It is widely accepted that companies who develop well publicised relationships with charities can reap a number of tangible benefits. In a competitive marketplace, where differences in product and price are small, the successful companies will be the ones that can find different methods to relate to potential customers. Benefits companies can receive by working with charities on a corporate level include:

  • Strengthening of reputation and brand
  • Enhancement of relations with local community
  • Improved staff morale and team development
  • Demonstration of good corporate citizenship
  • Increased sales

In return for your support, we can promote your company in a variety of ways, from adding your logo to our website, to a feature in our quarterly newsletter or advertising at our wildlife hospital.

What you can do

Employee Fundraising

Would members of your staff like to raise money for HART? Stories of employees doing sponsored events for a worthwhile charity make great press releases. Perhaps your company would consider holding ‘dress down days’, allow us to hold lunch time merchandise sales or tombolas on their premises?

Monetary Donation

This can range from a small regular donation that helps to finance the essential day-to-day work of HART to sponsoring a specific item that will always have your companies name attached to it.

Charity of the Year/Charity of Choice

A Charity of the Year scheme promotes team spirit and gives your staff a real opportunity to work together to make a difference. There are many different ways you can support us across the year, from fundraising events, to sponsored challenges, to team volunteering and they are all great fun. HART are lucky enough to have been chosen as Charity of the Year for Sainsbury's in Alton this year.

Gifts in Kind

Does your company provide a product used by HART? By donating goods you can help reduce the financial strains on the charity, and genuinely make a difference to the care provided to the sick and injured wildlife. For example, sponsorship from Ecover provided us with all our cleaning products for a year. We are always in need of a range of items and services from goods we use in the hospital to prizes for auctions, design and printing of communication materials, and venues for events and meetings. Other relevant services are most welcome, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have an idea you would like to share or a service you can offer.

Collection boxes

Some shops, pubs and other retail outlets allow collection boxes for small change to be placed on their counters. Can you arrange this for us? We would be pleased to supply our collecting boxes as all the pennies soon add up to pounds.

Employee volunteering

The John Lewis Partnership had a corporate sponsorship scheme and we benefited from one of their staff coming to work with us for six months – and happily she stayed on afterwards! Does your company have a similar scheme? We have had staff from several companies come and work with us and day release schemes, including BDO Stoyward, AXA Winterthur and Winchester University and this can provide your company with great coverage both in our newsletter and website, or in the local press.

Earlier this year a Basingstoke company offered the help of its employees for a 2 week period as part of their charitable work, perfectly timed as there were a lot of baby mouths to feed. Here is what one of the volunteers had to say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"My name is Karen Margesson and I work for AXA Winterthur Wealth Management as a Customer Experience Manager. For two weeks in June, AXA ran its “Hearts in Action” Community Challenge, which gives employees the chance to embark on a range of projects and tasks to help their local communities. When I saw that HART was one of the charities where volunteers could lend a hand, I practically begged our organiser to let me go and work there. I was already familiar with the work done at HART as I had taken a few sick or injured birds there over the years, so the opportunity for being able to spend a morning there and help out in some small way was a chance for me to try to give something back. I have a very real love of wildlife of any kind, and a special penchant for birds. When I was young, my family always had nesting boxes and hideaways for birds in our garden in Essex and I can remember as a child, my father lifting me up so that I could peep into the nests.

After my morning working at HART as part of the AXA Challenge I knew I couldn’t just leave it at that, so I signed-on as a regular volunteer and now go back on Saturdays too. My thanks to June and Bob for their courtesy and tolerance and for allowing me the privilege of continuing to put into practice what I learned on that that first day. "