Latest corporate partnerships: companies supporting charities in December 2020
Helen Packer | 15 December 2020 | News
From data skills to pizza and peanut butter, companies across the UK are continuing to find creative ways to support charities. Here’s a snapshot of what’s been happening this month.
CareTech Foundation, Hallmark Care Homes Foundation and The Open University
CareTech Charitable Foundation and Hallmark Care Homes Foundation have joined forces with The Open University to help fund the Carers Scholarships Fund. This initiative supports unpaid carers by providing access to free Open University education and careers support.
The Open University Fund will provide the equivalent of 50 undergraduate and postgraduate full fee-waiver scholarships a year to unpaid carers.The first group of 50 scholarship recipients began studying with The Open University in October 2020, with at least 15 of these places ‘ring-fenced’ for young carers aged 18-25. Young adult carers (aged 18-25) have lower GCSE attainment and are twice as likely as their peers to not be in employment, education or training for six months or more.
Advertisement
Franco Manca
For every pizza bought between 14 and 16 December, Franco Manca are donating one to those in need this winter. The pizza chain is also opening selected chains on Christmas Day to provide a free collection service to anyone who is unable to enjoy a festive dinner in comfort, and turning surplus dough into bread for food banks and soup kitchens.
If you know an organisation that would benefit from a pizza donation, you can nominate it using this form.
ScottishPower
ScottishPower employees have chosen three charities to receive £50,000 each. The selected organisations are Age UK, Cash for Kids and Social Bite.
Melanie Hill, Director, Social Projects and Sector Education, at ScottishPower said: “It’s hard to understate how tough this year has been for charities and we wanted to do something to help. Our normal fundraising events are so important to us, not just because they raise funds for charities close to our employee’s hearts, they also help bring our employees together and light up the offices. We wanted to provide a little bit of that joy this Christmas by providing a donation our employees can be proud of to three charities close to their hearts.”
Whole Earth
Whole Earth has launched a new digital and packaging campaign to boost their partnership with Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS). The peanut butter brand is adding the SOS logo to Whole Earth jars from December. They’ve also pledged to plant 20,000 trees in part of the Leaser Ecosystem in Sumatra, the only place in the world where orangutans, tigers, elephants, and rhinos all live together.
Helen Buckland, Director of Sumatran Orangutan Society said:
“It’s incredible to see how quickly a forest grows in Sumatra – within just a few years, Whole Earth and its customers will have created a new home for wild orangutans.”
The Invesco Cares Foundation
The Invesco Cares Foundation has donated over £560,000 to a variety of organisations since the beginning of April 2020. As Charity of the Year, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) has received a record-breaking sum of over £223,500 from The Invesco Cares Foundation.
Employees’ fundraising activities included a virtual triathlon, a salary sacrifice scheme and Invesco’s Christmas donation inspired by the #XmasPartyHeroes campaign. Invesco will continue the Charity of the Year partnership with CALM in 2021.
Hedges Direct
During December, Hedges Direct, suppliers of hedging and garden plants, will be donating 10% from every online order placed to Cancer Research UK to support the charity after the overwhelmingly tough year it has faced. Hedges Direct’s customers will be updated in January with the total amount raised and donated to the charity.
Comparethemarket.com
Data experts at comparethemarket.com used their company volunteering day to remotely donate time and expertise to six charities seeking to enhance their data skills. These included: The Charlie Gard Foundation, 4Louis, and Kidney Research UK. The insurance comparison site’s Data4Good initiative aims to help charities leverage data more effectively by offering both bespoke and general training.
Hovis
Hovis has partnered with FareShare to donate 250,000 loaves of bread in 2020 to families living in food poverty. Hovis is also a member of Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Taskforce and has committed to continue finding ways to support those living in food poverty throughout 2021.
Pete Hill, Hovis HR Director stated:
“We’re very proud of the work we are doing with FareShare and the Taskforce to tackle poverty and provide food to those who need it most. We are committed to supporting FareShare as much as possible and will continue to do so. I would like to thank our teams across all Hovis sites and FareShare centres who have been working so hard to make this possible. Together we hope to be able to build our network of 1,238 charities which have received donations of Hovis bread across the UK.”
Love Home Swap
Employees at the global home-swapping platform Love Home Swap have voted to support the Albert Kennedy Trust as their chosen charity partner. The Albert Kennedy Trust is voluntary organisation based in England that supports those aged 16-25 in the LGBTQ+ community who are experiencing homelessness or other housing challenges.
Over the next year the employees of Love Home Swap aim to fundraise through activities such as bake sales, pub quizzes, auctions and sweepstakes and individual fitness challenges.
ICAP
esterday, market infrastructure provider ICAP held their highly anticipated Charity Day virtually. Despite the change in format the event was a success, raising £3.6 million for over 100 charities across the globe. Celebrities including Ant and Dec, Olivia Colman, Roger Daltrey, David Walliams and Amanda Holden joined the event via online channels to support ICAP brokers throughout the day.
Since it began, ICAP Charity Day has raised over £150 million, and supported around 2,600 charitable projects around the world.
About Helen Packer
Helen Packer has a background in communications, digital marketing and branding, specialising in the not-for-profit sector. She is particularly interested in international development, human rights and foreign policy. Helen is currently completing an MA in International Journalism at City, University of London. Contact: [email protected].