Zurich's Executive Committee takes on charities' toughest priorities in 100-hour challenge lab

Zurich UK's Executive Committee, including UK CEO Drazen Jaksic, is stepping away from the boardroom for the day to help Zurich Community Trust (ZCT) charity partners tackle some of their most pressing organisational challenges. The consultancy-style challenge lab is part of ZCT's broader support for its charity partners, connecting them with the skills and expertise of Zurich UK colleagues to help them strengthen their organisations and maximise their impact. Zurich charity challenge lab.

Zurich UK’s Executive Committee will work alongside three of ZCT’s charity partners, Young Lives vs Cancer, Shout and GoodGym, tackling challenges ranging from responsible AI and environmental sustainability to member engagement and income growth.

The programme marks a more flexible, skills-based approach to volunteering, encouraging Zurich's 5,000 UK employees to use the professional expertise they apply every day to help charities tackle strategic challenges and drive meaningful change. Colleagues can already donate up to 24 working hours each year to charitable causes, representing 120,000 hours of potential expertise across the UK business. Rather than simply discussing ideas, this challenge lab is designed to deliver practical recommendations, clear actions and tangible outcomes that the charities can take forward.

Laurie Deans, Head of Zurich Community Trust, comments:

"Through our long-term relationships with charity partners, we understand that support isn't just about funding. Traditional volunteering activities remain an important part of how we support communities, but access to specialist expertise can be equally valuable. Zurich's Executive Committee is contributing 100 hours of senior expertise, equivalent to 13 days of senior of consultancy fees."

During the session, charity leaders present a strategic challenge to Zurich's Executive Committee. Participants then split into smaller cross-functional groups, combining expertise from different disciplines to challenge assumptions, explore solutions and share perspectives drawn from their own experience of leading large, complex organisations. The groups later reconvene to test and refine ideas before developing tangible recommendations and action plans that charities can take away and implement.

Drazen Jaksic, Zurich UK CEO, said:

"Every day at Zurich we help customers and businesses navigate risk, adapt to change and build resilience. This programme gives charities direct access to that expertise through hands-on problem-solving sessions focused on the challenges they're tackling right now.

"What makes the day particularly powerful is bringing together leaders from different disciplines around the same table. By challenging ideas, sharing perspectives and creating practical action plans, we can help charities unlock solutions that might otherwise take months to develop. It's a great example of how business expertise can create meaningful social impact."

David Nichols, Head of Retail at Zurich UK Exec sponsor for the Charitable Engagement Alliance said:

"Charity leaders face many of the same challenges as any business leader. They are making strategic decisions, managing resources and planning for long-term growth. This programme gives them access to a breadth of expertise that can help accelerate progress and shape future plans. “The real measure of success isn't the conversations we have on the day, it's what happens afterwards. Each charity will leave with practical recommendations, clear priorities and an action plan they can put into practice straight away."

Victoria Hornby, CEO Shout comments:

" Access to expertise in AI governance, risk and customer experience will help us challenge our thinking and strengthen the way we develop and evaluate digital mental health tools, so we can help more people."

Bryon Geldard, Partnership Fundraiser at Young Lives vs Cancer comments:

"Reducing our environmental impact while maintaining essential support for families is a complex challenge, and we're looking forward to drawing on Zurich's expertise to identify practical, achievable solutions."

Hannah Crane, CEO GoodGym comments:

"The opportunity to test ideas with leaders from different disciplines will help us explore how we engage new members, support our current members more and strengthen our long-term sustainability."

The programme forms part of Zurich Community Trust's commitment to creating positive social impact by combining financial support with the skills, experience and knowledge of Zurich employees and leaders.