For my very first blog post as the new Chair of BHP’s CSR Committee, I’m very happy to be able to announce our final fundraising total for 2023/24. This year the team have been very busy, and we’re delighted to have raised an amazing £21,000 for more than 30 different charities across the UK!
It’s been a fantastic group effort, with individual challenges, various office initiatives and team events contributing to the overall amount. Some of our highlights over the year up to the end of March 2024 included fundraising walks, bake off competitions and charity awareness days. In August, we held a sweepstake for the Women’s Football World Cup and raised £300 for three different local charities.
Volunteering
We also enjoyed eight volunteering days over the summer, with teams taking part in activities across Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Some of the places where our volunteers helped out were Woodhouse Washlands in Sheffield, Meanwood Urban Farm in Leeds, Stoney Ridge Plantation in Bradford, and Centenary Riverside, Rotherham.
I also took some time out with my Chesterfield team to volunteer at Cromford Mills in Matlock. We spent a day carrying out a whole range of tasks including sanding, oiling and painting picnic benches for the cafés, sorting through the attic in the mill, painting a bin store and weeding along the canal and in other public areas. It was fantastic to be able to give back to the community and to one of my own clients.
Fundraising
Some of the other key events we’ve supported include Movember (£685 raised), Macmillan Coffee Morning (£773 raised) and Christmas Jumper Day (£223 raised). And we also took part in the Master Cutler’s Challenge in Sheffield, raising a fantastic £1,287 for Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust by organising a variety of activities, one of which was a super competitive netball match between our Chesterfield and Sheffield offices.
In October 2023, we organised two charity fundraising walks. First, our Financial Planning team took on a hike along the North Yorkshire coast from Scarborough to Whitby, raising £1,365 for the Alzheimer’s Society, while 34 members of the BHP team completed a 19-mile trek around Ladybower, Derwent and Howden reservoirs in the Peak District National Park and collectively raised more than £6,000 for the British Red Cross and other charities that they had a personal connection to.
Regional efforts
Our tuck shops have continued to be a hit, with Cleckheaton donating £700 last year to a number of different worth causes, while Chesterfield donated an additional £300.
Finally, in February this year, we opened temporary book shops in all our offices in aid of International Book Giving Day – a personal favourite of mine! This raised more than £200 for Grimm & Co – a Yorkshire-based charity that supports under-resourced children and young people with their confidence and skills around creativity and writing. Unsold books were donated to local charities.
Environment
Back in October, as part of our commitment to following sustainable business practices, we introduced a tree planting initiative. For every new BHP client, we now fund the planting of four trees – and in the first six months of the scheme being in place, we’re delighted to have planted 702 trees! Through our partnership with Ecologi, we’ve funded trees in Morocco, Uganda, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
It’s been a fantastic year and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved. I’ve loved being part of the CSR team and helping to organise so many events to help charitable organisations across Yorkshire and UK-wide. We have lots more planned this year, which we look forward to sharing with you soon!
