How can your organisation set up a charity partnership?

Wellbeing & Engagement Partner Hannah B. shares some tips on how to develop a charity partnership to be proud of.

Did you know the act of engaging with charitable causes can help create more inclusive and resilient societies?

Coming together to support those in need can boost mental health and create a real sense of social bonding between colleagues from different teams. It can also help to break down social stigmas and support health and wellbeing.

That's why every year, we partner with a different charity nominated by colleagues across HES.

As well as organising fundraising events to support their work, we include events in our annual Wellbeing Programme to reflect and promote the services they provide. In recent years we’ve collaborated with Vocal , Macmillan Cancer Support , S A M H Scottish Association Of Mental Health , SHAKTI WOMEN'S AID and Age Scotland .

For 2024-2026, we've partnered with Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) , whose mission is to save and improve lives by delivering rapid, emergency medical care to those in urgent need across Scotland from their base at Perth Airport.

If you've been thinking of doing something similar at your organisation, here are our three top tips on setting up a charity partnership.

?

1. Take an inclusive approach?

Make sure everyone has an opportunity to get involved.

Start with making sure staff know how and when they can nominate and vote for the next charity partner.

Ensure there is plenty of time for colleagues to submit nominations and, once voting is open, plenty of time for people to vote.

This will look different depending on the size and location of your organisation. As a national charity with offices all over Scotland and many colleagues who work on site without much desk time, we use lots of different internal communication formats including emails, staff intranet, posters at tea points, our internal newspaper and of course asking managers to cascade at team meetings.

Once colleagues have voted on our charity for the year, we make sure staff have the chance to get involved in developing the fundraising activities.

We recommend offering a wide range of options for fundraising so teams can choose what best works for them. We've had bucket collections at community events, bake sales, raffles and book swaps, online quizzes, skydives and a cyclothon.

But it's a great idea to use skills that are specific to your people.

This year our joinery apprentices, John MacLennan and Lewis Hudson, designed and constructed a pair of fantastic planters. Then two of our gardeners, Ben Chatfield and Euan Stoddart, filled them with a range of beautiful plants and flowers. These were raffled off to two lucky winners, raising over ￡200 for Age Scotland and showcasing some of the amazing skills of our colleagues at HES.

2. Weave the partnership into other wellbeing campaigns

Although only one part of our overall approach to employee wellbeing and engagement, it is easy to join up a charity’s work with awareness raising and campaigning.

Last year we worked with Shakti Women’s Aid to highlight the important topic of domestic abuse and how we can better support colleagues who experience this.

This year, we are making use of the Age Scotland Workshops which align with the work we are doing to support our colleagues who have caring responsibilities.??

More broadly, our fundraising activities bring teams together to have a bit of fun!

This might look like creating a sense of camaraderie as we cheer on others taking on brave challenges, or a stoking a bit of healthy competition as we focus on getting our target fundraising amount.

This connectedness is so important in a dispersed organisation like ours for engagement, productivity and supporting wellbeing.?

?

3. Create a true partnership for lasting impact?

We are lucky that we have a visitor and community angle to what we do at HES, so connecting our outreach work with our charity partners is something we always explore.

Sometimes we already have the infrastructure set up for people to take advantage of, such as our education work which the children of Shakti’s clients benefited from.

We have also arranged some bespoke offers such as free access to Stanley Mills , Perthshire, arranged by our membership team for anyone taking a respite holiday in VOCAL’s carer cottage in Blair Athol.??

But partnership works both ways and we have sought the expertise within the charities we have partnered with too.

We consulted with Shakti and other charities on our approach to telling the story of domestic abuse in Newark Castle and how we ensure an inclusive approach to visitors.

We worked with Age Scotland on an Age Inclusion Matrix, which has supported us to develop a great action plan for a more age inclusive workplace.

And we still regularly connect with SAMH, Macmillan and VOCAL to ensure we use their resources and up to date support for colleagues.?

Regardless of what your organsiation does, there are so many ways to create a unique and mutually beneficial partnership. This might look like engaging directly with community groups, sharing knowledge and skills, or offering physical space for activities.?

Not just a box ticking exercise

For some, having a charity partnership is checking the Corporate Social Responsibility box, but for us at HES it has become an integral part of what we do.

Our corporate mission statement is Heritage for All , whilst our Equality Outcome Report commits us to challenging inequality and discrimination wherever we see it.

By constantly refining our charity partnership approach, we're improving our ability to work closely within communities across Scotland - as well as ensuring HES is a great place to work.?

?

?