ALONE is a charity supporting older people.

Supporting communities

We're proud to partner with ALONE, the national organisation that helps combat isolation and loneliness in older people living alone. Our teams help with fundraising and volunteer their time, and our organisation matches and donates funds raised by our colleagues.

About ALONE

ALONE is a national charity, established to help older people who live alone. As well as reducing isolation and loneliness, it provides a range of programmes that allow older people to stay safely and securely in their own homes for as long as possible, including:

• Housing with support
• Support co-ordination
• Befriending
• BConnect, which provides training and technology that help people live independently at home 
• Campaigns for Change that support hundreds of older people every week, helping to deal with issues like homelessness, social isolation, deprivation and crisis.

How we help

We choose our charity partners by asking colleagues who they'd like to support, then organising fundraising activities, skill-sharing opportunities and volunteering services that support them.

ALONE benefits from the combined fundraising efforts of our people and our company, as Standard Life matches funds raised by colleagues. Everything we raise goes directly to ALONE's services, helping older people continue to live in their own communities.

Several of our colleagues took part in the organisation's first Donation Day in April 2019. Between them they raised €1,463. Standard Life matched that amount, bringing the total donation to €2,926.

Supporting our communities

We support our communities in a number of ways. Direct fundraising and donations in kind, skill sharing and volunteering our services. We benefit too – our involvement with other organisations gives our people and our company the chance to develop new skills and knowledge that help us grow as an organisation.

We also support our colleagues in their commitments within their personal communities. Our volunteering policy allows paid time off during which our people can continue that valuable work.