Community investment

Rolls-Royce has a long-standing and successful commitment to support its local communities.

Community investment is an intrinsic part of the way we do business, supporting the Group’s strategy and future success, particularly in the areas of:

• recruitment and retention of employees, especially by investing in the science skills we need;
• employee engagement, by encouraging a sense of loyalty, pride and motivation in our organisation;
• development of professional and personal skills such as teamwork, leadership, adaptability and ethical behaviour; and
• reputation, by building proactive and mutually beneficial relationships in the communities in which we operate.

Each year we aim to ensure that at least 80 per cent of all our community focussed activities fall within these areas.

During 2009, we conducted our sixth global survey of community and sponsorship contributions (Case study: Community foundations), including cash, employee time (Case study: Education liasion activities) and gifts in kind, using the London Benchmarking Group model.

The Group’s total contributions across all these areas amounted to approximately £6.7 million.