Our community involvement continues to ensure that our activities bring benefits to the local communities and the people within them, supporting employment and regenerating local areas.
We have also continued to support charities and local groups through company donations of time, expertise and financial donations.
Our performance
We continued to be active in the communities in which we operate; we supported projects through the Henry Boot Endowment Funds managed on our behalf by South Yorkshire Community Foundation (SYCF) and through direct donations.
Some of the projects and fundraising we have been involved in over the last 12 months are:
- Sheffield Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre – through SYCF we help enable the centre to keep the helpline open longer, doubling from 12 hours to 24 hours a day and recruit 20 new volunteers;
- No Panic Sheffield – through SYCF we provided room hire for this self-help group for people suffering from anxiety and panic attacks;
- Exodus Project– supported with a grant to contribute towards providing a youth club which aims to build relationships to disadvantaged young people from Barnsley.
We have donated £18,072 to charities nominated by our employees through our Give As You Earn Scheme (2015: £13,078), and in 2016 we donated in excess of £65,131 to a varied range of causes, both locally and nationally.
We have continued to work alongside local colleges and universities and have hosted year out placement students through out our Group of companies. This is an ongoing partnership which will continue year on year.
During 2014 we introduced Dress Down Fridays at our Sheffield headquarters. After initial success it was decided to install Dress Down Fridays every week instead of monthly basis, with this years (2018) chosen charity being Dementia UK.
In 2016 The Henry Boot Group of Companies successfully took part in the Sheffield Master Cutler’s Challenge, which was in aid of raising fund for St Luke's and Rotherham Hospice. Through various fund raising events the company managed to raise £24,558. With this total only been beaten by one other company, we was awarded second place and "Most Innovative Fundraising Initiative" with our salary sacrifice idea.
At the end of 2016, we decided to nominate a "Charity of the Year" in which the Group of companies would donate all the funds raised from events to, while still supporting as many other charities as possible. After a staff survey St Luke's, who provide specialist palliative care, was chosen for 2017. At the end of the year the Group had managed to raise over £22,000 for St Luke's with Dementia UK being chosen as the charity of the year for 2018.
Our achievements
Our people take great pride in the work they do in our communities; they are all advocates for Henry Boot and are a credit to our businesses. We make a significant investment in our community programmes and support colleagues' fundraising and volunteering for all charities and registered good causes.
We continued to be a Considerate Constructors Scheme Partner and saw a continued upward trend in our scoring. In 2017 we achieved an average score of 38.2, which is significantly higher than the industry average score.
Case study
St Luke's
After taking part in the Master Cutler’s Challenge 2016, Henry Boot Group of Companies formed a special relationship with St Luke’s, who were one of the benefactors that year. At the beginning of 2017 it was decided to make St Luke’s our Charity of the Year and begin on a new journey to raise as much money as possible.
St Luke’s are a Sheffield charity caring for people aged 18 and above throughout the city who have terminal illnesses. Their aim is to control their symptoms, alleviate pain, and give them the best possible quality of life, which of course being a charity is all free of charge.Our first step was to form an internal committee, with members across the whole Group, to come up with ideas and events to ensure we achieved the same success as in previous years. Whilst the list below contains some familiar fixtures, the committee managed to once again come up with some great events, including:
- Dress Down Day
- Sales from IT equipment
- Employee “Give an hour”
- St Luke’s Raffle
- Bake Off
- Wold Walk
- Race Night at Owlerton Stadium, Hillsborough
- Summer BBQ
It was great to see so much support not only from our employees but from St Luke’s as well, who throughout the year continually provided us with support with all our fundraising events and staff interaction.
Amy Oakley, who lead the Henry Boot committee, said, “We have developed a great relationship with the St Luke’s team and hope to continue to develop it in the forthcoming years. They really got involved in helping me and the committee to organise last year’s events, and were always keen support us whenever possible. I was so proud to have been part of the team that raised such an incredible sum to support their work.”
At the end of the year the Group managed to raise £22,539.88, a total everyone at Henry Boot should be very proud of. To have raised this amount for a truly fantastic cause is amazing but to have done it with St Luke’s as a partnership will always make 2017 a memorable year.
“We are so grateful to everyone at Henry Boot for the amazing support they have given to St Luke’s. We have formed a fantastic working relationship with their team and have been consistently impressed by their dedication, commitment and passion for supporting our vital work caring for adults with a terminal illness and their loved ones and families in Sheffield. The Henry Boot team developed and delivered an exciting range of fundraising events and opportunities and everyone here at St Luke’s is very grateful for the impact they have had on our work” – Jack Kidder, Corporate Fundraising Manager.
If you wish to find out more about the wonderful work St Luke’s do please visit www.stlukeshospice.org.uk.
Dementia UK
In 2017, the Henry Boot Group of Companies selected St Luke’s Hospice as our Charity of the Year, and collectively raised over £22,500 through various events and activities.
Following on from this, employees decided that Dementia UK would be our chosen charity for 2018, with the aim of reaching the dizzying heights of the previous year in terms of fundraising.
Dementia UK provides specialist dementia support through their Admiral Nurse service. Their nurses work alongside people with dementia and their families, giving them the one-to-one support, expert guidance and practical solutions they need.
Admiral Nurses are continually trained, developed and supported by Dementia UK. Families that have their support have someone truly expert and caring by their side – helping them to live more positively with dementia in the present, and to face the challenges of tomorrow with more confidence and less fear.
Throughout the year, the Group held various fundraisers, some of which had been done previously, but also a few new additions. Highlights included:
- Summer BBQ
- Henry Boot World Cup
- Race Night at Owlerton Stadium, Hillsborough
- Employee “Give an Hour”
- Golf Day
- IT equipment sales
- Dress Down Friday
As they were with St Luke’s, employees across the Group were fully behind Dementia UK, always delighted to help out whenever possible, and supported the cause throughout the year.
When the dust settled, the total amount raised was £30,617.47, an incredible amount which even eclipsed the staggering figure from 2017.
Amy Oakley, Head of the Charity Committee, said, “We are proud to have continued our fundraising efforts for our charity of the year, Dementia UK, and having raised our highest amount yet! At over £30,000 and having organised lots of fun new internal and external events last year, we are hoping this fabulous sum will go a long way to helping the efforts of Dementia UK in providing vital help and support for dementia sufferers and their families.”
Corporate Partnerships Executive at Dementia UK said, “Our partnership with Henry Boot Plc has been extremely successful, raising over £30k in one year. We are so grateful to their staff who took part in a range of fundraising activities, such as hosting football tournaments and selling Dementia UK branded Christmas cards. Their enthusiasm and creativity has been brilliant. Thank you to everyone at Henry Boot PLC.”
