| The first of a twice yearly roundtable for fundraising & volunteer groups Chaired by Michael Stratford, of Community Transport Sussex, the first meeting was held at the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity, located itself on the campus of Chailey Heritage. |
 Representatives from the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity, Befriended, Community Transport Sussex, Kangaroos, Community People, St Peter & St James Hospice and Burgess Hill Town Council at our inaugural event |
| Michael explained how he envisaged the Charities Roundtable would benefit from each other’s experiences, plus a dedicated involvement with all BHBPA members. The future may also find businesses ‘adopting’ charities, not by financial reward but by offering their resources. Main objectives of the roundtable were set out: -Networking, working as a team to promote the initial 12 charities of the BHBPA to the business community. -Initiate a secured discount structure for the charities from a variety of selected business. Some of this work had been done with a number offering their support. -Involve all members of BHBPA with an initial presentation by the charity group at a members’ meeting, thereafter, allowing a charity to be allowed a dedicated time to explain their profile at future events. It was clear there is a tremendous resource available by working together. For example, Lilly John, representing Community People, talked of the ‘Pledge Campaign’, changing the concept of volunteering. The next meeting was fixed for 23rd September as this ties in with the town council grant allocations. It was suggested by Peter Williams (Leader of BHTC) that an event involving all BHBPA members (after 23rd September) would be an ideal time for everyone’s involvement. It was suggested that The BH Community Foodbank, Age Concern & The Co-op, would also benefit from joining the group. |
| It was asked if one of our business members could endorse the charities group. This was put to the Chair of BHBPA, Mark Jackson, who had this to say: “The association wholeheartedly supports and endorses the work of our Charities Group to share best practice and make business participation with their charity activities as easy and as effective as possible. Burgess Hill Business Parks Association wishes this group every success. It provides an excellent conduit for our members to further their corporate social responsibility objectives.” |
| The next meeting of the BHBPA Charities Roundtable will be on September 23rd from 10.00-12.00 and will be held at St Peter & St James Hospice. It’s an open invitation to anyone wanting to understand more how they, their charity, od their business can make a difference. You’ll find details on our website. |
| Enabling better connections between business and the third sector |