A round up of the Community & Contributions news stories from August and September 2008.
Oxfam and M&S make a million
The “ M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange”, has raised £1million for charity since its launch in January, according to a report released on August 11. M&S encourages donations of its unwanted clothes to Oxfam by providing a £5 voucher in return. The Clothes Exchange has supported one of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A environmental objectives to encourage the recycling of clothes, and reduce the one million tonnes of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year.
Cisco’s Euro Challenge
Eighty teams from businesses including Shell, Hewlett Packard, Sainsbury’s, Coca-Cola and BT have taken part in an inter-business challenge to raise money for charity. The teams were sent to Germany in September for a series of competitions ranging from biking and white water rafting to strategic thinking tasks and orienteering. The challenge aims to raise £100,000 for WaterAid, a charity that provides safe water, sanitation and hygiene education for the world’s poorest people.
The Big Give for Christmas
The Big Give website launched a scheme on August 27 to persuade businesses to replace traditional client Christmas gifts with Big Give charity vouchers. The vouchers can be given to chosen charities featured on the website and can also be used as staff incentives and for engaging stakeholders in corporate giving. The website was created by Alec Reed, the founder of the Reed recruitment company and the Reed Foundation, and Mr. Reed has pledged to give £1 million to promote it.
PwC donates $4 million for Sudan refugees PricewaterhouseCoopers has donated more than $4 million to the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to be used to build and operate schools for refugee children who have fled the conflict in Darfur. It is the largest single donation ever made by a company to the UNHCR and was announced on September 11. PwC employees in 102 countries made individual contributions during the “Power of 10” campaign established with the UNHCR to recognize the company’s10th anniversary. Many PwC member firms also made donations on behalf of their employees. The funds will be used to run schools for more than 20,000 children aged 6 to 14 living in refugee camps in Eastern Chad.
SME’s urged to start volunteering schemes
Volunteering England has launched a campaign urging small and medium sized businesses to develop employer supported volunteering schemes (EVS). Currently only 14% of small and 20% of medium sized companies operate such schemes. Justin Davis-Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said: “In spite of the pressure on resources which many small and medium sized businesses face, an employer supported volunteering programme can bring considerable benefits; often companies with ESV programmes find that employees are proud to work for them and potential employees want to join them. It often makes a difference with customers too, who feel good about buying from them and this can lead to added investment.” The campaign is focused on encouraging businesses to log on to the website www.volunteering.org.uk/smes where they can find useful and inspiring information on how to start an EVS.
Unilever staff fund UN programme Unilever has announced an employee payroll programme to support the United Nations World Food Programme. In a three-year partnership, the company will provide expertise in nutrition and health as well as financial support. The collaboration is aimed at supporting Pakistan in achieving two of the Millennium Development Goals – eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and achieving universal primary education. 600 Unilever employees have committed to the initiative, which was announced on August 27, contributing around 2.5 million Pakistan rupees (about $33,000) a year.
Contact
United Nations World Food Programme
+39-06-65131 www.wfp.org
Barclays sponsors Mandela Rhodes Scholarships Barclays announced on August 21 that it will be sponsoring three Mandela Rhodes Scholarships. The announcement was made at the Mandela Rhodes Foundation’s official 90th birthday celebrations for Nelson Mandela, held at his home in Cape Town, South Africa. The Mandela Rhodes Foundation aims to build leadership capacity in Africa. The Mandela Rhodes Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who wish to study for an Honours or Masters degree at an accredited South African university.
Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation finances E+Co
The Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation has provided a $400,000 loan to E+Co, an award-winning non-profit investment company that invests in clean energy businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America in order to help combat climate change and poverty. The loan was announced on August 18 and originates from the Foundation’s New Initiatives Fund, which provides financing to support social enterprises demonstrating financial, social and environmental returns. E+Co will use the funds to invest in a number of companies in its portfolio, including a biomass energy project development in Cambodia and a manufacturer of energy-efficient cooking stoves in Ghana. Both businesses offset carbon dioxide emissions and save local consumers money.
