Civic Days and volunteering
Volunteering and local giving emerged as an early focus in our Civic University Partner meetings. Multiple partners across the group were keen to engage with employee volunteering as an area of collective action.
A working group was established to look at this, with partners from across the CUA attending and sharing their knowledge and expertise.
From this, both Goldsmiths and Lewisham Council were able to develop and launch workplace volunteering policies that gave their staff a designated time allocation to volunteer and to support local good causes. Both organisations have been supported in this by other CUA partners, particularly by local giving charity Lewisham Local – which provides vital assistance in coordinating volunteering opportunities and advocating for local giving in our borough.
At Goldsmiths, where staff are given three days a year to volunteer, these days are known as ‘Civic Days’. Following the launch of the Civic Days policy in 2022, a significant number of Goldsmiths staff have used their Civic Days time to volunteer locally, either individually or as teams.
Civic Day: Goldsmiths Estates team Civic Day in Ladywell Fields
Civic days at Ladywell Park
Civic Days across the university
Our Estates team took a Civic Day helping to restore a local nature reserve, whilst our People and Organisational Development (PoD) team have taken days to work at Lewisham Donations Hub. In 2025, staff from across the College helped tidy and restore part of Nunhead Cemetery – an important local ecological and heritage site.
To date, over 800 hours of Goldsmiths staff time have been used for volunteering. This initiative has also helped to imbue a deeper culture of volunteering and local giving at Goldsmiths and deepened our relationship with a number of local charities.