Responsibility Activities

Transcription

1 Corporate Social Responsibility Activities Annual Report 2015 "Dedicated to supporting our local charities and community projects"

2 Foreword I am delighted to present this report on our community activities from April 2014 to June Looking back on what we ve achieved over the course of the last financial year, I am genuinely proud of the team s accomplishments and the impact that our work has had. As one of the region's leading independent accountancy firms, we believe that we shouldn t view our success in isolation from the broader communities in which we all live and work. We want to give something back to our communities and that's the primary motivation behind all the activities you will see in this report. As in all things, nothing would be achieved without the dedication and enthusiasm of a small number of people. I would like to say a big thank you to the members of our Charity Group for their hard work and to all our staff for their willingness to get involved. We will continue to plan for an even better 2016 but, for the moment, let's reflect on what we've achieved during 2014/15. Andrew Moorby Managing Partner, Tait Walker

3 Charity Committee In 2012, we celebrated our 75th year in business by launching an intensive 12 month fundraising campaign to raise 75,000 for North East charities. At the end of the year, we were delighted to have raised nearly 100,000 for local charities including St Oswald's Hospice, Great North Air Ambulance, Tiny Lives and Macmillan Cancer Care. As part of our ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility programme, we carried on the fundraising and set up a Charity Group involving team members from across all three offices. We nominate four main charities each year, but we also support community projects across the North East. In 2014, the charities we chose to support were Bright Red, a blood cancer charity based at the Freeman Hospital; WATBus/WATBike, a community transport organisation covering Northumberland & Tyneside; Newcastle Women s Aid, which helps women and their children who are victims of domestic abuse; and Tiny Lives, the premature baby unit at the RVI. We have taken part in numerous charity activities this year including: Our June Coast 2 Coast bike ride - staff from all three offices took on a 140-mile route, raising over 5,000 for a number of North East charities The Pedometer Challenge 10,000 steps per day Volunteering at Willow Burn Hospice Monthly dress down days for Circus Starr, Little Joseph, The Sunshine Fund, Wear Yellow for Seth and more Comic Relief Day Weekly football predictors

4 Charity Committee The total raised by the Charity Group from April 2014 to June ,929

5 Volunteering We actively encourage staff to take part in charitable volunteer work in order to support our local community. This year we have been committed to supporting Willow Burn Hospice, based in County Durham. Willow Burn treasure the lives of people with life-limiting illnesses and enable them to achieve the best quality of life. Our staff have volunteered their afternoons to assist the hospice with the following: Painting the hospice front Sanding down and painting outside benches and chairs Mowing the lawn and tidying the garden Sorting donation collection bags Painting the front of their Chester-le-street shop Tidying and cleaning debris inside the shop We have all been touched by Willow Burn's commitment and compassion for the people they serve and their devotion to the community. We will continue to support the hospice in the future in any way we can.

6 Volunteering

7 Fundraising We have been involved in an array of fundraising activities from April 2014 to present. From bike rides to dress down days, our staff across all three offices have been digging deep into their pockets to raise as much money as possible for our chosen charities... COAST 2 COAST Staff from all three of our offices have participated in several Coast 2 Coast cycles, taking on routes of up to 140 miles over 2 days. Sponsorship funds of over 5,000 have been donated to a number of North East charities including Percy Hedley, Bright Red, Tiny Lives, WAT-Bus and Daisy Chain. Tait Walker HR Partner, Mark Parkinson said: The Coast 2 Coast challenges were a huge achievement for the staff involved. The participants and their colleagues showed fantastic support, especially throughout the training period. We were extremely humbled by all the support we received."

8 Fundraising DRESS DOWN DAYS On the last Friday of every month, the Tait Walker staff dress down and pay 1 into the charity pot. Over the last year we have raised money for charities including Circus Starr, Little Joseph, The Sunshine Fund, Wear Yellow for Seth and many more. COMIC RELIEF We have raised money for Red Nose Day by donating our spare cash and dressing down for the day. FOOTBALL PREDICTOR During the football season, staff took part in the weekly football predictor. Paying 1 to guess the results from 6 of the week's games, staff waited for months on end for a winner to claim half of the prize pot! The other half of the money raised was donated to our chosen charities. THE PEDOMETER CHALLENGE Fifteen members of Tait Walker staff took part in the Pedometer Challenge from January - April 2015, walking at least 10,000 steps a day to raise funds for The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). It was a huge success!

9 Fundraising CAKE SALES The Tait Walker team are partial to a sweet treat, which we put to good use with various cake sales and 'bake offs' throughout the year! All cakes and baked goods come with a fee, which goes straight into the charity pot. THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE We all remember the Ice Bucket Challenge, which went viral in September Staff at Tait Walker volunteered themselves to face the challenge in order to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Care. It was safe to say that those with the buckets had a much better time than our soggy participants!

10 Supporting our local community We have sponsored various sports clubs throughout the year, including local cricket and football clubs. Our Business Services Partner, Mark Brunton is proud to be a volunteer cricket coach on behalf of the Northumberland Cricket Board.

11 Conclusion Thank you for taking the time to read this report. We hope you've enjoyed reading it and can see our passion for helping local charities and community projects. We will continue to support these in the future with further volunteer work and fund raising efforts, and we look forward to helping those in need in any way we can. Our plans for 2015/16 are underway and we're really excited to see how much more we can raise!