions. RBC is here to support young people in creating a more positive future.
RBC's annual Charity Day for the Kids event is a celebration of our commitment to children and youth. Launched in 2015 on our New York trading floor, RBC Charity Day for the Kids spread across North America and to London two years later.
In 2018, the event went global, spanning 23 trading locations and we donated US$3.3 million to 44 youth charities across the regions.
In 2020 and 2021 the event moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing a day of philanthropy and volunteerism celebrations straight to our employees' homes.
In 2022, US$5 million was donated to over 55 youth-focused charities globally, with 14 charities benefitting from a total donation of US$1.3 million in Europe.
RBC Race for the Kids is a global phenomenon with 30+ annual family fun runs around the world. Over 360,000 participants have raised C$83 million for youth charities since 2009.
RBC has been the title sponsor of RBC Race for the Kids in London since 2010. The beautiful surrounds of Hyde Park are now home to this inclusive 5km event which has raised nearly £9 million for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. In 2019, more than 10,000 people took part, making the London Race the largest in the world.
Also in 2019, over 5,000 runners took part in RBC Race for the Kids in Luxembourg raising £295,000 for the Kannerhaus Jean Therapy Centre, and 1,000+ participants took part in the first RBC Race for the Kids in Jersey supporting Mind Jersey.
In 2020 and 2021 RBC Race for the Kids went virtual, and global, with 65,000 participants taking part around the world, collectively raising CAD$16 million for 42 youth-focused charities.
In 2022, RBC Race for the Kids in London returned to Hyde Park for the first time in three years, with 4,600+ participants raising £700k+ for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. Races also took place in Ireland, Luxembourg and France.
Colleagues based at RBC's offices in Frankfurt engage with local charity Die Arche which helps socially disadvantaged children across Germany.
Our support includes sponsorship of the annual 'Sommerfest' where colleagues volunteer to help at the event. The team have also arranged group visits to the zoo, and donated gifts at Christmas to children who use Die Arche's local facilities.
GOSH is RBC's main charity partner in the UK and we have raised and donated more than £4.5 million to date.
The Royal Bank of Canada Neurosciences Unit opened in 2018 and in 2022 we celebrated the opening of Royal Bank of Canada House, a refurbished home away from home providing free accommodation for families with a child in intensive care at GOSH. Our focus now is on supporting the Children's Cancer Centre, the most ambitious capital raising campaign by GOSH in their 171 year history.
RBC supports Ronald McDonald House Charities globally and here in London colleagues have regularly volunteered since 2015. These vital facilities enable families with sick children undergoing treatment to be together in incredibly difficult circumstances.
The RBC London team donate Christmas hampers and toys in addition to raising tens of thousands of pounds through challenge events. They also volunteer directly in the Houses, regularly serving dinner to the families, gardening and decorating the House facilities.
RBC and its employees have raised over £1 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities UK since the partnership began.
We have partnered with UK charity SportsAid since 2014 to help bring young athletes' dreams to life. Each year we sponsor 50 up-and-coming British athletes from disabled and non-disabled disciplines.
RBC colleagues volunteer their time to become 'buddies', offering personal support and encouragement to these sporting stars of the future. We also provide our Team RBC athletes and their parents with workshop sessions where they get to learn valuable skills that will help them progress both as athletes and young people. This partnership emulates RBC's Olympic Athlete and Training Ground programmes in Canada.
SportsAid's patron is Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge.
Sur les bancs de l'école has been RBC's Race charity partner in France since 2020.
Founded in 2008, Sur les bancs de l'école provides a wide range of support to families of children with autism and more broadly Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Colleagues in the Paris office organise pizza parties for the children and their families to come together.
RBC has been supporting Teenage Cancer Trust since 2017 and has donated over £825k to date. Employees regularly volunteer and fundraise for the charity.
Founded in 1976, The Prince's Trust supports thousands of vulnerable young people as they strive to get their lives on track and RBC partners with the charity in the UK, US and Canada.
