Education has long been an area of strategic community investment for many leading companies and flicking through the CSR reports of the FTSE 100 shows that most firms engage in one way or another with the education agenda. Indeed, this is borne out by our latest London Benchmarking Group (www.lbg-online.net/) data, which shows that of every £1 spent by our members on voluntary community investment last year, 26p went to initiatives aimed at education and young people.
Perhaps this explains the impressive turn out from the private sector on the Education and Employers’ Taskforce, launched in October. Skills shortages and access to the professions have been in the headlines in recent months too, providing further impetus for business to get involved with schools and colleges. The Taskforce offers a platform to work directly with a range of other stakeholders: from children’s charities and governors’ bodies to trade unions and academics, all are represented on the Taskforce’s partnership board and working groups.
Although the group’s overall ambition is apparent (“every school should in time benefit from an effective partnership with employers”), the milestones and timelines to making this happen are as yet unclear. Perhaps more clarity will come in due course, and indeed a key function for the research working group is to investigate the current level of employer-education engagement. Once a clearer picture of present activity has been established, it may be easier to agree a firmer set of deliverables to justify the £150 million Government investment.
Another key output from the group will be to standardise and ease the processes for businesses to engage with schools, thereby ending the ad hoc approach seen at present. In the meantime, for those companies yet to get involved with the education sector, or for those wanting to look afresh at methods of engagement, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has published a short but informative guide, “Building Stronger Partnership”, on working with school and colleges. It’s worth a read for some ideas on ways to engage local schools and colleges.
Ita is a consultant at Corporate Citizenship. Email her to find out about community investment, impact measurement and report writing; ita.mcmahon@corporate-citizenship.com.
IBM has launched an initiative to support early education in Hispanic communities
As part of a $2 million initiative, IBM announced on October 16 that it will donate 1,000 Young Explorer computer centres to preschool and early childhood programmes in areas that have a population of 40% Hispanic residents in the US. The scheme is part of the IBM KidSmart Early Learning Programme which also includes teacher training and a curriculum which targets children aged 4 to 7 years old. The Young Explorer has educational software to help children to explore different subjects including mathematics, science and language. The centres also assist in the development of children’s socialization and collaborative learning skills such as how to work with others to solve problems. IBM developed the KidSmart programme to help tackle the digital divide, particularly in urban areas where children from less affluent backgrounds could benefit from access to technology and educational materials to help prepare them for school. Since it began, over 100,000 teachers have been trained on how to use the programmes in the classroom. Contact: IBM www.ibm.com
Over 12,000 employees at Kraft Foods in 33 countries involved in the first ‘Make a delicious difference week’
As part of Kraft Foods first ‘Make a delicious difference week’ from October 5 – 10, the company aimed to get 10,000 employees from across the world to volunteer. This engagement target was six times the number of employees from previous initiatives and the company exceeded this aim by 20% when 12,000 employees volunteered. Activities included educating children in Curitiba in Brazil about health lifestyles, delivering meals to community organisations in the UK and sending much needed food to children in the Philippines following recent flooding. Kraft’s Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld was also involved and spent time during the week packing and organizing food at the Community FoodBank in New Jersey. Contact: Kraft Foods www.kraftfoodscompany.com
London’s Dragon Awards given to firms that have a social conscience
Eight London businesses were honored at the Dragon Awards ceremony on October 15 for their dedication to community investment. The Awards rewarded companies and their staff for achievements during the last financial year, which was a particularly challenging time for many organisations. Although according the award organisers at the City of London, in several cases the difficult financial climate has produced an increased commitment to CCI during the year. Winners of the Awards included Lovell Partnerships for its Partnership in Action scheme which promotes construction as a career to young people in Enfield; British Airways for its community learning centre that provides free access to interactive activities for school pupils and Broadgate Estates, which was honored for a joint project with Knightsbridge Guarding. Contact: The Dragon Awards www.dragonawards.co.uk
Payroll Giving achievements honored at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards
The National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards, held on October 5 celebrated UK employers’ commitment to third sector donations. The winners included Beaverbrooks for its partnership with Workplace Giving; Aviva, which won the best large employer campaign and the London Borough of Islington which won the best public sector campaign category. A large number of the winners were clients of Workplace Giving which has raised over £15 million for charity since the company was founded in 2004. Payroll Giving was launched in 1987 and gives employees the opportunity to donate to any UK charity straight from their gross salary which gives immediate tax relief and distributes £109 million to charities in 2008. The National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards were introduced in the 20th year of Payroll Giving in order to recognize and reward employers that have successful schemes, as well as those that represent best practice in how they are promoted to employees. Contact: Payroll Giving www.payrollgivingcentre.org.uk
Business in the Community encouraged by launch of Education and Employers Taskforce
The Education and Employers taskforce was launched on October 15 to raise awareness of how organisations can have successful partnerships with schools and colleges to ensure that all young people achieve their aspirations and have a successful working life. The Taskforce was created in response to a need identified by both companies and schools and will be able to ensure that partnerships between schools and employers are effective and of a high quality. The Taskforce’s main areas of focus are coordinating partnership working, researching what works in practice and standarising information and procedures for all parties involved. Business in the Community welcomed the launch and will work alongside the Taskforce to promote the National Council for Education Excellence’s guidelines for partnerships between schools and organisations, particularly in relation to developing best practice for employers so that they are able to use work experience to inspire young people. Contact: Business in the Community www.bitc.org.uk
Companies criticised by Which? for ‘mean’ charity Christmas cards
