Leeds Building Society doubles volunteering time for staff
Howard Lake | 21 June 2018 | News
Leeds Building Society has doubled the amount of time that staff can now volunteer for good causes from seven to 14 hours a year.
During this month’s Volunteers Week, over 65 people from the Society were involved in volunteering projects. They helped the Canal and River Trust, Skelton Grange Environment Centre (see above picture), St George’s Crypt, Hyde Park Source, Larchfield Care Home and the Woodhouse Community Garden.
From seven to 14 hours
To date the Society’s volunteering programme has offered employees seven hours of paid leave each year to spend in their communities.
In 2017, 50% of staff took up the opportunity to support their local communities, investing 4,700 hours in more than 160 projects up and down the UK.
Now the mutual has doubled that to 14 hours a year, to help staff support its national partnerships with Samaritans and parkrun.
What a great job the team at @LeedsBS are doing for @CanalRiverTrust today with a spot of painting on the #Leeds canal outside our offices. We thought they deserved a well-earned brew and biscuit!#NationalVolunteerWeek pic.twitter.com/DVQG87eU64
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— The Works Recruitment (@worksrec) June 6, 2018
Richard Fearon, Chief Commercial Officer at Leeds Building Society, said that the volunteering was part of the organisation’s Corporate Responsibility strategy.
Of the national partnerships, he said: “These organisations are different in so many ways but share a commonality of being powered by thousands of volunteers. The enormous success of parkrun relies on its dedicated volunteers giving up their time to marshal, time runners and record results. Equally, the commitment of Samaritans volunteers means they are available around the clock, 365 days a year, to help those struggling to cope.
“We’re founded on the principle of people helping people, and volunteering is one of the greatest expressions of this. So, in response to the enthusiasm shown by colleagues and to increase our impact through our partnerships we have doubled the volunteering time available.”
“Volunteers are the bedrock of the charity”
Samaritans CEO Ruth Sutherland said: “Our volunteers are the bedrock of the charity and enable us to offer a free service that runs round the clock, every single day of the day for anyone who is struggling.
“It’s fantastic to see Leeds Building Society recognise the value of volunteering by doubling the volunteering hours available to staff, so they can continue to raise vital funds and awareness of Samaritans.”
Together our members and colleagues have raised over £40,000 for @Samaritans in the first 3 months of our charity partnership. 💚
We're helping them to be there when it matters > https://t.co/zXwJ32hBGH#charitytuesday pic.twitter.com/M02Prl8iHi
— Leeds Building Society (@LeedsBS) June 19, 2018
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.