Partnering with Barnardos to raise money through a team building event sees benefits that stretch beyond the charity, according to Kate Conroy, Head of Partnerships, Barnardos.

ACTIVITY

Barnardos is one of Ireland’s leading children’s charities, working to give vulnerable children a better chance.

We support children and families in 56 services across Ireland. We work with children and young people from birth, as well as with their parents and carers.

Our mission is to deliver services and work with families, communities and our partners to transform the lives of vulnerable children who are affected by challenges such as domestic violence, parental mental ill health, extreme poverty or homelessness.

PARTNERSHIPS

There are many ways to get involved with Barnardos — it’s not all about getting out the company chequebook.

We have a number of strategic partnerships with well-known household brands that go over and above financial donations.

For example, we share skills and expertise.

Our partners can help us with our training needs and we can offer them cyber safety workshops, so parents can keep their children safe online.

A company’s employees may want to get involved with charitable fundraising, donating or volunteering activities.

TEAM BUILDING

It is always a great time to get a group together in the workplace and host an event that promotes staff engagement.

Teams can add a fundraising element to support Barnardos’ work and have a genuine impact in the communities where they live and work.

They can take on a challenge like a hike, bike or run while the sun is out from May to August or host a staff barbecue in aid of Barnardos.

Our annual Giving Day is on September 19, and our Big Breakfast event runs across October.

They are a great way to get staff from all across your business involved in something a bit different while supporting vulnerable children.

We have wonderful partners who have helped us workshop new ideas, gifted pro bono skills and support hours on projects, helped us host events, managed fundraising campaigns and more — we couldn’t do what we do every day without the support of our partners.

In the past, companies have gone head-to-head on survival challenges for 24 hours to raise money or formed teams across departments to help build, implement and train our staff on new IT dashboards, saving us training costs.

BENEFITS

This type of partnership works on many levels for companies and Barnardos — it’s all about working together on your strategic goals and matching them up with our community reach. It increases positive awareness of their brand for their audience or customers.

And collaboration with a charity partner like Barnardos supports a business’s ESG strategy by demonstrating that it is authentic about charitable giving and community impact, which helps with recruitment and retention.

Staff, especially young people, want to work for a company that cares — that creates tangible change and promotes support for people in the communities where we all live and work.

Supporting charitable causes through partnership and fundraising team events are impactful ways to strengthen team morale.

In many of the fundraising or volunteering team events organise with companies, staff are often meeting each other for the first time and it’s nice for us to know we can bring them together in a positive way.

Beyond creating a feel-good atmosphere, partnering with an organisation like Barnardos connects employees’ personal values with the organisation’s mission building a more cohesive and motivated workforce.

Photo: Kate Conroy, Head of Partnerships, Barnardos