Why Partner with Chapter One?

✅ We help you win more business

For businesses, social value is no longer optional. It's a requirement for all public sector contracts, a key factor in procurement decisions, and increasingly important for attracting talent and building brand trust.

Social value is the wider benefit your organisation creates for society and the economy - beyond your core business activities. It's about demonstrating the positive difference you make to communities, measured in tangible, quantifiable terms.

According to our partner Social Value Portal, winning at social value with clear reporting and robust validation can double your chances of winning a tender. Chapter One provides the evidence-based approach you need to stand out from competitors.

✅ Award-winning, risk-free technology

Chapter One won the Enabling Technology Award at the Social Value Awards 2024. Our platform eliminates the common risks of volunteer programmes - no failed technology, no dropped communications, no volunteers falling away and real-time data. We provide phenomenal support that ensures sessions run smoothly.

✅ Real-time impact you can trust

Chapter One provides comprehensive measurement that meets procurement requirements:

• Real-time reporting on volunteering hours throughout the year

• Monthly impact updates showing tangible progress

• End-of-year comprehensive reports with detailed reading progress, pupil premium and demographic data

• Robust evaluation using recognised frameworks across schools and regions

✅ Guaranteed social value delivery

Using the National Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) Framework - the UK's leading social value measurement standard - our corporate partners delivered over £1.62m of quantifiable social value through Chapter One in 2024-25 alone (a 27% increase on 2023-24).

✅ Targeted, place-based support

We support primary schools in areas of deprivation across the UK. All of our schools have over 25.7% of children eligible for Free School Meals when they join us and many have a high proportion of children with English as an Additional Language. Chapter One’s Online Reading Volunteers Programme is now running in schools in Bradford, Birmingham, Doncaster, Edinburgh, East Sussex, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Peterborough and West Cumbria. We are also excited to be launching in Warrington in January 2026. As the sessions are online, your volunteers can be located anywhere in the UK, reading with children in one of these locations.

✅ Supports UN Sustainable Development Goals

Many of our partners have committed to the UN Global Compact, aligning their social impact with key Sustainable Development Goals. Our reading programme directly supports SDG4 - Quality Education, helping companies make a tangible difference in children's lives whilst contributing to global development objectives.

✅ The social value of literacy

A 2024 report by Pro Bono Economics, commissioned by KPMG in association with the National Literacy Trust, found that insufficient literacy skills support for children early on will generate economic costs of around £830m over the lifetimes of each year group of under-fives, or £7,800 per child on average. Read more about the evidence base for our work.

✅ Aligned with National Year of Reading 2026

Chapter One is a partner organisation of the National Year of Reading 2026 - a bold, society-wide campaign to tackle the literacy crisis. With only one in three children now enjoying reading (the lowest level since 2005), this represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a transformative impact. A partnership with Chapter One positions you at the forefront of this national priority, demonstrates alignment with government policy and societal challenges and provides compelling narrative for stakeholder engagement and public relations.

Join industry leaders making an impact

Over 175 leading organisations trust Chapter One to deliver their social value commitments across every major sector. Our 85% partner retention rate proves the lasting value we deliver.

Construction & Infrastructure: Amentum, Balfour Beatty, Bouygues, Sir Robert McAlpine, Kier, Turner & Townsend, Sellafield, Southern Water

Government & Public Sector: NHS Property Services, Keighley Council

Financial services: JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity International, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price

Technology: Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Salesforce

Professional services: Deloitte, KPMG, CMS, Ashurst, BDO, A&O Shearman, Slaughter and May

Start making a difference today

Contact our Business Development team to discover how we can help you achieve your social value objectives.

Sarah Taylor, Business Development Manager - sarah.taylor@chapterone.org

Karen Price, Business Development Officer -
karen.price@chapterone.org