The results of a survey by the consumer advice organisation, Which? released on October 22 found that some high street retailers are passing on just 6% of the cover price of some charity Christmas cards to the charities themselves. Eighteen high street retailers responded to the survey, which found that the average figure charities earn from cards is 13%. Next and House of Fraser donated the lowest percentage for some of their cards at 6%, although both companies have cards that donate more. Shops that make larger donations include WHSmith, with 100% of one particular pack of cards going to Children in Need, Clinton’s and Waterstone’s. Which? encourages customers to check and see exactly how much of their money is going to charity. The organisation said that buying a charity’s Christmas card directly from the charities website or shop meant that it retains 100% of the price, although it pays for the cost of producing, distributing and selling the cards. Contact: Which? www.which.co.uk
Every Child Counts improves children’s maths
A report published on October 9 concerning the first year of the Every Child Counts programme revealed that during its first year, the children involved have made an average of 13.5 months progress over three months following 20 hours of intensive tuition. On entry to the programme, none of these children were predicted by their schools to reach national levels by their maths assessment at age 7 but almost three quarters managed to exceed this level. The Every Child Counts programme is run by the Every Child a Chance Trust and the Government and is expected to be rolled out across the UK in 2010 – 2011, which will support approximately 30,000 children a year. Barclays Bank, DeutscheBank, KPMG Foundation and Man Group plc Charitable Trust are among the organisations who have committed funding to the programme. Contact: Every Child a Chance Trust www.everychildachancetrust.org
Food and drink organisations celebrate their community involvement
The Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF) Community Partnership Award winners were announced on October 14, which celebrate some of the ways that food and drinks organisations work with their communities. Winners included Mars Chocolate UK, in the local community category, for its volunteer programme that allows the company to respond to requests for volunteers from the local community via its website or through other local organisations. Unilever UK were honored for their work in education for their Flora Cooking with Schools’ programme, a free service available to all UK primary schools which allows teachers to demonstrate how to prepare and cook healthy food. The FDF were impressed with the wide range of initiatives organisations are using to help educate and develop communities across the UK, and were encouraged by their continuing commitment in the current economic climate. Contact: Food and Drink Federation www.fdf.org.uk
Company giving has increased during the recession
Researched released on October 26 by Acona has found that corporate giving from the FTSE 100 has risen to £1.5 billion a year. The company speculates that this is a result of broader corporate programmes which do not only donate money and but incorporate initiatives such as volunteering, marketing or mentoring a charity’s senior management team. Acona stated in the report that organisations which focus on how generous donations are compared to competitors are misguided and companies should focus on what is being achieved and who is benefits from investments. Contact: Acona CMG www.acona.com
Tackling sociopolitical issues in difficult times, results of Mckinsey Global Survey
The results of a survey released by McKinsey in November found that the financial downturn has increased the public’s expectations of business’ role in society. The 1,179 executives surveyed from a variety of industries, functional specialties and levels of seniority answered questions on the relative importance of social and political issues and the relative financial benefits organisations received from addressing such issues. The results found that executives believe that the environment still generates the most attention from the public, but as a result of the financial crisis, they expected executive pay and organisations’ political influence and involvement to increase in importance. A smaller percentage of executives than in 2007 stated that large companies made a positive contribution to the public good. Contact: McKinsey www.mckinseyquarterly.com
Sky launch Rainforest Rescue
Sky launched a three year campaign with WWF on October 21 to help save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest. The initiative, Sky Rainforest Rescue aims to protect wildlife covering more than three million hectares in the state of Acre in Brazil, to help combat climate change and preserve the unique habitat and species in the Amazon. Sky and WWF want to work with the public in the UK as part of the campaign; every £10 donated on the website will help to save 500 trees. Sky will initially match donations pound for pound up to a target of £4 million. Sky and WWF aim to establish economic incentives for local communities by working with Acre’s state government to improve monitoring against illegal logging and forest clearance and to help producers to obtain fair prices and find new markets for sustainable goods. Contact: Sky www.sky.com/rainforestrescue
KPMG aims to raise £1 million for Alzheimer’s Society
The Alzherimers society announced on October 14 that KPMG have raised £482,000 for the charity through fundraising events across the UK during the first year of supporting the charity, which was selected by its staff. KPMG has a target to reach at least £1 million by the end of its second year, which would make the company the largest supporter of its kind in the history of the Alzheimer’s Society. Employees from all of KPMG’s UK offices have been involved in sustaining the programme through fundraising events such as cycling from London to Paris, while over 160 employees volunteered their time and skills to the Society by painting day centres and providing pro bono advice. The largest amount of money was raised from KPMG’s ‘First Hour Appeal’ which allowed staff to donate the first hour of their pay to the charity, raising £43,000. Contact: Alzheimers Alzheimers.org.uk
Facebookers discover that responsible business is cool!
HP and JA-YE Europe launched an educational new Facebook application in October to encourage more students around the world to take social and environmental responsibility into consideration as they enter professional life. Through the application, students up to the age of 25 are challenged to submit business ideas for the Year 2020 that can have a positive effect on the general public and the world around them. Ideas are open to public voting, with points being allocated for environmental benefit, social benefit, innovation & creativity and feasibility & potential. Contact: Junior Achievement Young Enterprise www.ja-ye.org
EMCOR UK construction workers support breast cancer awareness
EMCOR UK recently announced its support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A campaign encouraging people to ‘Protect Yourself – Be Breast Aware’ was launched at St Pancras International on October 1 at 10.30am, aiming to reach out to the 46,000 people who pass through the station during the average working day – the same number diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Construction workers wore pink hard hats and formed themselves into the shape of this number, serving as a call to action to millions of women. Contact: EMCOR UK www.emcoruk.com
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