We are growing our mission to include exciting partnership work with businesses. This allows us to expand the reach and impact of our activities, attracting new voyage crews and reducing costs for our beneficiaries. It also generates important income to help fund our core activities.
Our latest partnership with Barclays saw 20 staff members and 20 disabled or disadvantaged beneficiaries sail on a 4-day voyage from Poole. Barclays used the opportunity to create their own links with local charities, including Wessex Autism, The Youth Cancer Trust and The Enham Trust. The staff fundraised for their own costs and Barclays matched all the staff members’ fundraising amounts to fund the beneficiaries.
The voyage was an outstanding success with staff members learning about diversity, team-building, and leadership skills, as well as providing support for their disabled buddies. In the weeks following the voyage, the same office have re-booked for 2016 and 2 further business units have booked voyages to also use this proven model.
Not only does this activity provide us with much needed charter business at full cost recovery, it also ensures that disabled or disadvantaged people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to sail with us are given fully-funded places on the voyage, paid for by Barclays.
In addition to this great CSR program, Barclays have provided us with valuable introductions to potential new major donors through Barclays Wealth, and new business partners through Barclays Premier and Corporate. In the Summer of 2015 we ran day sails for them at the Bournemouth Air Show, the America’s Cup, and on The Thames finishing at Canary Wharf. Each one of these days generated new donors, partners and voyage charters – another great example of how we are benefitting from this partnership.
Barclays are committed to giving back to their communities through their Citizenship and LifeSkills programs, and 1/5th of their scorecard objectives relate to community. Everywhere I go within the Barclays network I hear the same enthusiasm and interest in community giving and engagement – a truly empowering and exciting organisation for us to work with.
Jon Woods, 26th November 2015
A Day in the Life of a Barclays Colleague
Barclays at Bournemouth Air Show 2015
