Excellence in Community - Partnership with a Charity LIC
Applegreen - The Applegreen Charitable Fund Programme
Since 2009, Applegreen’s desire to give back to local communities in which they operate has become an inherent part of the company’s culture. The level of commitment to their chosen cause and the access of engagement from staff and customers has produced very effective and ultimately successful partnerships over the years. To date the Fund has raised a total of €1,700,000. This ‘giving’ attitude makes the Applegreen Charitable Fund one of the best philanthropists in the corporate sector. With Applegreen knowing the importance and growing its Corporate Social Responsibility presence, they aim to develop long term value for all their stakeholders: customers, employees, and the community. For Applegreen, corporate social responsibility is not just a program or a donation. It’s the way they do business every day.
Arthur Cox - Working with Suas to bring technology to Zambia
The Arthur Cox Zambia Project, in its tenth year, was inspired by the firm’s founder, Arthur Cox, who travelled to Zambia over 50 years ago. The project partnered with Suas into 2016 to pilot the use of the award winning iSchool teaching software, delivering classes through the use of durable teacher tablets and projectors (made possible by Solar power). Following the hugely successful pilot implementation of the iSchool initiative, it is now proposed to roll out the iSchool tablet to each school constructed by the project. Suas volunteers and Arthur Cox volunteers will travel to Chikuni together in July 2017. The Arthur Cox volunteers will both assist with construction of a new school and teaching in the existing schools. Suas will provide teacher training to the Project volunteers prior to their departure. By partnering with Suas the Project aims to bring both the technology and the skills to the Radio Schools in Chikuni..
Bord Gais Energy - Focus Our Energy Partnership
Focus our Energy partnership is a unique partnership between Focus Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy aimed at helping to prevent family homelessness in Ireland. The two teams joined forces to ensure that the partnership not only fulfilled their individual goals but also made a real difference to the problem. Still in its infancy, this partnership has already made a material difference in helping families who are experiencing homelessness or at risk.
The partnership is supported throughout both organisations and the work that Focus Ireland does has really motivated the spirit of volunteering that exists within the BGE.
Dalata Hotel Group Plc - Dalata Digs Deep
Dalata Hotel Group launched its charity partnership with CMRF Crumlin, the fundraising body for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin and The National Children's Research Centre, and have to date, raised more than €157,000 through a series of fundraising events and initiatives across 32 hotels in the Republic of Ireland. Assigning a ‘Crumlin Ambassador’ to each hotel, responsible for coordinating fundraising events, all hotels achieved their target of €3,000, with many exceeding. The success of the partnership is attributed to the engagement of over 3,500 employees coming together under the umbrella of the common goal to fundraise for CMRF Crumlin, which receives over 145,000 patients annually from across Ireland.
Earth's Edge - Kilimanjaro Equipment Lending Programme
Earth’s Edge is Ireland’s only fully licensed adventure travel company. The Equipment Lending Programme was set up to help the porters who work on Africa’s highest mountain. At 5,896m climbing Kilimanjaro is a serious challenge for all climbers especially the porters who have the additional task of carrying heavy loads on the mountain. To add to that, many of the porters are poorly clothed for the job, where temperatures can dip to -30 degrees celsius. Therefore, Earth’s Edge identified a need to supply porters with mountaineering clothing. They have partnered with KPAP (Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project) an American run, Tanzanian based NGO who have an equipment lending programme in place for porters to bring the concept to fruition. Earth’s Edge sent 20 large duffel bags of equipment from Ireland with their climbing teams in 2016 and are in the process of collecting donations for their 2017 shipment.
Electric Ireland - Electric Ireland Darkness into Light
Electric Ireland was in its fourth year of partnership with Pieta House’s ‘Darkness into Light’ flagship fundraising event. Ten people per week die by suicide, twice that of road deaths. Given our position as market leader we wanted to leverage our partnership with Pieta House to help solve a sensitive societal issue through strong corporate citizenship, while also engaging the communities we work, the 1.3 million customers we serve and our 7,000 geographically spread workforce. While demonstrating our commitment to a cause close to our hearts, we also had the task of building brand affinity and reducing customer churn. As official Team Ireland sponsor we leveraged our relationship with athlete Mark English – who encouraged the people of Ireland to find ‘The Power Within’ to bring suicide out of the darkness.
ESB Group - Collaboration with Science Gallery Dublin
ESB and Science Gallery Dublin joined forces in 2014 to build on their mutual values of community engagement, innovation and collaboration. Through the partnership, they have developed an integrated programme of activity, including a joint outreach programme to promote Science Technology Engineering Arts and Maths (STEAM) to communities around Ireland. To date, the two organisations have collaboratively taught over 1,600 children about basic electronics concepts through Science Gallery Dublin's MAKESHOP workshops, introducing them to the excitement of creating something from scratch. As well as promoting STEAM to local communities, the partnership also supports the dual objectives of creating volunteering opportunities for ESB staff and extending the reach of Science Gallery Dublin to a wider national audience.
Friends First - Friends in the Community
The Friends First Charity Programme supports three charities for a two-year period under three categories aligned with our business. The three charities selected for 2016/2017 were the Irish Cancer Society (Domestic), Aware (Domestic), and Lessons for Life (Overseas).Assistance to the charities comes in three forms:
- Monies raised by Friends First staff, suppliers, financial brokers in support of the three charities
- Monies donated by Friends First as a matching payment for the monies raised
- Friends First staff volunteering to assist at in-house or external charity events in support of the three partner charities.
Voxpro–powered by Telus – Voxpro partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research 2016
For 2016, Voxpro CSR had a charity partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research. Throughout the year they raised 30,000 for BCR and 20,000 for other charities. CEO and Managing Director Dan and Linda Kiely are passionate about charity and it is very important for them to give where you live. With this in mind Voxpro partnered with a Cork-based charity who are saving lives. The strategy was to have CSR activity that was engaging for staff and allowed them to fundraise but also to enjoy CSR. The flagship event was the Sailing Challenge wherein 40 Voxpronians learned to sail over 8 weeks in association with the Royal Cork yacht club. Voxpro worked very closely with Breakthrough Cancer Research and this was key to their success. Their partnership with BCR has already won a national HR Champion award.
