Corporate Volunteering

Employee volunteering is a really simple and effective way for businesses to contribute to the community, businesses are recognising the hugely beneficial effects on their employees and the business. By giving employees an allowance of paid time off annually to volunteer at a charity enables staff to make a difference in as little as an afternoon offering incredible potential for community impact.

Our tree planting projects with the Forest of Hearts, Birmingham Trees For Life and Woodland Trust provide a great opportunity for your employees to get their hands dirty whilst working in the fresh air, its a very sociable, good fun and delivers a great sense of purpose and camaraderie.

Corporate Volunteering Case Study

Partnering with the Forest of Hearts charity, over 85 corporate & community volunteers, including the actor David Bradley, came together to help plant 1000 trees as part of a collaborative effort to create a Honey Bee wood.

On a beautiful winters day in December 2017, corporate volunteers came from a range of different local businesses including Jaguar Land Rover, NFU Mutual, Midcounties Co-operative, Calor and Cooperative Energy to support the creation of a forest garden near the Stratford Upon Avon.

David Bradley, familiar to most as Filch from the Harry Potter movies, Game of Thrones and Dr Who joined the volunteers in the tree planting, saying “I live here and it’s nice to be involved, especially in a project like this one, with inspirational people making a difference. I just think it’s great that young people are aware and are doing something about it. ”

The event was a collaborative effort to combat climate change, and trees offer a practical solution to the problem, the UK has one of the lowest rates of forest coverage at 13% compared to the 44% average in Europe.

Ian Burrows, with the Birmingham investment company Brewin Dolphin, said: “It’s a fantastic charity, and it’s important for us to give back to the community as well.”

Events like these raise people’s awareness of their ability to make a positive impact. Often the issue of climate change can feel insurmountable, when in reality it can be solved by businesses working together, taking small consistent steps and using their supply chains effectively. It’s essential that businesses are involved in this process, because they have the power to create a sustainable future and in doing so they gain much greater customer and employee engagement.