Member Article

Accountancy firm smashes £100k target for North East charities

Accountants Robson Laidler has raised more than £100,000 for North East charities and community groups following a record-breaking fundraising campaign. Smashing its intensive four-year fundraising goal to raise £100,000 to mark its centenary year next year, the firm has exceeded this 18-months ahead of schedule. Staff at Robson Laidler have raised cash donations as well as paid volunteer hours to assist more than 100 different charities in 100 different innovative ways, all reached in time for Robson Laidler’s 100th year of trading in 2020. Charities that have benefitted from the funds include Robson Laidler’s Charity of the Year; Dementia UK, The RVI Tiny Lives Trust, the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association, as well as a host of other local community groups and projects. Staff at the Firm have raised cash via cake sales, dress down days, a fundraising ball, competing the Three Peaks Challenge and various raffles and tombolas to name a few. Volunteer hours have also been used to undertake numerous community tasks such as, maintenance work at Summerhill Bowling Club in Newcastle, tidying community gardens, painting and decorating a Scout hut, which had been broken into and vandalized, a takeover of the St Oswald’s Hospice charity shop in Gosforth and a sponsored walk in aid of Marie Curie Hospice in Newcastle. Staff have also used their financial knowledge to volunteer in schools and colleges giving careers advice in accountancy. Heading up the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team at Robson Laidler, Emma Thompson said: “To have reached this target 18-months ahead of schedule is entirely due to the tireless efforts made by the staff in our Newcastle and Durham offices who have supported our CSR team with the various fundraising ideas they have had over the past 33 months. “I am delighted that we have reached a staggering £108,182.81. We have also assisted 127 different charities in 100 different ways. “Our fundraising will of course carry on, we have a group 14 people doing the Coast 2 Coast in August, and 10 people doing the Great North Run a week later in September to raise funds for our 2019 Charity of the Year, Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association (FHLTA) as well as various fundraising days to help other nominated charities throughout the year. “The support and generosity of our staff never ever fails to amaze me.” Robson Laidler MD Graham Purvis said: “In 2016 the directors set up a CSR group as part of Robson Laidler’s overall purpose to improve the lives of our clients, people and communities. I am genuinely overwhelmed by the amount we have raised in such a short space of time and the amount of volunteering staff have done for these community groups and charities. This fundraising achievement typifies exactly what we are all about, and I am so proud of my team.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robson Laidler .