Locally, we have been supporting The Prince's Trust Enterprise programme since 2019, giving hundreds of young entrepreneurs the guidance and mentoring they need to make their business ventures a success. Colleagues further support these young people through a variety of volunteering opportunities offered by The Trust.
At RBC, we recognize the impact we have on the communities in which we live and work. The RBC Climate Blueprint is our global strategy to accelerate clean economic growth and support our clients in the low-carbon transition..
RBC Tech For Nature brings to life the fifth pillar of our RBC Climate Blueprint. Launched in 2019 by the RBC Foundation as a multi-year commitment, RBC Tech for Nature has brought together more than 125 organisations to protect our natural ecosystem through tech-based community investments totaling over $27 million.
RBC has a longstanding partnership with Thames21 and in 2020 made an RBC Tech for Nature donation to the charity. The donation supported the creation of a new online educational programme for secondary school students that connects them with their local waterway and enables them to develop an understanding of water management issues in London.
RBC is supporting the WWF-UK Walrus from Space project through RBC Tech for Nature. Walrus from Space uses satellite imagery to give scientists a clearer picture of the population of Atlantic and Laptev walrus.
The initiative aims to engage 500,000+ people as citizen scientists to help count the walrus, this contributing towards the understanding of walrus populations and trends, to help support walrus have a healthy future.
Since 2018, RBC and ZSL have worked together to improve the health of London's rivers as a biodiversity-rich ecosystem through innovative technology and conservation programs.
Regular Team RBC volunteer activities, guided by ZSL, help control the levels of discarded single-use plastics that enter the ecosystem of the capital's waterways. In 2019, Team RBCers removed over 6,000 plastic bottles from the River Thames as part of the #OneLess Campaign.
Climate change affects all communities and sectors of the economy. The RBC Climate Blueprint is our strategy to accelerate clean economic growth and support our clients in the low-carbon transition.
Investing in the arts is a long-standing priority at RBC. We believe the arts play an important role in building vibrant communities and strong economies. We support organisations and artists across a range of genres - including music, visual arts, theatre and film - to help enrich our communities, promote cross-cultural exchange of ideas, and develop talent among emerging artists.
Since 2014, RBC has been the Principal Partner of Masterpiece London, the world's leading 'cross-discipline' art fair, offering stunning works of art, furniture, jewellery and design from almost every culture and every period in history.
It is an event that appeals to lovers of art and complete beginners alike and has become the must-attend event for collectors, exhibitors and curators in the art and auction world.
In 2020 and 2021, Masterpiece Online was created an online iteration providing a digital sales platform for its exhibitors, supported by a fantastic online programme of public talks and private events with key figures from the art world.
In addition, as part of RBC's Emerging Artists Project, we have partnered with Masterpiece and Sotheby's Institute of Art to launch an online educational series, Deconstructing the Art World for Emerging Artists. Available from Autumn 2021, the series is designed to provide an introductory level of art market and commercial literacy to support emerging artists as they build their careers.
Starting in Canada in 2007, the RBC Emerging Artists Project is an initiative dedicated to supporting the careers and development of emerging artists, through mentoring programmes, education and exposure to new audiences.
In December 2020, The Old Vic was announced as the first beneficiary outside Canada, with The BRIT School also announced as a beneficiary in January 2021.
Launched in 2021, the RBC Emerging Artists Project in partnership with The BRIT School is a ground-breaking programme that reaches every corner of the School. Together, we support final year projects and events across the performing and creative arts, both live and digital, as the BRIT students fine-tune their craft, develop their skills and prepare for the future.
RBC is the Principal Partner of this iconic, over 200 year old London theatre and our support directly enables more artistic output and varied programming than ever before. Since 2015, we have supported over 30 main stage productions, 18 of which were world premieres with 17 transferring to the West End and Broadway.
