Why giving back is good for everyone:
How charity strategies galvanise workplace culture
Our charity strategy is an important part of our culture, building partnerships and supporting organisations. We take a proactive approach to social responsibility. The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity is our charity partner for 2023. Founded in 1986, Rainbow Trust provides emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness.
Last year, we raised over £100,000 for charity, nearly £51,000 of which went to Rainbow Trust. This year’s fundraising activities include marathons, bike rides, our annual charity quiz, the Tough Mudder and payroll giving.
Giving back and supporting fantastic organisations like The Rainbow Trust is a vital part of who we are as a business. For us, this is just the beginning, and we are committed to reaching our goals to ensure our business does good for our people, our communities and our planet.
Collaborating on charity projects allows people from different departments to come together and work towards a common goal. Whether it's organising fundraising events, volunteering for the day, or running awareness campaigns – the shared experience of giving back cultivates a positive team spirit within an organisation.
Our people have the opportunity to get involved in volunteering initiatives, for which they can use their dedicated volunteering day. This could involve taxi driving, gardening, organising sports days, offering return to work advice for parents who have had time off to care for their child, or supporting young adults in entering the workplace.
“It is not just about raising money for much-needed causes, but critically engaging to enact change, educate and raise awareness. Aside from the important work they do, we chose to partner with the Rainbow Trust because of the scope of opportunity for our employees to work closely with the charity on volunteering and fundraising opportunities. For us, charity is not a means to an end but an important part of everyday behaviour and values reflected in our day-to-day business ethos.”
Getting out of the office and volunteering for the day can greatly boost mental health and wellbeing. It’s been called the ‘helpers high’, and research has shown that giving up your time to help others reduces stress and makes people feel healthier. A recent survey from Project Helping revealed that 94% of volunteers felt it improved their mood.
Bringing that positivity back into the workplace helps to create a happier environment for everyone. Employees enjoy being at work and take pride in being part of the organisation, which ultimately leads to increased productivity and improved staff retention.
Delivering real change begins with us as individuals; even the smallest things can make a big difference. Having a workplace charity strategy brings huge benefits not just to the employee, but the employer and the community too.
Working alongside our partners, we are focused on actively doing good through our four committees, which focus on DEI, Environment, Wellbeing and Engagement, and our Charity partnerships.
You can find out more about our charity work here. If you’d like to speak to us about our relationship with Rainbow Trust or would like to know more about how you can help, please get in touch with us.
Founded in 1986, Rainbow Trust provides emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness by pairing them with their own expert family support worker, who helps out in a number of ways. These include: taking the family to and from hospital, saving time, stress and money; keeping a child company in hospital or providing a distraction during treatment; organising fun days out for sick children or their siblings; listening to parents’ fears and anxieties; and supporting parents and siblings through bereavement and grief.
I am a family support worker with the London and Southeast care team at Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity. I have worked at Rainbow Trust for almost nine years. Over the course of a year, I will support up to 25 families. As a child, I was the sibling of a seriously ill child.
Every Rainbow Trust family support worker receives regular support from a trained counsellor. This is to help us deal with the challenges of supporting families experiencing the most difficult time of their lives. Speaking to our counsellor allows us to discuss our own feelings. I start my working day with a one-hour session by telephone. This week’s call was as always very helpful.
In the afternoon I collected Simon from school. Simon is eight and he is the sibling of Matthew who has a brain tumour. Their mother is a single parent and while Matthew is at home recovering from his recent surgery, Mum is unable to leave him alone and so relies on her neighbour to collect Simon from school. Today the neighbour was not available so she asked if I could help. After I collected him, we went to the local park. Whilst Simon played, I talked to him about how he was feeling about Matthew being home from hospital. He told me that he is so glad that he is home as it made him feel scared when he was in hospital, and he missed his mum a lot. We provide a lot of emotional support to siblings whose own needs often must take a backseat during the chaos of having a seriously ill brother or sister.
I was up and out early this morning at 6am. I drove to Northwest London to collect Kristyna, aged six, and her mum to take them to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Kristyna is receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy and today she will receive the results of her most recent scan to show if the treatment is working. On the way there was a lot of traffic and Kristyna fell asleep, which gave Mum and I the chance to talk about how she is doing. Mum shared that she is so worried about today’s appointment, and I listened. At the hospital Mum asked me to go in to see the doctor with her so that we could both hear what he said, in case she forgot anything. Fortunately, the results were good and showed that the treatment is going well. We had some lunch in the hospital cafeteria and then I drove the family home. We arranged for me to come over next week to talk about a day out during the October half term.
Today I went to Harrow to see Tan. Tan’s youngest daughter Lola is four and received a heart transplant a year ago. Her recovery has been a long journey for the whole family and today she has started half days at the local nursery. Tan had been so nervous about this day and so I offered to come over for a cup of tea and a chat. When I arrived, Tan was in the kitchen clearing up. I told Tan to put the kettle on and I would load the dishwasher. She talked about how worried she was about Lola being at school around lots of germs. I reassured her that although there was risk involved there were also so many positives about Lola being in a setting where she would be able to interact with other children and learn. We also talked about how good it would be for Tan to have some time to herself for self-care and some time to do the things that she wants to do.
Today I drove to Surrey to collect Dad, Steve, and youngest son, Rio, from the family home and drive them to their local children’s hospice so that Rio could take part in a session with his play therapist. Rio has an older brother with a genetic condition which means he can no longer walk or talk. The decline in his health has been very rapid and Rio has struggled with the huge changes. His sessions with his therapist are very important but the family do not own a car so they would not be able to attend without transport from Rainbow Trust. Whilst Rio was in his session, I took Dad to Sainsbury’s so he could do some food shopping. Afterwards, I drove them both home.
Friday is ‘team meeting’ day. The London and Southeast care team meet at our head office in Surrey. During the meeting we discuss our family caseloads and support each other with anything we have found challenging in the past week. This week, a team member attended a child’s funeral and the discussion about this makes everyone feel emotional. We also plan for the upcoming weeks so that everyone is aware of training, guest visitors, presentations and family days out.
Before my weekend starts, I enter some information on our database where every interaction with a family is recorded. I then contact all my families to wish them a peaceful weekend.
