in the community
At Ecclesiastical, we take our responsibilities seriously. And that means our responsibilities to the people we employ, and the communities we live and work in, as well as the customers we serve.
Working with charities
Every year, we donate a significant proportion of our profits to charity. In fact, we’re one of the UK’s top 12 corporate donors*, and have donated over £52.4 million in charitable grants over the past 15 years.
We also support local charities and community organisations through volunteering, fundraising and company donations. We think the people who work here are best placed to know what’s important in their local communities. That’s why they nominate the local charities and community organisations that we support.
In 2008, together we raised over £75,000 for The Children’s Society and local charities.
*Source: Guide to UK Company Giving 2007/08. Published by the Directory of Social Change.
Working with our communities
All of our employees are able to take a day’s community leave every year to take part in activities to support our chosen causes. This support is mainly about providing practical help, but Ecclesiastical also matches the money raised by employees, up to a maximum amount for each charity.
In 2008, we spent over 414 hours – or around 11 weeks – helping different causes.
Payroll giving
Our payroll-giving scheme gives employees the chance to make donations to any registered charity and the company matches 50% of donations up to an agreed limit. In 2008, employees gave almost £24,000 through payroll giving.
We’ve been awarded a Payroll Giving Quality Mark, and in 2007, we won the award for Best Employer and Charity Promotion in the National Payroll Giving Awards.
Ecclesiastical and the environment
We aim to help protect the environment though continually improving our environmental performance and reducing pollution. Our environmental strategy, looks at environmental and sustainability issues, and is based on the ClimateWise principles.
In 2008, Ecclesiastical was a runner-up in the South West C+ Carbon Positive Footprints Awards.
We also have an environmental monitoring group made up of volunteers from around the business. The group champions environmental initiatives, such as reducing energy consumption, recycling, and promoting environmentally friendly travel and paper supplies.
