FirstGroup chooses Action for Children as £1m charity partner
Howard Lake | 19 December 2017 | News
Staff at transport operator FirstGroup plc have voted for Action for Children to become its next national charity partner. The three-year partnership is expected to be worth around £1 million in donations and gifts in kind.
FirstGroup staff will take part in fundraising for the charity, and the company will donate advertising space to it across the UK transport network.
Action for Children will be the main beneficiary of FirstGroup’s corporate responsibility activities across its UK businesses:
- First Bus
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express.
The partnership will run from 2018 until 2021.
How was the charity of the year chosen?
The process of finding the company’s next UK charity of choice started earlier this year when the names of more than 90 charities were suggested by employees. Those charities were whittled down to four finalists and Action for Children was selected following an all-employee vote.
(l-r) Action for Children CEO Sir Tony Hawkhead with FirstGroup chief executive Tim O’Toole
Tim O’Toole, chief executive of FirstGroup, said: “We received applications from some truly inspirational charities, and thousands of our employees took part in the voting process. We’re looking forward to April next year when we will begin an exciting and productive three-year partnership.”
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Past charity partnerships
The partnership with Action for Children will be the fourth that FirstGroup has adopted. It has supported
- Prostate Cancer UK
- Save The Children
- Macmillan Cancer Support.
FirstGroup is on course to donate more than £1 million in cash, fundraising, and the commercial value of gifts in kind to Prostate Cancer UK, its current charity of choice, before the partnership completes in 2018.
FirstGroup’s financial support has funded the distribution of more than one million Know Your Prostate pocket guides which include details on how to spot the symptoms of prostate cancer.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.