On Thursday 17 January 2025, we sponsored the Civil Society Covenant at the Science Museum, to explore how Government, civil society and the impact economy can achieve more in partnership. Read Matt's opening speech in full.
18 July 2025
Good morning. And welcome to this special event exploring how Government, civil society and the impact economy can achieve more in partnership together.
My name is Matt Hyde and I am Chief Executive of the Lloyds Bank Foundation and we are proud to be partnering with the Government on today’s event. And it’s my job to help guide you through what I think is going to be a truly historic day for those of us who believe in the importance of systems change - with an unprecedented line up of senior speakers.
I’ve been asked why we are supporting today, so let me tell you.
For forty years the Lloyds Bank Foundation, which is funded from the profits of Lloyds Banking Group, has invested nearly a billion pounds in real terms in over 45,000 charities in England and Wales.
And the reason why we are sponsoring today’s event is because of our belief in the power of civil society in all its glory – charities, social enterprises and community-led solutions.
Civil society organisations change, and save, people’s lives. They bring people together across divides. They give hope and joy.
And today we’re joined by exemplars from civil society, who are leading that transformative, essential work on the ground.
Our Chief Executive, Matt Hyde shaking hands with Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister
People like Benaifer Bhandari, the CEO of Hopscotch Women’s Centre, which has saved the lives of women and children by helping them escape abuse, in no less than 27 languages. People like Brian Dow at Mental Health UK, whose organisation every day is providing pathways out to people who don't think they can go on. People like Lisa Stepanovic of Social Ark who is giving talented young people a chance to build their own social businesses.
Three disparate organisations, three different focuses. But two phenomenal qualities in common – their ability to build strong relationships and harness trust.
Local community-led organisations reach parts of society that others simply cannot do as successfully.
I have seen this throughout my life – from growing up above a small family business on a Fenland high street that was run like a social enterprise, where service, volunteering and fundraising were fundamental values. I have seen the immense contribution of people giving their time to support young people as CEO of the Scouts and also as Co-Founder of the Big Help Out. And I’ve seen the extraordinary impact of dozens of small, vital community organisations reaching diverse communities in my current role.
Relationships and trust. It’s what makes this sector so special – and is part of what Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist at the Bank of England, calculates is our sector’s £200 billion value to the economy.
But I have also seen that the full power of civil society can only be unlocked if it works as part of a system - where the state and purpose-driven business work in partnership with community organisations.
As a funder sitting at the nexus of civil society, funded by the UK’s largest retail bank with 27 million customers, but with strong relationships with Government, we live this. And it is due to this unique vantage point that Lloyds Bank Foundation were so keen to support today.
We now embark on our next 40 years as a Foundation with a renewed purpose to connect and catalyse community-led change and we want to ensure that everyone in our country is in a good place – that they are personally in a good place, that they live in a good place that they can call home and that they also live in a community they can call a good place to belong.
Now, with that in mind I wanted to say three things to tee up the rest of the day.
Firstly, on the Covenant itself, which I’m delighted has launched today and which you’ll hear more about shortly.
There will be some who won’t agree with every word of the Covenant, or who may have wanted the document to have gone further. I would simply say - let’s not let perfection be the enemy of the good.
A covenant sets out principles. It’s a commitment to partnership and a launchpad. It lays the foundations we can all build upon.
So my own view would be, we should all ask ourselves, having laid these foundations, what can we now build together?
So let me move onto my second point: why today matters.
We are at an inflection point as a country. If we combine 17 years of limited economic growth with an aging population, then no matter your fiscal rules, you have immense constraints on public sector spending. Put that in the context of our society: we’ve seen loss of faith in orthodox party politics, a loss of trust, a loss of hope that things can get better for current generations and even less hope that it will for future ones.
Against that backdrop, it is my belief that there is an imbalance between the state, the market and civil society. That if we carry on as we are, we will not meet the moment either now or in the decades to come – unless we embrace the prize on offer today - where effective partnership cross-sector working can realise the full potential of civil society – to drive further health creation, skills development and economic growth.
Take health. As I’m sure you’ll hear from the Secretary of State later, the NHS is pushing towards half of all state spending. We have to shift care from hospitals to local communities, embracing a neighbourhood health service. But that can only be done sustainably if we unleash the power of community organisations, social enterprises, and specialist charities of all sizes, as well as by encouraging acts of kindness, such as volunteering, to reduce loneliness and support long term care needs.
The market can’t reach all corners, and the state’s firepower is constrained. No single organisation or sector can solve these challenges. But our communities are filled with hopeful, determined, resilient people making the lives of their neighbours better.
Remember what we saw in covid. A nation of neighbours supporting each other. With businesses enabling volunteering, the state partnering with community leaders and mutual aid groups. As a country we showed the best version of ourselves. That gives us a template for what an unbridled civil society could look like. And that is the prize on offer today.
I know how tough it is for many organisations in the room, but that’s why we can’t tinker around the edges, which brings me on to my last point.
While recognising the constraint on the public purse, we need a new approach to public sector delivery with an improved commissioning environment. This is not about saving or protecting charities for their own sake but about delivering the best possible outcomes for the people we all serve.
That also means embracing new forms of financing, hence why the work on the impact economy is so important – driving sustainable solutions and resilience by embracing innovation and turbocharging philanthropy.
Now is the moment to invest in this new way of working. Empowering our neighbourhoods and communities. Using the underpinning of the covenant to its fullest. Undertaking a concerted effort to recover trust in democracy and deliver economic growth, in partnership.
We can’t waste this opportunity. Today is the start of ensuring a stronger civil society plays a more profound and consistent role in our country, for everyone’s benefit.
This is the positive vision of the future I think we should seek – a nation of neighbours where people are in a good place and supported by a strong civil society.
We’re here to play our part to make that happen as a Foundation and I know the Government is also - which is why it’s such a pleasure to welcome to the stage the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy.
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