Societe Generale

A corporate partner of Shelter

Societe Generale, together with the SG UK Foundation, is generously supporting Shelter for five years (until March 2026), funding our Getting Real Opportunities of Work (GROW) programme.

GROW helps break down barriers to employment by awarding 15-month paid placements to people who have lived through the trauma of poor housing and homelessness: GROW trainees. In their roles, trainees use this lived experience as a tool to tackle the housing emergency and influence design of services. They also support other people affected by housing issues or homelessness to get involved in campaigns, access the support they need to find a safe home and rebuild their own lives.

During our partnership, Societe Generale, together with the SG UK Foundation, will directly support 35 GROW trainees through placements and a further 3,000 people in similar situations through the work our GROW trainees are doing. Fundraising also funds two GROW involvement officers, who support the trainees in their roles, as well as the GROW coordinator, who oversees the programme.

This is thanks to the generous support of Societe Generale staff, company donations and matched funding by the SG UK Foundation.

Corporate volunteering spotlight: Freddie's story

Societe Generale colleague, Freddie, is a GROW Mentor with Shelter. Hear more about Freddie’s experience of volunteering as a mentor.

'As GROW is a project that is funded by Societe Generale, it made sense to take part in the mentoring scheme and provide a space for someone to build their CV, work on interview skills or even just to talk to about how their day-to-day work life is going.

I was matched with Jake, and we hit it off right away. We have a shared passion for Arsenal Football Club and usually kick off our mentoring session with a quick discussion on football! The majority of our conversations, however, are led by what Jake wants to focus on, like courses that he’s undertaking, deadlines he’s managing and developing his CV. It’s also great to hear about the work that Shelter is doing through my mentoring.

Recently, Jake told me that he had been successful in gaining a full-time role at Shelter. I was ecstatic when he told me.

I don’t know if my volunteering has impacted the housing emergency directly, but what I do feel is that through the GROW programme and the mentoring scheme, Shelter now have an amazing colleague in Jake who will do fantastic work in the south west.'

Societe Generale

A corporate partner of Shelter

Corporate volunteering spotlight: Freddie's story

Partner with Shelter