In addition, RBC supports Take the Lead, the theatre's free employability programme; Curtain Up, an inclusive community project; Your Old Vic, a free-to-access programme of artistic and educational content; Old Vic: In Camera and In Camera: Playback, a series of socially distanced performances streamed live from the Old Vic stage whilst the theatre is closed; and most recently became Principal Partner of The Old Vic's Emerging Talent Programme, nurturing the theatre makers of tomorrow.
Our partnership also celebrates the theatre's historical Canadian links - the late Canadian businessman and philanthropist Ed Mirvish, who saved the theatre in 1982.
Take the Lead is an innovative scheme that will inspire and equip young people with key skills to unlock their full potential. RBC is committed to promoting and investing in young people's skills for the future and through our partnership with The Old Vic, we can use theatre as a way of building confidence and positive communication skills. Take the Lead is free and open to any students aged between 15 and 18 years old. The Old Vic aims to work with 40 schools and up to 1,000 students each year.
Read MoreAt RBC, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is more than a value, it is core to our Purpose and a fundamental strength of our organization. Our D&I vision is to be among the most inclusive workplaces and successful companies, putting diversity into action to help employees, clients and communities thrive. It’s also a critical component of our overarching focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities, which are integrated throughout our strategy and operations in order to create meaningful value and harness the power of our Purpose.
In practice, bringing RBC’s D&I vision to life involves setting bold commitments – informed by meaningful consultation, measuring and disclosing our progress, and ensuring we remain accountable to our stakeholders. Diversity has been part of RBC’s DNA since our foundation, and our D&I journey is an important part of our 150+ year history.
The values that underpin our approach to diversity and inclusion are rooted in an important, fundamental belief: our differences make us stronger. Everyone connected to our organization – our colleagues, clients, communities and shareholders – brings a unique set of experiences and perspectives to the table, and we are committed to being an organization that consistently brings these strengths to life through our people, products and ideas.
Our culture of inclusivity is what enables us to attract top talent, drive innovation and growth, and provide meaningful, differentiated value for the clients and communities we serve. We also believe that diversity and inclusion is an engine for innovation and economic prosperity, and as Canada’s biggest bank, and a top global financial institution, we are committed to playing a leadership role in accelerating a more inclusive, sustainable and prosperous future.
Our D&I Strategy has served us well, delivering demonstrable results in:
Advancing Diversity to drive growth, development, and workforce representation across all segments
Strengthening Inclusion to support a greater sense of belonging to drive innovation, productivity, well-being, and the retention of top talent
Enabling Economic Inclusion through our products, services and partnerships to strengthen financial resiliency in our broader economy
Click here to read our Enterprise D&I Report.
Find out more at www.rbc.com/diversity-inclusion and visit www.rbc.com/careers to search for your next opportunity.
We are a recognized leader in D&I and aim to continue to earn recognition that strengthens our voice and reputation among key stakeholders.
RBC’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) bring colleagues together and provide a resource to help them develop both personally and professionally. We find that they are a great vehicle for creating a more inclusive, cohesive culture and for connecting with other colleagues, clients and the community. In Europe we are proud to have four very active ERGS:
Women ERGs promote gender diversity and inclusion through advocacy and awareness, community involvement, ongoing education and networking opportunities.
RBC MEA is our Multicultural Employee Alliance that embraces and promotes the inclusion of different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences.
PRIDE helps LGBTQ+ and allied employees thrive and LGBTQ+ communities prosper.
iCare champions the needs of working caregivers such as experienced, new or expeting parents, or those caring for seniors, people who are sick or persons with disabilities. iCare aims to improve the work and family lives of caregivers by sharing experience and knowledge, bringing in outisde expertise and providing a voice for caregivers.
As an organisation, RBC recognizes the importance of physical and mental health, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through charitable donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. We sponsor and host our own participation challenge events and encourage colleagues and clients to test themselves as they raise money for good causes.
RBC became Presenting Partner of this award-winning Half Marathon in London's iconic Royal Parks in 2017.
Established in 2008, the Half is the second largest mass-participation fundraising event in the UK and 200,000+ runners have raised almost £60 million for over 1,200 charities.