10 firms supporting good causes around the UK
Melanie May | 6 January 2023 | News
From Deloitte donating December’s energy savings to Scope and DEPOT’s support of City Hospice, to the Barratt Foundation’s new three-year partnership with The Outward Bound Trust, here’s a round up of ways firms are supporting good causes around the UK.
Deloitte donates December’s energy savings to Scope
Measures Deloitte is taking to reduce energy consumption – such as reducing the office temperature range across the UK by two degrees Celsius – combined with the firm’s traditional closure of UK offices during the quieter festive period, led to cost savings in December. With disabled people among those the hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis, Deloitte has decided to donate the savings from these measures to its charity partner Scope.
FootActive raises over £1,000 for Cancer Research UK
FootActive has taken its fundraising for Cancer Research UK past the £1,000 mark, following the second year of its sale of excess and resalable returned warehouse stock. Led by Lynne Switzer, Warehouse Supervisor, and Laura-Jane Smith, Packaging Operative, 100% of the proceeds were donated to the charity. After holding three events over the course of 2022, the pair have raised another £499.50 for Cancer Research UK, after raising £553.50 in 2021, the first year of the initiative. The company will continue to raise funds for the charity during 2023, with its next excess stock sale being held in Spring.
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DEPOT chooses City Hospice as 2023 charity of the year
Cardiff venue DEPOT has chosen City Hospice as its charity of the year for 2023 and will be supporting it through a number of events. The funds raised by DEPOT during the year will help City Hospice continue to provide specialist at-home palliative care to patients with terminal or life limiting illnesses in Cardiff. The charity also provides specialist bereavement counselling and services for families.
Chestertons collects thousands of coats for Londoners in need
In just one month, London estate agency Chestertons collected almost 4,000 coats for the charity Calling London to help vulnerable Londoners through the winter months. The coat drive took place from 21 October to 22 November and helped generate over 6,000 coats in total. To boost the outcome and generate awareness of the campaign, Chestertons turned its high street branches into donation points and worked with clients, staff, local community groups and businesses. To further maximise collections, Chestertons branches also worked with local schools who raised hundreds of additional coats. Many Chestertons employees, including the agency’s newly appointed CEO John Ennis, volunteered over the final campaign weekend to sort the donations ready for distribution to charities. The donations have now been distributed to over 30 charities and shelters across the capital, including Crisis at Christmas, Little Village, Smartworks, Suited & Booted, Hestia and several food banks.
Unite Students provides floor space to Streets of Growth
Unite Students, owner, manager and developer of student accommodation, has partnered with Streets of Growth. Unite Students will provide two floors of space to the organisation at its flagship London property, Hayloft Point (pictured), to enable it to work in the local area. Until now, the organisation has operated without any permanent premises. The move will see the two floors of Hayloft Point in Aldgate, London, become its first dedicated HQ. Streets of Growth will use the space for intervention coaching and creative activities to engage the young people it works with – including productions, filmmaking and textiles. The charity is partnered with the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council, which supports this work. The space at Hayloft Point already incorporates a dedicated performance space/stage, which will facilitate a number of these projects.
Mi Hub announces new charity partners
Uniform supplier Mi Hub has announced its new charity partners for 2023-2026, spanning international, national and local organisations. Submissions closed in October, with the charities shortlisted and selected internally by Mi Hub colleagues. The new partners are: local to Derby – My Bag Charity and the Castle Donnington Volunteer Centre; local to Thornbury – The Children’s Hospice Southwest; local to Jeffersonville – Jeffersonville Community Kitchen (also international support for the Salvation Army); and The Mi Hub Group partnership – Crisis.
BNI Reliance chapter raises £13,000 for Age Connects Cardiff & the Vale
A local BNI Reliance chapter in Rhiwbina Wales has raised £13,000 for Age Connects Cardiff and the Vale throughout 2022 as part of its charity of the year scheme. In January 2022, Age Connects was chosen as this year’s charity of the year, with the 40 businesses in the BNI group fundraising for them across the 12 months. The group, which meets weekly at the Pantmawr Inn, hosted multiple fundraising activities, including an abseil down St David’s Hotel, a pet photography competition and group members completing the Cardiff Half Marathon. Jam Kitchens, a member of the chapter, also made a donation to the charity each time he received a referral from the group, which amounted to £1,250. All funds raised were donated to Age Connects’ local site. The BNI Reliance chapter donated some of its contributions via the Big Give Christmas Challenge, which saw any donations made to Age Connects Cardiff and the Vale during the week of the campaign doubled.
Oh Polly partners with SATCoL to offer online clothing bank
Oh Polly has teamed up with SATCoL, the trading arm of The Salvation Army to offer customers an online clothing bank, where they can receive from a unique discount code every time they donate their unwanted clothing. Customers can shop the trend-driven collections for less by using the online clothing bank to donate their used, unwanted textiles such as clothing, handbags and shoes. The profits received from the resale of the donations are given to The Salvation Army.
Barratt Foundation announces 3-year partnership with The Outward Bound Trust
The Barratt Foundation, the charitable organisation of Barratt Developments PLC has announced a three-year £1.3mn partnership with The Outward Bound Trust. On top of the £1.3mn, the Barratt Foundation also pledged in December to match fund up to £300,000 of the money raised by readers of The Times and Sunday Times which picked The Outward Bound Trust as one of their 2022 Christmas charities. In total this means that £1.6m of new funding is likely to be given to The Outward Bound Trust, making this the largest single charity donation yet made by the Barratt Foundation. The foundation also announced that five charities would receive more than £1mn in new funding grants in time for Christmas. The five charities were: Whizz-Kidz (£500,000), Place2Be (£300,000), Refuge (£100,000), Bookmark (£100,000) and the Lighthouse Club (£50,000). In addition, the Barratt Foundation made a new £100,000 donation to Refuge.
Clifford Chance announces Jangala as winner of UN SDG Award
International law firm Clifford Chance has named humanitarian, digital connectivity charity Jangala as the winner of its United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) award. As this years’ winner, Jangala will receive a £50,000 donation and 500 hours of pro bono support over an 18-month period. Now in its second year, the UN SDG Award was set up with the objective of recognising and supporting international, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) whose work contributes to the achievement of the UN’s SDGs. This year’s call for applications focused on educational institutions, including schools and universities, around the world, whose work contributes towards the achievement of SDG 4.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.