The Lord Mayor’s Appeal brought hundreds of Square Mile businesses together for City Giving Day 2026, an annual initiative led with Lady Mayor Susan Langley DBE to celebrate corporate support for communities. Companies including Sompo International, Linklaters, Janus Henderson and Lloyds Banking Group took part alongside City businesses, Liveries and other City of London organisations. Activities ranged from a digital hackathon and legal challenge to a CPR world record attempt, while more than 50 corporate teams competed in a Watt bike challenge. City Giving Day has raised more than £1.28 million for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal to date.

The occasion offered a visible demonstration of how the City’s professional community can direct time, skills and connections towards charitable work. It also comes as The Lord Mayor’s Appeal turns its attention to young Londoners who are not in education, employment or training, known as NEET.

A Citywide Programme Of Giving

City Giving Day invited organisations across the Square Mile to make their contribution through fundraising, volunteering, mentoring and community partnerships. The programme provided companies with a shared platform to celebrate colleagues’ involvement while showing clients and partners that purpose can sit alongside commercial performance.

Participating organisations staged their own activities, including a digital hackathon, a legal challenge and a CPR world record attempt with Central London Alliance. The varied programme reflected the range of resources available across the City, from professional expertise to practical volunteering and team fundraising.

For The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, City Giving Day is designed to make community action accessible to organisations of different sizes and across different sectors. Its cumulative fundraising total of more than £1.28 million illustrates the contribution the annual initiative has made since its introduction.

Challenges Across The Square Mile

The Lord Mayor’s Appeal’s programme included Tour de City, which saw more than 50 teams from City businesses take part in a Watt bike challenge outside The Leadenhall Building. The organisation also arranged City Walks, guided by City of London experts and taking participants through lesser-known parts of the capital’s financial district.

Corporate teams also took part in a Treasure Hunt across the Square Mile, solving clues after the event was launched by Lady Mayor Susan Langley DBE at Mansion House. Together, the activities gave businesses a practical way to participate while bringing colleagues together outside their usual workplace settings.

The day’s format positioned giving as more than a financial contribution. It created opportunities for firms to put people, expertise, ideas and networks into action, an approach that is particularly relevant for programmes connecting young people with work-related opportunities.

Supporting Young Londoners

The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is focusing on the estimated one million young people who are not in education, employment or training. Its work brings together charities tackling different parts of that challenge, including prevention, employability skills, barriers to work and access to opportunities.

The Appeal also works with its business and livery supporters to coordinate programmes intended to give young Londoners access to opportunities across the City. This focus gives City Giving Day a clear social purpose beyond the events themselves, connecting corporate participation with employment prospects, skills and confidence.

David Johnston OBE, Chief Executive at The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, said:

“Thanks to everyone who made City Giving Day 2026 such a huge success. It is one of the most visible demonstrations of the City coming together to make a difference and shows that giving is not simply about writing a cheque – it is about donating time, skills, ideas, connections and opportunities. That is particularly important as The Lord Mayor’s Appeal begins its new focus on tackling London’s NEET challenge. We want to harness the extraordinary resources of the City to help young Londoners build the confidence, skills and experience they need to access employment. Today, people saw that spirit of collaboration first-hand.”

Collective Action In The City

City Giving Day’s combination of challenge events, workplace initiatives and community engagement showed the value of convening businesses around a common purpose. By bringing companies, Liveries and City organisations into the same programme, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal has created an established annual moment for the Square Mile to demonstrate social commitment.

The initiative’s next chapter will be shaped by its NEET focus, with business participation set to provide routes to skills, experience and employment opportunities for young Londoners. That ambition places the City’s resources in direct support of a pressing social issue while retaining the collaborative spirit that has made City Giving Day a recognised fixture in the calendar.

Lady Mayor Dame Susan Langley DBE stated:

“When the City unites behind a common purpose, our collective impact can be extraordinary.”