Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR Day

Every member of the FreshMinds and FreshNetworks team is given a paid CSR day of 1 day’s charitable volunteering  each year to spend on a project of their choice. This can be anything from helping to paint a mural to cheer up a school playground; wading in deep to help clean up the Thames; braving the cold December climes to sing carols in Victoria Station; or assisting with a disabled children’s group day out - we've done them all here. You can do the project on your own or with another FreshMinds team member. By volunteering, our employees use their skills to meet the needs of their communities and also develop new skills. All we ask is that employees report back to the rest of the business on what they got up to.

Environment

We’re committed to a low carbon economy and we’re working with the local council on an ongoing basis to lower carbon emissions by 2012.

To name a few of the things we do in the office are:

• We only use light saving bulbs in the office and recycle any old ones
• All public areas are fitted with motion sensors so there’s never a light on when there shouldn’t be
• There’s a concerted effort to always turn off monitors and other equipment when they are not in use
• Printing is also kept to a minimum with individual monthly targets set to keep everyone’s consumption down

Green Travel

A large proportion of the FreshMinds and FreshNetworks teams enjoy travelling to and from work by their own means – either cycling or on foot (running or walking). We encourage people to take up the ‘ride to work’ scheme and facilitate with bike storage and shower facilities. If there is travel to be done during the day then we’ll use public transport or Boris Bikes as much as we can. All couriers that we use are green friendly and use electric vehicles as much as possible.

Charitable Giving

In 2011 we have selected five key charities to donate to. These are Shelter, MSF, Kidsco, Cancer Research UK and PEAS. FreshMinds and FreshNetworks regularly hold fundraising events, both for these specific charities as well as on an ad hoc basis for global emergencies like Haiti or the Pakistan floods. We monitor and report back on all fundraising undertaken across the business and we’ll always make sure that people have fun in raising the great sums that they do.

You can donate a proportion of your salary to the charity of your choice every month through ‘Give As You Earn’. This year, we were awarded with the Gold Payroll Giving Quality Mark Award.

Past Events

We’ve baked and sold over 251 cakes; we’ve held Indian, Italian and pot-luck themed company lunches as well as a Mad Hatters Tea Party; we’ve had the sandwich of our choice prepared and delivered to our desks by one of the Managing Directors; we’ve run, cycled, swum, climbed over 2,500 miles and we’ve held a 24 hour table tennis match. We have contributed research fees to the Red Cross and raised money for SportAid in the Morgan Stanley Chase Corporate Challenge along with much, much more.

2011 Highlights

• Mad Hatter Tea Party– raised money for Amnesty International
• Leap CR Launch - our own online CSR communications platform
• Pub Quiz
• First Blood Donation
• PEAS walk