# Leeds Building Society doubles volunteering time for staff

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/06/21/leeds-building-society-doubles-volunteering-time-staff/
- Published: 2018-06-21T15:09:12+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**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.

 

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## From seven to 14 hours

To date the [Society’s volunteering programme](http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/your-society/community/volunteering/)
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](https://twitter.com/LeedsBS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> are doing for [@CanalRiverTrust](https://twitter.com/CanalRiverTrust?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> today with a spot of painting on the [#Leeds](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Leeds?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> canal outside our offices. We thought they deserved a well-earned brew and biscuit!
> [#NationalVolunteerWeek](https://twitter.com/hashtag/NationalVolunteerWeek?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/DVQG87eU64](https://t.co/DVQG87eU64)
> — The Works Recruitment (@worksrec) [June 6, 2018](https://twitter.com/worksrec/status/1004367761898901505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

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](https://twitter.com/samaritans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> in the first 3 months of our charity partnership. 💚
> We're helping them to be there when it matters > [https://t.co/zXwJ32hBGH](https://t.co/zXwJ32hBGH)
> [#charitytuesday](https://twitter.com/hashtag/charitytuesday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/M02Prl8iHi](https://t.co/M02Prl8iHi)
> — Leeds Building Society (@LeedsBS) [June 19, 2018](https://twitter.com/LeedsBS/status/1009094621941682177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

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