The pledge follows the lender’s successful 160th anniversary undertaking to give 160 volunteering days to organisations, raise £160,000 for local causes through activities and events, and use resources to help 160 local organisations.
Members of the building society will have the opportunity to help decide where the money is spent and which organisations and good causes will benefit. The charitable giving will be managed by County Durham Community Foundation.
In the last year Darlington has lent just under £100m through its mortgage business. Of that around 75% is through brokers, and this is expected to rise to around 80% as lending grows in 2017.
Colin Fyfe (pictured), chief executive of Darlington Building Society, said: “The commitment to share 5% of our net profits after tax is Darlington Building Society genuinely putting its money where its mouth is. We are extremely excited to be able to make such a huge commitment to the area.
“Feedback we receive from members, staff, brokers and the local community points to a desire for the Society to make a real difference in the community and to be more tangible about how we do this.
“We already have exclusive deals on mortgages and savings for local people, provide a high quality personal service in our local branches and all our decisions are made locally. This new commitment builds on our ethos of sharing with the local community.”
