| Mapping what businesses would like to help charities with and what charities want help with. A presentation from Daran Bennett RPD Foundation gave an overview of their CSR Brokerage Project with Manor Royal, and it’s objective is to map these better together, do things differently and change the thinking around the ‘Volunteer days’ that invariably larger businesses offer their staff. A full room of 20 were hosted by Edwards Vacuum, including various charities, community groups and local businesses wanting to know more about how they can help. BHBPA is a key stakeholder in connecting the dots between the third sector and local businesses. We intend to engage with other key local stakeholders who manage community action and assess how we could pilot this scheme in Mid Sussex in the next 6-12 months. Our association has the support of many local multi-nationals and larger SMEs, together with many community minded sole traders and micro businesses based in and around the town, all members of BHBPA. We are looking for representatives from ALL large members and from any businesses which consider ESG / CSR initiatives an important part of their company ethos to come forward and find out more. Many ways to help the third sector Businesses can help charities in many ways, apart from the more obvious fund raising, we list a few of the opportunities that could be accessed through the potential Mid Sussex Brokerage Service. -Resources – a very wide variety of items, here’s just a few: coffee/tea/biscuits/paper/bird feed/unwanted office furniture or office equipment -Space – temporary storage/the use of office space for short periods of time -Encourage staff to take up trusteeships/governorships -Volunteer days/hours using specific professional skills or for example, short driving assignments in the community Ease of Consumption Daran made it clear that charities can also help themselves more in providing ‘ease of consumption’ in the context of a business helping them. The Manor Royal scheme facilitates that to a considerable degree. You’ve got some desks you don’t need anymore? We have a charity needing some now, for example. Evaluation is key Providing the measurable impact of a business engagement with a charity provides that business with valuable asset in its reporting of its CSR /ESG commitments, as well as much needed evidence for Charities impact for funders. The importance of CSR / ESG For any business tendering for business with any large organisation, you’ll need to show off your CSR/ESG credentials. Looking for any kind of funding? Again, CSR/ESG is often a component of the application process. Our next steps We’ll look forward to working with Daran and the @RPDFoundation to bring all this together through a version of the Brokerage Service for a Burgess Hill/ Mid SX focused initiative. We’ll liaise with the RPD Foundation and look to secure additional local partners and stakeholders that can help us deliver the cohesion required for the scheme. Our aim is to better facilitate engagement between businesses and the third sector, including also local schools.  Daran Bennett of the RPD Foundation, explained how it works on Manor Royal |
| richard.cox@bhbpa.co.uk 07393 728688 |