CSR IN ACTION
Corporate Social Responsibility endeavour takes many forms. Emily Styles reports on some corporate and SME activities and initiatives over the past year
The €150,000 Amazon Web Services InCommunities Fund helps local community groups, schools, and organisations in Fingal to kick-start new projects or expand existing ones for the benefit of the community. AWS staff volunteers mentor students at Luttrellstown Community College in Clonsilla, where there are 950 students.
DAA staff and Dublin Airport passengers raised €130,000 each for St Francis Hospice, The Mater Foundation, and Feed Our Homeless after a year of fundraising activity by employees. Passengers and members of the public support the scheme by donating at collection points located throughout the airport.
Staff in builders’ merchant Chadwicks Group recently raised €60,000 for five charities by taking on the Four Peaks Challenge. In total, 32 climbers took part in the fundraising efforts, with 17 completing all four peaks — Slieve Donard, Carrauntoohil, Mweelrea, and Lugnaquilla. The funds were raised for Irish Wheelchair Association, Pieta House, IMNDA, Purple House, and Mayo Autism Camp.
Gift card company One4all has raised €260,000 for Children’s Health Foundation over the past eight years with an annual Shop4Giggles campaign, which lasts for one week. When participants spend their One4all gift cards during the week, One4all donates 50c to the CHF’s Giggle Fund. Last autumn retail partners Marks & Spencer, Argos, River Island, Currys, and New Look pledged to donate an additional 50c per transaction.
Life insurance company Aviva channels €120,000 per annum into the Aviva Broker Community Fund Awards, where financial advisers and brokers support their chosen local charities or community organisations by nominating them for an award. One of the 2023 awards went to The Big Idea, which develops creating thinking programmes for schools. The social enterprise works with hundreds of industry mentors each year, from graduates to CEOs, who give students practical advice and guidance.
AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity, received a boost last December when AIB announced a three-year partnership. The bank said it will be supporting AsIAm to roll out more support services to autistic people in Ireland, while AsIAm will work with AIB’s Abilities Network to establish training and supports that will help make AIB more accessible for customers, staff and job candidates.
Employees at Microsoft Ireland raised €270,000 for LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, through a number of fundraising activities, including walking, running, swimming, and a cycle along the Wild Atlantic Way. As part of this cycle, a group of 100 cyclists and support crew travelled 350km from Ballybunion to Clifden over three consecutive days.
Over 300 community organisations from across 24 counties will share in a total of €1.34m from the Intel Matching Grant Programme. For every hour that is volunteered by an Intel employee at a school or non-profit organisation, a donation of $10 is paid from the Intel Foundation to the organisation. Intel has supported this programme for 15 years, with a total of €10.7m donated in that time.
In December 2022, Huawei Ireland awarded €250,000 in academic scholarships to 50 third-level STEM students through its 2022 Seeds for the Future ICT talent-nurturing initiative. One of the largest scholarship programmes for STEM students in Ireland, €5,000 bursaries were awarded to 50 students, of whom 40% were female.
Forecourt retailer Applegreen has made a three-year charitable commitment to children’s charity Barretstown, with a pledge to help raise €1m for Barretstown in the 2023 to 2025 period. Every time a customer shops in-store, the company donates 1c to its Charitable Fund. Employees at head office and at stores also organise events to raise awareness for the charity partner through volunteering and fundraising activities, including static cycles, fun runs, hikes and marathons.
Mazars Dublin lit up its office for the full month to celebrate Pride and also arranged for ShoutOut to come to the office to talk to staff about the LGBTQ+ community. Mazars curated a programme through June 2023 for employees wanting to learn how to best support as an ally, celebrate the LGBTQ+ community or become more involved.