Sally Russell manages the The Monarch Foundation and spreads the joy of goodwill throughout the company. The Foundation is the cornerstone of The Monarch Group’s corporate responsibility programme and Sally organises the events that take place within the walls of Monarch and encourages both customers and employees to give back.
Established in May 2013 as a force for doing good in the communities in which it operates and more widely, The Monarch Foundation brings together the generosity of its millions of customers and thousands of employees to make a strong and positive commitment to its chosen charity partners.
Find out what we’ve been up to this year from Sally and how charity work has made a real difference in people’s lives.
As we enter the season of goodwill, there’s no better time than today, #GivingTuesday, for us to think about the people around us who might need a little bit of extra support. After the consumer frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday (1st December 2015) is all about giving something back. And it works. Last year, charity donations in the UK on #GivingTuesday increased by 270% and over £2,500 a minute was donated, with “UN-selfies” from people all over the world posted during its 11 hours of trending on social media.
#GivingTuesday encourages us all to donate our time, our money or our support to help a good cause. As individuals, charities and businesses around the world, it gives us an opportunity to take stock and look for opportunities for our own giving.
Here at Monarch, our commitment to the spirit of giving goes back a long way. Our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support is now in its 26th year, and with the help of our customers and employees, we’ve been able to raise £4.5 million during that time to help Macmillan make sure that no one faces cancer alone and everyone receives the care and support they need.
So far this year, our customers onboard have raised an incredible £262,000 for Macmillan. £50,000 of this will fund a therapy treatment room at the new East Surrey Macmillan Cancer Centre at Redhill, near our base at Gatwick. Services at the centre will include cancer information, emotional and financial support and complementary therapies. Patients and their loved ones will be able to talk to people who understand and get advice to help make their cancer journey as worry-free as possible.
Building on the success of our relationship with Macmillan, The Monarch Foundation was established almost three years ago to bring together our commitment to corporate social responsibility and to strengthen our role as a good corporate citizen. Supporting five main causes – disadvantaged families, children and young people, education, environment and sustainability and injured military service people and their families – the Foundation helps us make a positive difference to those who really need it.
This year, we’re helping nine charity partners with their amazing work: Macmillan Cancer Support, BBC Children in Need, When You Wish Upon A Star, Home-Start UK, The Dick Camplin Education Trust, Homeless World Cup, Level Trust, Just a Drop and Blind Veterans UK.
Working with our charity partners, the Monarch Foundation can tailor its support to help the people who need supporting the most. Whether that’s helping to bring safe, clean water to remote communities in Africa, training cabin crew on how to help visually impaired customers onboard our aircraft, assisting financially disadvantaged students as they start their university journey or supporting homeless people through the life changing work of the Homeless World Cup, the Monarch Foundation is here to help give something back.
Supporting all of our charity partners is important to us. For example, this November, onboard we collected all month for BBC Children in Need and also for Blind Veterans UK, as part of our Remembrance Day activities. You may also have noticed that three of our aircraft have grown moustaches in support of the Movember campaign and collections onboard these aircraft will all go to the Movember Foundation. It’s not always about fundraising – this year we’ve helped to provide professional skills to Home-Start UK and we supported the Homeless World Cup by sponsoring the referees and by sending four Monarch employees to the Homeless World Cup in Amsterdam as part of an International Volunteer team.
We also work with Pennies, the digital charity box, which makes the concept of giving small donations easy and affordable for us all. When Monarch customers make flight and holiday bookings online we ask them if they would like to make a donation of 50p to charity. The result? This year so far through the generosity of our customers, we’ve raised almost £25,000 for six of our charity partners.
Our staff are incredible as well when it comes to fundraising. This year they have baked, boated, jogged, hiked, cycled and raffled their way to raising a phenomenal £25,000 for the Monarch Foundation charities and raised much more besides for many other causes.
This year on #GivingTuesday we’re promoting Workplace Giving to staff. Regular giving from the workplace allows charities to plan confidently for the future and saves on their admin costs too. Plus, each chosen charity receives the donations tax-free when given directly from pay. Which means it’s an extremely worthwhile thing to do from whichever way you look at it.
So, on this global day of giving, what are you waiting for? Why not make a donation, volunteer your time or simply help someone who needs it. Today of all days, go out into the world and do well. But more importantly, go out into the world and do good. It’s good to give.
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