Anglo American pledges $92 million to local communities in Brazil Anglo American has made a commitment to invest $92 million in local communities and biodiversity projects in Brazil. The investment was announced on August 12 and will be made over a ten-year period starting from 2009. The company will use its Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT) process to work with local communities to identify their priorities and needs and to build their capacity to provide sustainable benefits in the long term. In addition, Anglo American will develop plans for a reforestation project.
Abbott Fund to Build First Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Tanzania
The Abbott Fund, a philanthropic foundation established by Abbott, announced on August 29 that it will be supporting the construction of the first pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in Tanzania. It is estimated that there are currently more than 150,000 children in Tanzania living with HIV/AIDS and in need of treatment and care. The foundation is committing more than $2 million to the project. To date, Abbott has provided a total of more than $28 million in grants and donated products to support the treatment of children with HIV in the developing world. In 2007, the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria honored the Abbott Fund with an Award for Business Excellence for National Action for its public-private partnership with the Government of Tanzania to fight HIV/AIDS.
Co-operative to spend £1 million on green energy for schools The Co-operative Group opened nominations for schools to receive free solar panel systems on August 26 as part of a new £1million fund for renewable energy. Under the scheme, the solar panel systems are half funded through the Government’s Low Carbon Building Programme with the company financing the remaining 50%. The Group has already spent £1million fitting solar photovoltaic panel systems at 100 schools. The Co-op is now looking for another 60 schools to support and is inviting nominations from its members from now until November 5. The Co-op will also be piloting three additional renewable technologies in schools – wind turbines, biomass boilers and ground source heat pumps – by way of broadening its support for the micro-renewable industry.
KPMG hits £1million milestone for Help the Hospices KPMG’s Staff Charity programme with Help the Hospices has hit its £1 million fundraising target, according to an announcement made on August 4. The company reported that it has taken only 22 months to reach this amount. As a part of the initiative more than 250 of the company’s employees have been volunteering their time. At the beginning of the year KPMG also announced an innovative agreement with American Express under which a proportion of the value of every business transaction on a corporate American Express card will go to Help the Hospices.
Sustainable help for earthquake-stricken college in Sichuan
Bayer Cares Foundation (established by Bayer AG in 2007) has donated classrooms, homes and a mobile clinic to an earthquake affected college in Sichuan province. The donations, announced on September 2, were reported to be worth around €825,000. The company also provided all necessary equipment for the completion and immediate operation of the college, such as whiteboards, beds and medicines. The Sichuan Technology and Business College in Dujiangyan was one of the three most heavily damaged colleges in Sichuan province.
Contact
The Bayer Cares Foundation
+49 (0)214 / 30-1 www.bayer.com
RBS and Futurebuilders partner to help third sector organisations The Royal Bank of Scotland and Futurebuilders England have announced a partnership to increase the financial support available to third sector organisations. The partnership, launched on September 4, will allow the two organisations to work together, refer potential clients to one another and offer co-financing options to the nonprofit organisations seeking to deliver contracts to the public sector. Futurebuilders and RBS have previously worked in partnership to help finance a number of Futurebuilders investees including TreeHouse, the East Midlands Community Dental Association and the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.
Contact
The Royal Bank of Scotland
0131 523 2055 www.rbs.co.uk
Cause-related marketing directory launched
A new business directory has been launched. JointWinWin.com provides a space for web listings for companies engaged in cause-related marketing. It is open to all companies donating 0.8% or more of their gross revenue to charities of their choice. Such companies qualify for unlimited website listings.
Co-operative employees donate 12 years of volunteering activity in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester Cares, an employee-volunteering programme run by Business in the Community (BITC), has been pairing up teams of employees from across Greater Manchester businesses with thousands of community volunteering projects over the last eight years. On September 17 it was announced that employees of the Co-operative Group have collectively carried out the equivalent of 12 years of volunteering for local charities and organisations through Greater Manchester Cares. Volunteering activities have included decorating schools and community centres, garden maintenance at historical places of interest and painting playground equipment.
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