City Giving Day returns with record CPR challenge and UK expansion plans
Organisers aim to train thousands in lifesaving skills while broadening the campaign's reach across Britain.
City Giving Day will return on 23 September with its most ambitious programme since launching in 2015, headlined by a 48-hour CPR world record relay and plans to extend the initiative beyond the Square Mile for the first time.
The annual event, organised by The Lord Mayor's Appeal in partnership with City AM, has raised £1.28 million for the Appeal since inception. This year's edition introduces a mass CPR training challenge with Central London Alliance, a static cycling competition called Tour de City, and new volunteer roles helping deliver the day itself.
From lunch to lifesaving
Traditional fixtures remain. The Long Long Lunch returns, gathering leading City restaurants for a collaborative dining experience. Voices for Giving will unite workplace choirs. But the CPR World Record Relay Challenge represents a departure: thousands of participants across multiple sites will attempt to set a new benchmark for mass life-support training over two days.
"When the City unites behind a common purpose, our collective impact can be extraordinary,"
Said Lady Mayor Dame Susan Langley at the 2026 launch. The Appeal's broader mission, building a "Better City for All", now explicitly targets UK-wide reach, moving beyond the financial district's boundaries.
Employee engagement as strategic asset
Organisers frame the day as a solution to a persistent corporate challenge: meaningful employee engagement. Collaborative fundraising, volunteering and team challenges are pitched as culture-builders that also satisfy growing stakeholder demand for visible social impact. The new volunteer roles, helping run the event itself, deepen participation beyond cheque-writing.
For companies navigating procurement rules that now weight social value heavily, participation offers documented community investment. Andy Burnham's push to overhaul UK social value procurement rules, currently underway, may make such evidence more valuable still.
What comes next
Registration is open for businesses of any size or sector. The Appeal will track aggregate funds raised, volunteer hours logged and CPR trainees certified, metrics designed to demonstrate collective impact to clients, investors and future talent. Success in the world record attempt would generate publicity far beyond the City's usual audience, potentially accelerating the national rollout planned for 2027 and beyond.
