Volunteer’s Week, from 1st to 7th June, is an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. Locally, Team Oxford has launched a movement to build more collaborations between charities and volunteers wanting to improve lives.
The Beacon Awards for philanthropy were announced at a glittering ceremony at Mansion House last week, with 12 people recognised for their generosity, innovation and collaboration. OCF supporters Jane Wates OBE and Monawar Hussain were amongst those shortlisted, in the company of winners Dame Kelly Holmes and Dame Vivienne Westwood.
Reciprocate members and staff from Oxfordshire Community Foundation joined over 950 delegates at yesterday’s Business in Oxford conference at The King’s Centre in Oxford. Delegates enjoyed seminars on a wide range of topics, including a session on corporate social responsibility sponsored by Reciprocate member Unipart.
We are delighted to be sponsoring the volunteer category at this year’s OCVA Awards ceremony. The awards recognise the many individuals who give thousands of hours of their time to helping others in Oxfordshire.
OCF’s Chief Executive Jayne Woodley contributed towards an event run by the Oxford Diocese on Wednesday about homelessness in Thames Valley. Attendees were asked to consider how the church can respond to rising numbers of rough sleepers and soaring rents and house prices.
The new High Sheriff Jane Cranston, who picks up the baton from Sarah Taylor, will focus her time and energies on a new theme for the coming year: that of justice and fairness of opportunity.
At the end-of-festival celebration dinner on Monday, Jayne paid tribute to some of the local women working with OCF to alleviate the suffering of others, from helping the children of prisoners, to promoting restorative justice, to addressing mental health issues.
Civic leaders, teachers and local charities joined the High Sheriff Sarah Taylor at Modern Art Oxford last week to celebrate the Getting Court project, which gives disengaged school pupils a new outlook by educating them about the criminal justice system.
In this timely book, John Nickson, one of Britain’s most experienced and successful fundraisers, argues that there will be catastrophic effects on our democracy unless we all commit to creating the social, cultural and intellectual capital we need to sustain society and our economy.
A packed audience of around 200 Oxfordshire business leaders were given an insight into how the John Lewis Partnership puts the happiness of its Partners (staff) at the centre of its business, at a high-profile OCF event in Oxford this week.