Companies donate over €30m and thousands of hours to good causes
CHARITABLE companies in Cork donated over €2.1 million to local causes last year, according to the 2018 Business Impact Map produced by Business in the Community Ireland.
Many people will be familiar with BITCI’s impact map, which hosts user-friendly clickable data and news on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of member companies across the country.
The €2.1m in Cork-based donations last year included cash donations of €793k, employee fundraising of €520k, and in-kind donations of €808k. Employees in Cork also did 15,000 hours in voluntary work. BITCI’s national 2019 Business Impact Map has been given a formal launch in the Light House Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin.
In total, 60 companies in Ireland contributed over €30 million and 264,735 hours to charities and community groups in 2018. More than €13.5m was given in cash donations; €11.7mwas contributed through in-kind donations and over €5.5m was raised through employee fundraising. Employees also volunteered over 264,735 hours to local groups and projects during the year. The 60 companies on BITCI impact map are listed below.
Tomás Sercovich, BITCI’s chief executive, said: “We look at companies’ activities across the board, across their various management practices. Employees want to work for companies that encourage volunteering as part of everyday business and crucially want to work where their values align with their employer.
“Ireland has evolved in big strides towards sustainability in recent years. We have the right mix of national and international companies, those focused on export markets and those serving the internal market. We have built a great sense of good citizenship and a good evidence of this is the great numbers coming from the BITCI Business Impact Map.”
Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, PM Group and Sisk have partnered with the Cork branch of Down Syndrome Ireland to support them with the development of their Field of Dreams project in Curraheen, Co Cork. Opened in 2017, the Field of Dreams is a market garden for the cultivation of fruit, vegetable and farm produce.
Since 2017, teams from Janssen, Sisk and PM Group have supported on-going site works in Curraheen, laying smooth surface pathways linking horticultural plots and polytunnels.
Fellow Field of Dreams project supporter, Heineken Ireland’s Growing with our Communities project has helped more than 50 local community and charity groups and contributed €480,000 in 2018 alone.
Meanwhile, Gas Networks Ireland sponsors Cooperation Ireland’s Youth Leadership Programme (YLP), which helps young people to become leaders in their communities.
In existence for the past five years, GNI’s partnership with Cooperation Ireland began in Cork in 2015 then expanded to Dublin in 2017. The second three-year partnership runs from 2017-2020.
Co-operation Ireland is a peace-building charity encouraging all-island interaction. The youth programme connects people North and South through sports, applying learnings to community activities. Participants complete a social action project before graduating each summer.
Since its launch in 2013, approximately 200 young people have taken part and benefitted personally from the YLP programme. Many of the participants have returned to education or gained employment. Participants have also shown a great willingness to engage with others in society, and there was reduced levels of anti-social behaviour and substance abuse.
Aisling Savage, a student in Cobh Community College, said: “I’m really glad I got involved in the Co-operation Ireland’s Youth Leadership programme, as my sister who was involved in the previous programme, gained so much from her involvement, and still counts it as one of her best experiences.
“So far, I have gained so much and I have had the opportunity to gain leadership skills. I really enjoyed meeting the group from Belfast and it has made me realise how important it is for us all to get along, it was great seeing their city and the peace walls, and I can’t wait to show them Cork.”
Jack Byrd, a student at Terence MacSwiney Community School in Knocknaheeny, added: “My favourite part so far has been the trip to Belfast where we got to meet the other group and learn about them.
“I also really enjoyed the sports leadership training, something I didn’t think I could do but I was able to gain confidence and I was thrilled that I did the assessment. I think all students should have the opportunity to be involved in a programme like this, I’m glad I am.”
A&L Goodbody, Abbott Laboratories Ireland, AbbVie, Accenture, Aldi, Bank of Ireland Group, Boots Ireland, BT, Central Bank of Ireland, Compass Group Ireland, Cook Medical Ireland Ltd, Cork Chamber, Dawn Meats Group, Deloitte, DePuy Synthes, Dublin Bus, eir, EirGrid plc, Energia, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, ESB Group, Fidelity Investments Ireland, Fujitsu Ireland, Gas Networks Ireland, Heineken Ireland, Hovione Ireland, Intel Ireland, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard, Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences UC, Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland), Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, KBC Bank Ireland, KPMG, Lidl Ireland, Marks & Spencer (Ireland) Ltd, Mars Ireland, Matheson, Mazars, Momentum Support, Musgrave Group, National Lottery, Permanent TSB, PM Group, RTÉ, Servier (Ireland) Industries Ltd., Siemens Healthineers, SSE Ireland, State Street, Symantec, Tesco Ireland, Three, Transdev Dublin Light Rail Limited, Ulster Bank Ireland DAC, Veolia, Verizon Media, Vermilion Energy, Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone Ireland, William Fry and ZAGG International.
