Top companies in Ireland contributed over €22 million to charities and community Groups in 2014

BITCI News - May 13, 2015

Business in the Community Ireland Reveals Top Companies in Ireland Contributed Over €22 million and 210,000 volunteer hours to Charities and Community Groups in 2014.

  • 48 of Ireland’s largest companies contributed over €22 million euro to support community groups and organisations in addressing key social issues and causes in 2014
  • Over 7000 community partnerships have been established
  • Employees volunteered over 210,000 hours to local groups and projects, up from 162,000 in 2013
  • Companies involvement in community is further increasing employee engagement and satisfaction
  • Statistics are now available on an online interactive map entitled the ‘Business Impact Map’

Dublin, 13th May 2015:  48 socially minded Irish companies have formed over 7000 community links and donated over €22 million in cash donations, in-kind donations and employee fundraising to local charities and community groups. This information is being captured by Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), on an online interactive map entitled the “Business Impact Map” which gives a county by county breakdown of how companies such as AOL, Boots, Bank of Ireland and Accenture and their employees supported their local community groups and charities during 2014.

The map was launched today by  Business in the Community Ireland at an event hosted by Three at its headquarters in Sir John Rogerson Quay, Dublin, where business leaders and NGOs came together to discuss the business benefits of engaging with communities as it can increase staff engagement and help attract and retain talent.

Business in the Community

The map which can be viewed online at http://livemaps.bitc.ie captures statistics from 48 of Ireland’s largest companies that are members of Business in the Community Ireland, Ireland’s leading organisation on corporate responsibility and only network for responsible business practices. National statistics show that over €10.5 million was given in cash donations; €8.6 million was contributed through in-kind donations and almost €3.5 million was raised through employee fundraising. Employees also volunteered over 212,000 hours to local groups and projects during the year, a significant increase from 162,000 in 2013.

Social issues that received the most support were health at almost €6.6 million, education programmes at €2.3 million, children and youth projects at €2.28 million and poverty programmes at €2.26 million.

Increasingly, employees want to work with companies who have values that align with their own and also expect companies to engage with community groups as standard. According to a PWC Millennials Study in 2014, 1 in 2 recent college graduates are seeking a company that has CSR values that align with their own.

In addition, companies know that promoting volunteering amongst staff can improve morale and engagement.   88% of HR Executives believe that volunteerism has a positive impact on reputation and is valued by and benefits staff according to a 2013 Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey.

Tina Roche, Chief Executive, Business in the Community Ireland said: “Employees are the heroes of this story.  Last year was a challenging time for the charitable sector so it is heartening to see that companies and their employees in Ireland continued to support social issues all around the country. What is especially noteworthy is the sharp increase in volunteer hours by employees to local community groups. Employees want to work for companies that support their volunteering efforts and crucially want to work where their values align with their employer. Companies know that by engaging in tackling social issues it can drive employee engagement and also can attract and retain the best talent as employees now expect their employers to have a community strategy in place as standard”.

In the county by county breakdown, counties which ranked the highest for overall funding outside of Dublin were Cork receiving €1.1 million, Kildare receiving €816,000, Galway receiving €748,000 and Mayo receiving €675,000. For employee fundraising, after Dublin, Cork ranked the highest at €166,000 in total followed by Galway with almost €160,000 and Kilkenny at €152,000. For volunteering hours, after Dublin, Kildare was well ahead of the rest with over 21,000 hours volunteered. Next were Meath and Cork with 12,500 and 11,700 hours respectively.

* BITCI member companies profiled on the map are:  A&L Goodbody, Abbott Laboratories Ireland, Abtran, Accenture, Amgen, AOL, Arup, BAM Contractors, Bank of Ireland Group, Baxterstorey, Boots Retail (Irl) Ltd, BT Ireland, Compass Group, Davy, Deloitte, Eircom, EirGrid plc, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car, ESB Group, FBD Holdings, Gas Networks Ireland, IBM Ireland Ltd., Intel Ireland, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Ltd, Janssen Pharmaceutical, KBC Bank Ireland, Kellogg Europe, KPMG, Marks & Spencer (Ireland) Ltd, Microsoft Ireland, MSD, Musgrave Group, Northern Trust Ireland, Oracle EMEA, PwC, Ricoh, Roadbridge, RTE, Shell E&P (Ireland) Ltd, State Street, Symantec, Tesco Ireland, Top Oil, Topaz Energy Group, Transdev Dublin Light Rail Limited, Ulster Bank Group, Veolia and Vodafone Ireland

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About Business in the Community Ireland

Business in the Community Ireland is the leading  organisation on corporate responsibility in Ireland. As Ireland’s only network for responsible business, established in 2000, our core membership consists of 80 of Ireland’s largest companies, demonstrating the importance that corporate responsibility and sustainability has for leading businesses today. We help companies measure, manage and report on their corporate responsibility. In addition, we run the Business Working Responsibly Mark, Ireland’s only certification for responsible and sustainable business practices and audited by the NSAI.

Pictured above:

  • AOL: Robert Moher, Senior Manager, Facilities & Corporate Services
  • Accenture: Julie Spillane, Managing Director Accenture Global Services
  • Boots:  Rachel Nolan, Corporate Responsibility & Policy Manager
  • Bank of Ireland: Gerry Prizeman, Head of Enterprise Development