This week, we had a chat with Hope who has been with Annapurna for over 3 years, focusing on Talent Acquisition. Hope is now a Principal Consultant within the HR Recruitment team and plays a key role in Annapurna’s charity involvement.
“Charity work is important to me because I’ve grown up in situations where I have relied on charities and other people’s generosity. I believe if you are in a position to give back, then every little helps!”
Hope discussed how the charity engagement within the company has evolved over time. Annapurna has always had an association with various charities and Annapurna Giving was setup to include the below core charities:
- Friends of the Earth
- The Cure Parkinson’s Trust
- The Soup Kitchen
- Parkinson’s UK
- Havens Hospices
- Amnesty International
- Disasters Emergency Committee
“Annapurna Giving was launched as a platform designed to give to the charities we feel strongly about”
Hope has previously helped to organise a food-bank drop off and was able to rally colleagues to donate cans and tins to a local bank. This helped to spark her involvement with Annapurna’s internal People Team, to discuss how they could make donations a regular structure. The Annapurna Wellness committee was then introduced, involving the People Team. Volunteers within the company are now able to get involved and join the committee as part of Annapurna’s employee networks.
“The community is an opportunity to centralise and structure ideas”
Certain people have personal affinities to some charities, so Annapurna creates a platform to be able to gain more awareness.
Some of the initiatives that we take part in include:
- Clothing boxes to donate eg. Care 4 Calais
- Pride month raising money for LGBTQ charities eg. Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust
- Monthly Quizzes, Tuck shop and Valentine’s roses which have raised money for Annapurna Giving
- Shelter 10km walk to raise money for the homeless population around Borough
- Soup Kitchen Volunteering
- Raising money for victims displaced through war, War Child and Choose Love
“It’s good to be able to be in tune with what’s happening in the world at the moment”
Hope gave a few recommendations as to why it is important for businesses to give back:
- Any company of any size should look at whom they’ve got to use their initiative and their resources
- Everyone should have an eye on areas that could do with fundraising as it is really a core part of how our society functions
- Give your employees an opportunity and a platform to be able to raise money for charities that mean something to them
If you have any questions, please do feel free to get in touch and connect with Hope on LinkedIn.
If you believe in our initiatives and want to get involved, then come see what could work for you. Have a look at the jobs on our career page.
