Beyond the Cheque: Is Ordnance Survey’s New Partnership a Blueprint for the UK Charity Sector?

by Jasper Maddox · 22/10/2025

For the modern UK charity, corporate partnerships are a critical yet notoriously challenging aspect of the funding and impact landscape. As research from New Philanthropy Capital highlights, an estimated 41% of charities expect to increase their engagement with the private sector, aiming to move beyond simple financial transactions toward more sustainable and impactful alliances. Against this backdrop, an opportunity has emerged that demands the sector’s attention. The Ordnance Survey (OS), Great Britain’s national mapping service, is seeking a new national charity partner for the period 2026-2028. More than just a fundraising call, the proposition appears to move beyond a traditional, transactional relationship, offering a blueprint for a deeper, more strategic collaboration focused on one of society’s most pressing issues. This is an opportunity to innovate, to think creatively, and to inspire change.

A Strategic Alliance on Digital Inclusion

A close reading of the OS partnership call reveals a carefully targeted and multifaceted offer that goes far beyond simple fundraising. OS is looking for a UK-wide registered charity, CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), or CIC (Community Interest Company) for a two-year term, with the potential for a one-year extension.

The central mission of the partnership is clear and specific: to tackle digital exclusion in education. To guide this mission, OS has identified four key focus areas where a potential partner could bring its expertise to the table:

Access for underserved communities
Early careers, universities, and academics
STEM education
The use and/or development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Crucially, the support on offer is a comprehensive package designed to leverage the full capacity of the OS organisation. The chosen charity will benefit from:

Dedicated Fundraising: Monthly and annual fundraising initiatives driven by OS’s 1,400 colleagues.
A Skilled Volunteer Workforce: Each of the 1,400 employees is entitled to one volunteer day per year, offering a substantial pool of professional talent.
Access to Specialist Skills: The partnership includes access to OS’s Peer Mentoring Network and its world-leading geospatial expertise.
Practical and Promotional Support: The partner will be able to use OS’s headquarters for meetings and will be promoted across OS’s social media channels.

This integrated approach is deliberately designed to foster a two-way relationship. As OS Chief People Officer, Hazel Hendley, explains, the organisation is seeking genuine co-creation:

That’s the magic of our corporate charity partnership. We don’t know what it is going to look like because the charity we partner with always brings so much to the table. We want to give charities the opportunity to get in touch and educate us about what groups we could support and where our help could be put to most use. This is not just about us helping the charity, but about us learning and growing from the experience as well.

This call for the charity partner to “educate us” signals a desire for an equal footing, a theme powerfully illustrated by the success of OS’s most recent collaboration.

The Precedent: Analysing the Success with Mental Health UK

The recently concluded partnership with Mental Health UK (2023-2025) serves as a crucial case study, demonstrating the potential for tangible, multi-layered impact. The collaboration raised over £35,000 for the charity, but its actual value lay in the integration of OS’s core assets to advance the charity’s mission.

Beyond the financial contributions, OS provided immense strategic value. Key achievements included hosting the route for Mental Health UK’s flagship ‘Glow Walk’ fundraiser on the popular OS Maps app and training its own staff to become mental health champions, embedding the charity’s mission directly within the corporate culture. Perhaps most significantly, OS developed digital maps to visualise the impact and national reach of the charity’s services. This was not simply a CSR activity; it was the deployment of OS’s core business capability to solve a strategic challenge for its charity partner.

The impact of this deep integration was not lost on the charity. Abby Clyndes, Mental Health UK’s Head of Corporate Partnerships, described the collaboration in glowing terms:

Working with OS has been invaluable for Mental Health UK. We’ve raised vital funds for our programmes and services, engaged staff members in essential conversations, and had a great deal of fun along the way. From the very beginning of the partnership, the people of OS have championed our cause without fault, helping us to drive change both in the workplace and within the communities that need our support most.

This successful case study presents a compelling model that stands in stark contrast to the often problematic landscape of corporate-charity relations.

Context is Key: A New Model for Corporate Engagement?

The OS proposition reads less like a standard call for partners and more like a direct response to the systemic failings identified in Vonne’s landmark 2018 report, Building More Impactful Corporate-Charity Partnerships. The report revealed a fundamental misalignment in motivations: 91% of businesses are driven by enhancing brand reputation, while 92% of charities are focused on resource generation. This mismatch often results in superficial engagements that fail to produce a lasting, meaningful impact.

The OS partnership appears designed to counter these common pitfalls. While the Vonne report found that half of charities accept unhelpful “paint and fix” volunteer days to avoid jeopardising funding, OS is offering access to the specialised skills of its 1,400-strong professional workforce. The offer of a two-year term, with the potential for a third, also signals a commitment to sustainable impact over short-term PR wins. This move aligns directly with the report’s recommendations for a more impactful model, specifically demonstrating:

Establishing an equal relationship: Hazel Hendley’s desire for the charity partner to “educate us” directly addresses the power imbalances that often plague grant-giving relationships.
Thinking beyond CSR: The offer extends far beyond a siloed Corporate Social Responsibility team, integrating core business assets like mapping technology, data expertise, and the OS Maps platform.
Designing effective volunteering: By offering skilled, professional support, OS moves beyond the low-impact, unskilled volunteering that charities often find to be a drain on their resources.

This framework represents a significant shift from a simple grant-giving dynamic to a sophisticated, mutually beneficial alliance. It is a partnership built not just on shared values, but on shared assets and a common, clearly defined goal.

The Final Call: What Applicants Need to Know

For charities considering this opportunity, the application process is straightforward. OS has outlined clear and practical eligibility criteria. Applicants must:

Be a registered charity, CIO, or CIC in the UK.
Be independently audited.
Support communities across the UK.
Be independent of state, political party, and religion.

The key dates for the application process are fast approaching. Applications open on 4 November 2025 and will close on 1 December 2025.

The application form will be available on the Ordnance Survey website. For any specific questions, interested parties are encouraged to contact the team directly at businesscentre@os.uk.

Mapping a More Impactful Future

The Ordnance Survey partnership represents a significant opportunity that transcends simple fundraising. It offers a potential blueprint for a truly strategic alliance, where corporate assets are unlocked to tackle a specific social challenge in tandem with an expert partner. The powerful combination of financial support, a large and skilled volunteer base, unique technical expertise, and a clearly defined social mission sets a high standard for corporate engagement in the UK. This partnership will be a litmus test for a new model of corporate engagement. The question for the sector is not just who will win this opportunity, but how many other corporations are prepared to follow OS’s lead in offering their core assets—not just their surplus cash—to drive meaningful social change.