OCF will host a morning symposium to help businesses understand how to share the time, talent and skills of their employees with the charity sector. It will take place Tuesday 10th April 2018 at the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre.
Charities might be looking for the corporate pound, but they also highly value the corporate ‘muscle’ – the wealth of professional skills, talent, knowledge and experience that businesses possess. Some of the skills companies might take for granted are priceless to charities and community organisations – and our next Reciprocate event will explore how businesses can share them in the most effective way.
Mark Beard, Chairman of family-run business Beard Construction, is keen to promote employee volunteering as a mutually beneficial activity – one that supports the charitable sector, but also brings significant benefits to businesses in developing the leadership and professional skills of their staff. He sees this personal and career development aspect as a crucial way for Beard to remain a local leader, and is keen to share and encourage other businesses to adopt the same approach. The Beard Charitable Foundation, set up by the Beard family to support its own staff in their charitable activities, is delighted to be lead sponsor for Reciprocate’s ‘Corporate muscle’ symposium at the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre – an impressive construction project that was completed by Beard in 2017.
This event will be the chance to hear from other leading businesses about the voluntary roles their staff have taken, and to attend interactive seminar sessions on practical topics such as how to link volunteering with career development, and where to go to find opportunities to share skills with charities.
It is planned that speakers will include William Downing, a Partner at Blake Morgan who is Chair of Homeless Oxfordshire; Graham Beith, who is Branch Manager at Handelsbanken in Reading and volunteers as a charity trustee; and Clive Johnson, Group Head of Health, Safety and Security at Westgate developers Landsec, who has championed the company’s innovative and highly successful CSR initiative.
The symposium will include refreshments and a buffet lunch, and the chance to network with like-minded businesses. There will also be a series of ‘marketplace’ stands where company staff can make connections with community sector partners who can help them take action on skills-based volunteering.
Businesses are encouraged to invite their wider staff teams as well as their senior leaders to the symposium as a chance for them to explore their personal development and how it could be enhanced through volunteering.