Communities
Progress in 2007
| Objectives | Progress against objectives |
|---|---|
| Increase participation in sporting events among youngsters in wheelchairs, recruiting from mainstream as well as special schools | 700 children participated in seven events: Junior Heroes, Basketball Camp and five Sports Camps. Of the 270 children at the Junior Heroes camp, 60% were from special schools and 40% from mainstream schools. |
| Align WheelPower activity with other Norwich Union grassroots athletics activity | The Junior Heroes event was held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, to coincide with the Norwich Union-sponsored, televised UK Athletics event. This gave WheelPower the opportunity to showcase their work. |
| Continue to encourage staff volunteering with WheelPower | Throughout 2007, 42 employees volunteered at regional WheelPower events/National Junior Wheelchair Games. |
| Revise entire employee programme with the aim of increasing donations, fundraising and matching compared to 2006 | The revised matching scheme for employees was introduced in April 2007, offering wider scope for employees and a larger matching budget, resulting in increased fundraising activity and more money raised. |
| Revise the Staff Community Award to include Sporting Achievement and Sporting Motivator categories to complement our involvement with UK Athletics | The Staff Community Award was relaunched as Volunteer Plus. Following discussions with employees, the basis of the scheme was not changed. |
Review the regional giving programme to ensure local community organisations benefit from fundraising and volunteering as well as company donations |
This programme was revised in 2007 with the development of 11 Community Groups established in larger Norwich Union and RAC offices. These groups have more autonomy to disburse funds to local organisations and employees are encouraged to fundraise for the same organisations. |
| Assess our charity partnerships | A wide-scale review of our charity partnerships took place during 2007 which resulted in us not renewing our existing partnerships. A new national charity partnership will be decided and implemented in 2008. |
Implement new community strategy focusing on key community issues in our employment regions |
The new framework has been implemented with Community Groups at 11 ‘hub’ sites (larger Norwich Union and RAC) offices having responsibility for local community engagement (see above). We are actively involved with over 60 schools, with over 300 employees volunteering through two new schemes. |
| Launch Worthing community project | The Worthing project ‘Use it, don’t abuse it’ ran over the course of the year, involving over 60 young people and the production of a DVD and culminating in a celebration event in October. |
Highlights
- 1 million schoolchildren benefited from our grassroots athletics programme