Quality Mark Awards Winners 2007
Gold Award Winners 2007
These companies have won a Gold Award for their Payroll Giving schemes. Why not join them by winning a Gold Award for your company? Click on the company name to find out more.
- Argos
- Admiral Insurance
- Deloitte and Touche
- Haymarket
- Pertemps People Development Group
- Royal Mail Group
Argos, part of Home Retail Group, was one of the first retail companies to receive and retain a Gold Award, and the first company in the UK to introduce Charities Trust’s award winning innovative concept Giving Payroll Giving - The Xtra Factor - to Argos employees.
Giving Payroll Giving - The Xtra Factor - gives employees the option of adding 3% annually to donations, a very innovative and effective way of growing Payroll Giving year-on-year. The introduction of this scheme gave Hands on Helping, our Professional Fundraising Organisation, a new concept to discuss with employees. The scheme has proved hugely popular with employees and of course charities.
Lorna Liggett, Home Retail Group Community Affairs Manager, expressed, “Payroll Giving is one of the few ways that charities receive unrestricted funds and such regular donations help grow essential charity services within our employees’ communities. Each year, our aim is to increase the uptake of donors across the whole of the Home Retail Group.”
Admiral Group implemented a Payroll Giving scheme in 1998, choosing the administrators South West Charitable Giving, (Payroll Giving Agency). A Professional Fundraising Organisation (PFO), Hands On Helping Charity, promoted the scheme in the workplace and the staff restaurant twice a year. Information is also available on the company intranet, which enables employees to pledge online. Over 10% of employees now donate through the scheme, the average gift is £8.79 per month, and the total monthly donation now amounts to almost £2,000.00.
Justin Beddows, Communications Manager, says: “As one of the major employers in South Wales, we have always been keen on encouraging our staff to give through Payroll Giving. We are very proud to receive this Gold Award; Payroll Giving is a fantastic way for employees and companies alike to embrace charity giving.”
Deloitte has offered Payroll Giving to its staff through CAF’s Give As You Earn scheme since 1989. In 1998 there were just 39 subscribers to the scheme. Today, thanks to Deloitte’s successful ‘FLY4CHARITY’ promotion, there are 2,700 staff making regular donations through the payroll, representing one quarter of the firm’s total workforce and raising over £700,000 for good causes every year.
‘FLY4CHARITY’ began with a proposal from Macmillan Cancer Relief, Deloitte’s charity of the year back in 2000, that all new payroll donors were entered into a prize draw for two free airline tickets. The scheme proved so successful that it is now run on a monthly basis for all donors to boost take-up. Deloitte matches employees’ donations up to 20% per month, or 40% if they choose to donate to the staff charity fund.
Richard Stone, Deloitte’s Director of Community Investment, says: “For us, winning a Payroll Giving Quality Mark Gold Award, now two years in a row, is recognition of the quality of our Payroll Giving scheme and an endorsement of the work we’ve put in to make it a success.”
Haymarket, the largest privately owned publishing company, received a Gold Award for their Payroll Giving scheme in 2007 and won Best Launch of a New Scheme at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards in October 2007.
Having launched Payroll Giving in February 2006 with Workplace Giving UK at their annual employee conference, the scheme was promoted across Haymarket’s UK sites. As an added incentive, Haymarket offered to 50% match the amount each employee pledged.
The launch attracted over 342 donors, giving around £28,000 per year to 104 different charities.The 10% uptake target was smashed and an impressive 28% of staff signed up. The scheme now generates over £50,000 a year for good causes.
Ian Ashcroft, Group Director of HR at Haymarket commented, “We are a family-owned business that has always been keen to meet its social responsibilities, and has done so by supporting a range of charities. As an extension to our corporate support, we were delighted to introduce Payroll Giving to our employees. Our Gold Award is a testament to their generosity and commitment.”
Pertemps People Development Group
Pertemps People Development Group received the Payroll Giving Gold Award in 2007, after two out of three of its employees joined its Payroll Giving scheme.
The Group, which helps disadvantaged job seekers secure sustainable employment opportunities, has offered Give As You Earn to its 650 employees since August 2004. Today, an impressive 66% of the organisation’s workforce has signed up. The company organises ‘seeing is believing’ visits for every donation, encouraging employees to learn more about who they’ve nominated and feature the visits through weekly Intranet announcements.
The company’s philosophy is to keep its giving local, making smaller donations to many worthy causes, many of whom would otherwise find it difficult to access regular funding; making a real difference where it’s needed most.
The Payroll Giving Gold Award also acts as a staff motivator. PR manager Phil Pemble explains: “The Gold Award is recognition for the contribution our staff make to society day in, day out. What we do through our scheme, the difference we make is genuinely appreciated by the recipients. Winning is the platform from which we want to tell other employers about the importance of Payroll Giving.”
The Royal Mail Group Payroll Giving scheme is one of the longest and most successful schemes in the UK and achieving the 2007 Gold Award is testament to the commitment of their employees who support charities tax-effectively.
Out of the 180,000 employees spread across 4,500 sites, nearly 50,000 employees donate to charity through Payroll Giving and raised over £3 million between January 06 and March 07. Carrying out face-to-face presentations to employees was the single most successful route to donor growth. The full support of the Group’s senior management team and partners (the Payroll Giving Agency - Charities Trust, Professional Fundraising Organisation - Payroll Giving in Action and charity partner Help the Hospices) were key to the company’s success in achieving a 26% take up rate.
Denyse Busby Earl, Group Director - Engagement & Inclusion, went on to say: “It makes us proud to think that Royal Mail Group’s colleagues donate via Payroll Giving and deliver nearly £3 million in tax-effective donations, making a real difference to communities throughout the UK and internationally.”
