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Community Investment and Corporate Citizenship

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Background 

At Bentley Motors, community investment and corporate citizenship are key elements of our sustainability approach under our Beyond100 strategy.

We have a rich history of supporting our local communities particularly around our heartland in Crewe and the surrounding Cheshire area. Some examples of our work to date include:

  • Founding member of the Cheshire Community Foundation (CCF) in 2012. Over the last ten years we have distributed through our Bentley Fund nearly one million pounds of support through CCF to our local communities in and around Crewe.
  • Founding member of the Crewe University Technical College in 2016, supporting the £10.6m investment and maintaining support with the curriculum and governance ever since.
  • Bentley Advancing Life Chances Fund (partnered with CCF). In 2022 we developed our Advancing Life Chances strategy to ensure our programmes support and reach parts of society most in need. Consequently we developed the Bentley Advancing Life Chances Crewe Fund which has seen us support 20 projects under our four focus pillars since its creation. Supporting over 10,000 people in Crewe in the first two rounds.
  • Bentley Crisis Fund (supported through the Bentley Forever Crewe Endowment Fund). Bentley’s first ever endowment fund was set up through CCF in 2023 and it is an invested fund which generates income to be used for grant making. The initial project funds have been used to set up a Crisis Fund with five local charities.

Please see our Sustainability Report for more detailed information on our Community Investment work here. 

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BENTLEY ADVANCING LIFE CHANCES SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME

Advancing Life Chances

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Our Approach

Bentley has developed its Advancing Life Chances strategy which aims to support people and planet to thrive.

From unequal access to services and opportunities to progress in life, to the environmental challenges we all face as society locally and globally to protect and restore our natural capital for future generations, there are countless issues affecting people’s lives in many ways and dimensions, especially those from vulnerable groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.

Conscious of our role and responsibility to society, Bentley wants to put its knowledge and resources to contribute to positive change at both local and systemic levels.

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Strategy Development

To ensure we target and support the most pressing social issues, we have conducted a social audit partnering with the Charities Aid Foundation. This strategy review has involved many stakeholders including our board, colleagues, local council, local and national partners and community groups. This has identified and synthesised a range of salient social issues and challenges both locally and nationally. The launch of our new Advancing Life Chances Strategy is a milestone that reaffirms and renews our commitment to community investment and corporate citizenship, recognising the opportunity to drive positive change in communities both locally and around the world.

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Our Focus

In working to advance life chances, our priority is to support organisations working with vulnerable people, disadvantaged and under-represented communities. The programme’s areas of focus are below:

  • Access - Remove the barriers and improve access to services, education and employability.
  • Empowerment - Development of the life skills that enable people to be more self-confident, successful and thrive in life.
  • Quality of Life - Provide support to live a healthier life both physically and mentally.
  • Better Future - Safeguarding the environment, improving nature-deprived areas, drive improvement to “place” and boosting community spirit.

These four pillars bring the Advancing Life Chances strategy to life and guide our decision-making on the programmes and projects we support. Through these we aim to contribute to tackling the most pressing social issues affecting people and communities.

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