International Day of Charity

On International Day of Charity, which provides an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of giving and inspire others to contribute to charitable causes, we take a look at some of our social impact work.

We want to make a positive difference

At Carpenters Group, we care deeply about supporting charities and communities. We value all the hard work that charities continue to do, therefore feel it is important to give back.

We support a number of local community groups such as, The Inclusive Hub, The L6 Centre, Fans Supporting Foodbanks.

This year we also announced our partnership with Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice as part of their ‘The 150’ businesses campaign. This sees a selection of businesses committing to fundraising and generating significant hope and contribution towards their ‘New Home’ appeal. To raise money for the appeal, we have had a series of events in our offices, and during September we are taking part in ‘Go Yellow for Zoe’s Place’.

How our people play their part

We offer colleagues two ways to get involved with charities close to their hearts. We are proud to support our people’s charity fundraising efforts by offering a Matched Giving initiative – a fantastic way to boost any sponsorship money raised for a chosen UK registered charity. Our matched giving scheme means that for every £1 raised for the registered UK charity, we will match it up to £250*.

We also offer paid volunteer days were all our people are entitled to two days paid leave every year to volunteer at a registered charity. We understand how important it is to allow people time to help at places that mean a lot to them, and therefore we offer this policy to not only support but also inspire volunteering activities too.

Volunteering at Zoe’s Place

A number of our team including many from the employee-led DEI Committee recently visited Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Liverpool to volunteer for the day and find out more about their New Home appeal.

Here is Amy’s story about her experience:

“I felt so privileged to attend Zoe’s Place premises in West Derby with my EDI Committee colleagues, where we were proud to be of assistance in respect of clearing their garden of weeds and painting fences; fortunately the weather allowed us to do so!                          

Zoe’s Place is a regional Baby Hospice, with three premises in Coventry, Liverpool and Middlesbrough, offering respite, care and support for children with complex/terminal illnesses/disabilities and their families.  

The Charity was started in 1995, with the West Derby (Liverpool) premises being the beginning. A former convent, the premises is steeped in history and included substantial grounds; including an acoustically brilliant chapel! However, the owner of this land is now selling up, meaning that the Hospice needs to find new premises; specifically aiming to transform the former bowling green at Hayman’s Green in West Derby.

The staff were all so amazingly kind and lovely, and it was humbling to hear of what they do for families throughout Merseyside and the North West. We were shown some of the grounds (including the chapel, which I particularly enjoyed, due to the amazing acoustics being quite inspirational) and told about not only what the charity do, but also about their intentions in respect of their new premises, and even the plans being drawn up for said premises.

Not only was the day heart-wrenching, heart-warming and humbling, it was also an amazing opportunity to work with my EDI colleagues volunteering for an amazing cause. I think charities like this have a direct link with the concept of equity, diversity and inclusion, because they are needed in order to allow people (regardless of class, gender, ethnicity etc) the chance and ability to cope with such a painful part of their life; the opportunity to have the support they need to provide their ill child with the care necessary to give them the best possible life.

And the cherry on top of the day for me, was the lovely surprise of a beautiful Bengal cat popping into the garden!

As our charity of the year, we will be assisting Zoe’s Place with their aim of raising £3.5 million to obtain and kit out the new premises so that they can continue to provide help, respite and support to the families and community in the North-West for whom the charity is an absolute life-line.

I cannot stress enough what a great experience it was to volunteer for this amazing charity, and I continue to be grateful for the volunteer days Carpenters allow, so that I had this opportunity.

Zoe’s Place have confirmed that they would be happy to receive any other Carpenters staff volunteering, so if you are interested, contact Internal Comms so a further day can be arranged; you won’t regret it!”