Member Article

North East firms’ massive boost for charity in countdown to Responsible Business Week

Some of the best known businesses in the North East have donated over 11,000 hours in staff volunteering and raised over £510,000 for worthy causes in the North East alone.

In the countdown to Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Week on March 31, the figures from businesses including Accenture, Esh Group, Gentoo Group, PD Ports and Sage reveal how they have helped charities and local communities through fundraising and volunteering.

In addition to this, national companies with large bases in the North East did the following:

• Greggs donated £1,650,000 nationally to good causes (including the Greggs Foundation) and 566 staff members donated one full day of volunteering time.
• 1651 employees from Northumbrian Water volunteered their time and the company donated 1% of pre-tax profits to 681 organisations.
• Eversheds, who have a base in Newcastle donated £517,440 through their charitable trust and gave over 3,000 volunteer hours across the UK.

Liz Needleman, Area Director England East of charity Business in the Community, said: “Responsible Business Week is an annual opportunity for businesses of all sizes to demonstrate their positive impact on society, share new ideas and do more to tackle environmental and societal challenges. As the compelling figures show, contributions from North East based businesses have made a real a difference in local communities.

“We hope that events throughout the region during the week will inspire more businesses to become involved in responsible business activity over the next 12 months.”

Last year more than 1,500 people across the country took part in the first Responsible Business Week. North East businesses are encouraged to organise their own activities during the week or take part in events across the region.

Caroline Gitsham, Executive Director of Culture and Vision at Gentoo said:

“At Gentoo, we pride ourselves on delivering solutions that enable society to be a better place to live. Responsible Business Week is a great opportunity for us to share our experiences and encourage others to make a difference to the way people live their life.

“As a responsible business, we are delighted to be involved – not only does this give us the opportunity to share best practice, it is a great way to raise awareness about the positive impact businesses can have. By joining forces and learning from each other – together we can tackle some of the most pressing issues in society.”

On April 3 Esh Group are inviting people to join their employability workshop and are running ‘A Chance for Change’ event about employing ex-offenders. Other events in the region include a health and wellbeing session run by Gentoo for their customers.

For more information or to take part in Responsible Business Week (31 March – 4 April 2014), visit www.bitc.org.uk/rbweek to register your interest.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Business In the Community .