5 Million Futures: Driving positive change, creating better futures

We believe that education and skills lay the foundation for opportunity and progress

Since 2016, Deloitte has been on a mission to create better futures – mobilising our people to drive positive change through volunteering, fundraising and pro bono work.

Through our 5 Million Futures programme, we partner with schools and charities across the UK who share our goals, working together to overcome barriers to education, skills and employment.  

We focus our investment where we can make an impact that really matters. Working with over 80 charity partners, we are strengthening school leadership teams, we are building digital skills to help people thrive in a virtual world, and we are empowering underrepresented groups to access the world of work.   

Since we have launched, our work has made a positive difference to almost 3 million futures. These are the stories of our impact over the last year. 

Building digital skills to bridge the digital divide

When was the last time you didn’t rely on the internet? Whilst we are living in an increasingly virtual world, there are 5 million people across the UK who don’t have access to the skills and technology they need to navigate the digital world.

Mohammad’s story: After fleeing war and emigrating to the UK with his wife and children, Mohammad initially struggled to find his place in society. Through Refugee Action he was given a repurposed Deloitte laptop which not only enabled him to find a job but transformed the lives of his whole family.  

“When I left Afghanistan, the only thing I could take with me was my life. It was tough to manage; four of us had one phone to connect to the digital world. You need a better device like a laptop to join online courses. The other problem was job hunting; it was almost impossible without a digital device.”  

Last year we donated almost 4,000 repurposed laptops to schools and charities, helping many others like Mohammad secure better futures.   

To further our work on digital inclusion, we provided the UK’s leading disability equality charity, Scope, with free access to our internal Generative AI platform ‘PairD’, sharing the power of technology to help make AI more inclusive and accessible.  

We worked with our partner charity, CAST, to deliver Deloitte Digital Connect, a six-month programme that enabled 30 charities to scale their impact through technology which included pairing the participants to Deloitte mentors who are experts in their field.  

We are also raising awareness and informing policy working through our charitable relationships. We’ve supported FutureDotNow and a coalition of industry leaders, to formulate a nationwide action plan focused on closing the essential digital skills gap for working-age adults.