Holly Willoughby, Davina McCall and Amanda Holden were among a string of UK television and film figures who took part in the BGC Group Charity Day in London on Thursday.
The annual event, organised by the financial services firm BGC Group, sees the company donate 100% of its trading revenues and broker commissions for the day to participating charities. Since its inception, Charity Day has raised approximately £220 million globally, and last year contributed more than $12 million to charitable causes worldwide.
This year’s beneficiaries ranged from local and grassroots organisations to national and international charities, including HVH Arts, 20/20 Levels, The Pearl Fund, West Ham United Foundation, Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, The Mayor’s Fund for London, Action Medical Research, Choose Love, Space for Giants and Help For Heroes. The event commemorates colleagues and brokers who died in the 2001 attacks: BGC Group cites 658 friends and colleagues and 61 Eurobrokers employees among those lost.
BGC Group Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer Sean Windeatt said the event grew out of a need to support families affected by the 2001 attacks and has evolved into an annual philanthropic effort. “Every year, BGC Charity Day is both humbling and uplifting,” he said, adding that the firm was “delighted to be supporting 60 charities here in the UK and many more around the world.”
Willoughby, a former This Morning presenter, attended the event alongside McCall and Holden. Photographs from the day show Willoughby in a beige knit and burgundy skirt, McCall in a black tank top and jeans and Holden in a black-and-white pinstripe suit. Other public figures on site included actors Tom Hardy, Lily James, John Fisher and Stephen Mangan, former pop star Louise Redknapp, Princess Beatrice of York, and athletes and presenters such as Montell Douglas, Will Poulter and Maro Itoje. Billie Piper attended wearing a top bearing a “Choose Love” slogan.
BGC Charity Day was first held in 2005, and the firm says the event’s remit has continued to expand. BGC emphasises that the full revenue and commission generated on the day are passed directly to the participating charities. Windeatt thanked the company’s brokers, employees and clients for their roles in making the day possible and for the growing levels of support year on year.
Organisers said the funds raised support a mix of community-focused projects and larger national and international initiatives, covering arts and youth programmes, medical research, refugee and humanitarian relief, wildlife conservation and veterans’ services. The BGC Group and participating brokers have maintained that the model — foregoing commission for a single trading day — amplifies the industry’s charitable contribution and helps direct significant sums to multiple causes.
Attendance by high-profile presenters and performers has become a regular feature of the day, both as volunteers taking calls and as a means of drawing media attention to the charities involved. BGC Group said the 2025 edition continued that tradition, with celebrities and City figures combining to raise funds and awareness for the selected organisations.