A national jewellery retailer is celebrating International Day of Charity with a landmark achievement for charitable giving, as the company has donated in excess of £13.5million for over 750 charities since the year 2000.
Family-owned jeweller, Beaverbrooks, which is marking its 100th anniversary this year, is leading the way for charitable giving in the retail sector through its forward-thinking initiative, The Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust, which sees 20 percent of retained post-tax profits donated to good causes.
The trust, which provides support to a broad spectrum of charities both in the UK and overseas, was founded by chairman and charity-figurehead Mark Adlestone OBE DL, off the back of a Jewish ethic where one is obligated to give a maximum of 20 percent of all net income to charity.
The charitable ethos has been instilled across the business. As well as fundraising opportunities, colleagues are given two days a year to volunteer in their own local communities and help a charity of their choice. Last year, colleagues donated 634 days and raised over £50,000 for charity which was match funded by the business.
On top of that, the company also encourages each of its 71 stores, plus head office departments, to choose their own individual charity and then donates £100 for every team member. In the company’s centenary year, it is double match funding, meaning charities will receive three times the original donation and in this year alone, has so far donated £78,593 to charity.
This company-wide engagement also sees an impressive 45 percent of Beaverbrooks colleagues donate to charities through its Payroll Giving initiative, against a national average of just 6 percent. After Beaverbrooks’ sixth consecutive year as a ‘Platinum Award Winners’, last year the company received the first ever ‘Diamond Award’ from HM Government for its Payroll Giving and is thrilled to have received it again for 2019.
Chairman Mark, who was awarded an OBE for his services to business and charity in the North of England in 2015, said: “For as long as Beaverbrooks has been established, we’ve always focused on charitable activities; it truly is at the heart of what we do. We take giving away money as seriously as we do making it. We are very much of the opinion that as a business your reason for existing is to make a difference to the world around you. If we were just financially successful and didn’t engage with our communities, that wouldn’t sit right with us.
“Charitable giving is very much a part of our DNA, and we have a highly engaged workforce when it comes to enriching lives. Feedback from our colleagues is that they get a sense of accomplishment and self-worth from helping others and this year alone we’ve seen a huge increase in colleagues volunteering, which helps not just local communities, but our people too, by encouraging personal growth and development. We’re very proud of our people giving their time and money to help scores of different good causes.
“International Day of Charity is an important time for us as it gives us a chance to reflect on the fantastic work that is done to support those in need, as well as encouraging other businesses to get involved in charitable initiatives that give back to people and their communities.”
Beaverbrooks is involved with hundreds of local charity events. The business founded the Blackpool Beaverbrooks 10K Fun Run in 1981 and has been sponsoring the Beaverbrooks Bike Ride since 1991. Both of which have raised over £3m for various local charities.
The company has just celebrated its five most profitable years in its history and has featured in The Sunday Times’ Best Companies to Work For list for 16 consecutive years. It has also been named as a Three Star accredited company within Best Companies since 2006, meaning it has ‘extraordinary’ levels of workplace engagement for 13 consecutive years.
To find out more about Beaverbrooks charitable giving, visit www.beaverbrooks.co.uk/100/enriching-lives
Founder Dinis Guarda
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