Arts & Business helps business people support the arts & the arts inspire business people. Its purpose is to enable business and its people to be more successful by engaging with the arts and to increase resources for the arts from business and its people, and delivers a range of services to both sectors.
www.aandb.org.uk
Business Community Connections - bcconnections is a charity dedicated to helping other charities obtain more support from business and can give advice and assistance on a wide variety of CCI activities: www.bcconnections.org.uk
Business in the Community is one of the largest and longest established corporate social responsibility organisations in the world, based in the UK. It runs the Percent Club of companies that commit to dedicating at least 1% of pre-tax profits to the community. Business in the Community is operational via a regional network in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and works in partnership with SBC (Scottish Business in the Community and operates. Go to www.bitc.org.uk for the main website and more details on the following programmes.
CommunityMark is a national (UK wide) standard for small and medium sized businesses, of any size, that recognises small business involvement within the local community.
Website includes case studies and downloadable application form.
Volunteering Plus provides UK wide accreditation of volunteering, allowing individual volunteers to be formally recognised for their community involvement, offering both generic and customised awards for volunteers on two levels, recognition and accreditation.
Brokerage organisations and companies can register as local assessment centres, offering accreditation services to employers and individuals wishing to take part.
Cares is the main business led employee volunteering programme in the UK - a Business in the Community initiative. Cares supporters encourage their employees to give their time and skills to the communities in which they live and work, through 27 business led local partnerships. Cares operates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and works in partnership with Scottish Business in the Community (SBC).
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is a non-governmental organisation that helps donors make the most of their giving, and non profit organisations make the most of their resources. CAF can help companies to maximise the impact of their generosity. www.cafonline.org and www.ccinet.org
Charity Choice website serves as a comprehensive encyclopaedia of charities.
www.charitychoice.co.uk
The Corporate Citizenship Company provides consultancy on the management of corporate citizenship at local, national, regional and international levels and produces publications including the highly recommended Community Affairs Briefing. Specialisms include issues research, evaluation through measurement (including the London Benchmarking Group), and reporting - www.corporate-citizenship.co.uk
CSV Employee Volunteering is committed to working with companies to set up employee volunteering projects that benefit the employer, employees and the community as a whole, acting as a broker to provide consultancy to organisations which wish to engage in employee volunteering, and developing and delivering volunteering programmes.
www.csv.org.uk
CSV Make a Difference Day run by CSV and supported by Barclays Plc, CSV Make a Difference Day is an annual volunteering event that takes place each October. CSV provides a range of volunteering opportunities across the UK, as well as publicity and merchandise.
www.csv.org.uk/difference
ENGAGE is an international business-led campaign that aims to increase the quality and extent of employee engagement in the development of healthy and sustainable communities.
Run by the IBLF and Business in the Community, ENGAGE helps to build business competitiveness and to meet community needs through the time, talents, energies and resources of employees. ENGAGE is delivered by a network of expert national partner organisations able to facilitate quality employee community engagement opportunities in countries across the world.
Previously called the CECILE network, this group is now called ENGAGE and comprises members of the CSR Europe Network as well as specialists in the development of community partnerships. www.iblf.org/activities/engage
The Heart of the City is a joint initiative launched by the Bank of England, the Corporation of London and the Financial Services Authority. The aim is to make it easy for companies and individuals in the City, City Fringe and Docklands to get more involved in their local communities. www.theheartofthecity.com
The International Business Leaders Forum is running the Engage initiative to promote employee involvement in the community, in partnership with Business in the Community (see above) – www.iblf.org
The Office of the Third Sector has been set up to drive forward the Government's role in supporting a thriving sector, and brings together sector–related work from across government. The third sector includes voluntary and community organisations, charities, social enterprises, faith groups, cooperatives and mutuals.
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thirdsector
Points of Light is an American volunteering organisations, and its website includes information on the annual Community Service Conference and useful research on employer supported volunteering, including a regular e-mail newsletter on employer supported volunteering.
www.pointsoflight.org
Smartchange - using the smartchange giving system, charities can present information about their cause, their needs and their volunteering opportunities to over 100,000 UK employees. Smartchange services include online donation of money, time and other support, as well as web-building and hosting services.
www.smartchange.org.uk
TimeBank is a national campaign encouraging people to give their time and get involved in their local communities. Through web-based technology, TimeBank matches the skills, interests and availability of TimeGivers with a range of opportunities and a local TimePartner. Special programming produced by the BBC, TimeBank’s broadcast media partner, goes out on network television, local radio and on-line.
www.timebank.org.uk
A national network of Volunteer Centres supported by Volunteering England, provides support at a local level for individual volunteers and volunteer involving organisations, they have six core functions:
- Brokerage
- Marketing volunteering
- Good practice development
- Develop volunteering opportunities
- Policy response and campaigning
- Strategic development of volunteering
Volunteering England is the integrated national volunteer development agency for England, working across the voluntary, public and private sectors to raise the profile of volunteering as a powerful force for change .
Volunteering England also runs the Employees in the Community Network. This membership network facilitates the sharing of best practice with organisations from all sectors with employer supported volunteering programmes.
www.volunteerinorg.uk
Equivalent organisations in other parts of the UK are:
Volunteer Development Agency, Northern Ireland
Telephone: 02890 236100
Website: www.volunteering-ni.org
Volunteer Development Scotland
Telephone: 01786 479593
Website: www.vds.org.uk
Wales Council for Voluntary Action
Telephone: 0870 607 1666
Website: www.wcva.org.uk
The Institute for Volunteering Research is an initiative of Volunteering England in association with the Centre for Institutional Studies at the University of East London. One area of interest is research and consultancy on employer supported volunteering for a range of organisations in the public, private, and voluntary sectors.
www.ivr.org.uk
Volunteers’ Week is a UK wide campaign, supported by Volunteering England, celebrating volunteering, which provides a high profile opportunity to recognise, reward and recruit volunteers. Volunteers’ Week takes place annually, during the first week of June, and is backed by an ideas pack and merchandise.
www.volunteersweek.org.uk
With grateful thanks to the above organisations for the information on these web pages.
