Partnerships
Carers Trust aims to create true partnerships, encompassing both financial and non-financial long term support and benefits for both your company and Carers Trust. (Carers Trust is a new organisation formed with the merger of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care in April 2011)
Find out more about our corporate partnerships:
| The Openwork Foundation |
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited the Manchester offices of long-term corporate supporter Accenture on 8 March to say a big thank you for raising £175,000 for The Trust since 2002.
Accenture’s support for the Trust also extends beyond financial; the company offers professional pro bono support such as the design and production of awareness and fundraising materials as well as providing staff secondment and has helped deliver skills training to The Trust staff, Carers’ Centres and carers.
During her visit, Her Royal Highness spoke to staff about the difficulties of getting carers back into the workplace and praised Accenture for helping to deliver training to carers locally. She said it was an example of how businesses can work effectively with the voluntary sector to help give people the skills they need to succeed.
Accenture is very focused on building skills in the community and through their Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship programme aim to build many more economically viable skills in our local communities.
Barclays Local Business Teams Challenge for Young Carers
The Trust was approached by Barclays Local Business Teams in February 2009 as they wanted to raise funds for young carers. Having seen the amazing work provided by our online support workers on youngcarers.net they were unanimous in wanting to do something to make a difference to the lives of young carers.
Starting off with 14 Local Business Teams taking part, very quickly rising to an incredible 89 Local Business Teams throughout England. The ingenuity and diversity of events was staggering and started off on the 5th June 2009 when Neill Butler and Ellie Hughes canoed the 135.5 mile length of the non-tidal Thames. Starting at Cricklade High Bridge this five day challenge ended at their final destination of Teddington Lock on the 9th June. This was the catalyst for so many other events including teams from Central Region walking 24 miles dressed as Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs as well as a 24 mile cycle around Rutland Water on tandem bikes. Teams from as far afield as Jersey took part in marathons; car boot sales; an exercise bike challenge and many more unbelievable team events too numerous to mention.
To date the teams have raised over £22,000 which has been used to contribute toward the cost of employing online support workers who are on hand to provide help and advice to young carers to ensure a safe environment where young carers can chat to others in a similar position. Their contribution has enabled us to massively increase our capacity (from two staff to four) and we are now able to support more carers, whilst continuing to deliver innovative, high quality service that makes a difference. Another huge plus is that we are now in a position to develop the support we give to young adult carers who have their own distinct set of needs.
Whilst Butlins initially wanted to support The Trust to help young carers they very quickly realised that they could make an even bigger difference by supporting carers of all ages. They were also very clear that they wanted the money they raise to be unrestricted enabling The Trust to allocate and respond to areas of support in most need.
The energy, enthusiasm, support and dedication of the team at Butlins and the way in which they work together with the team from The Trust is, undeniably, the catalyst in making the partnership such a positive and fun relationship. The teams at the Resorts and at Hemel Hempstead are extremely inventive in their fundraising ideas from parachute jumping to a 400 cycle ride between the three Resorts.
A new initiative for 2010 is the potential to facilitate unpaid carers into employment and to equip them with the skills and confidence to do this. The beauty of this shared vision is in the flexibility it offers, and whilst paid employment would be the ultimate goal part time or volunteering may be the best option for some people. It’s not going to happen overnight but talks are now underway to form a partnership agreement with Butlins, who are committed to providing employment opportunities to carers Job Centre Plus, The Trust and carers. Exciting times ahead.
The benefit for Butlins is that our teams, both on the Resorts and Hemel Hempstead, really enjoy the fundraising activities they organise and it’s great for team building. It’s not just being a part of the activity that’s fun but during all the organising as well – you hear such a lot of laughter when the working parties are together.
The Resorts are really competitive so they try to outdo each other with the amount of money they raise and we have to keep them up to date with what’s happening at each Resort. Butlins has worked with a number of charities over the years but we can honestly say that we have more fun with the team from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers than we’ve had with any other charity.
Ecclesiastical are a specialist charity insurer .Every day charities, churches and care homes rely on the commitment and support of carers. So carers are a central part of communities everywhere and at the heart of what we do. This partnership will give us a business focus and practical example of our support for charity, care and the non profit sector.
The partnership worth £100,000 to Carers Trust, will be used to fund a 2012 Network Conference and a dedicated piece of research into how we can best support carers of people with dementia. The key aims are to raise awareness of the specific needs of these carers, discover how best to identify and support them and ensure a more involved approach to care.
‘As part of our 125th anniversary celebrations we planned to work with a national charity partner who supported the core of our business. Our vision is to ‘advise and protect those who enrich the lives of others’. We felt ‘Enrichers’ were in the large part carers of some sort. So we set up our partnership with Carers Trust.’
Steve Wood, Ecclesiastical’s UK Managing Director
GlaxoSmithKline Out of Hospital project sponsorship
The Trust has completed three years of study into the support offered by hospitals to carers when the person they care for is discharged from hospital. The Out of Hospital Project, funded by GlaxoSmithKline, highlights ways in which time and money can be saved at the point of and following discharge by avoiding unnecessary hospital admission, saving on medication bills and improving the health of carers.
As one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, GlaxoSmithKline is committed to improving quality of life by helping people to do more, feel better and live longer. Funding of this area of work was therefore seen as highly beneficial to the health of many in the UK.
The Langham, London opened in 1865 as Europe's first grand hotel and is a listed London landmark in the heart of the city. Renowned for providing the highest level of comfort and care made for an ideal partnership with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. The synergies are a perfect fit and Katie Benson, the Langham’s Managing Director and Regional Vice-President for Europe and North America, was delighted to continue our partnership which started in October 2007.
Not only does the Langham operate a “£1 on the Bill” cause-related marketing initiative providing much needed funds for our work, they also get involved in so many ways. In November 2009 they very generously hosted a reception for our supporters in the presence of HRH, The Princess Royal a glittering cocktail evening thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. Katie and her staff also provide space in the Hotel for The Trust to host meetings and events as well as donating prizes for Trust events.
Markel, a leading specialist insurer, has supported The Trust since 2008.
Their valuable donations are directed towards The Trust’s Hardship Fund and seven local Carers' Centres.
Markel raises these funds via cause related marketing on its policies as well as staff fundraising.
There are plans to work closer together through pro bono and risk management support for both The Trust and The Network of Carers' Centres.
“Across the world, Markel have a strong ethic of supporting charities as well as providing insurance and risk management services. Markel understand the sector through close business relationships and through policyholders and selected charities. Many of our employees are charity trustees and volunteers.
Markel (UK) Limited selected The Princess Royal Trust for Carers due to the very worthy work undertaken nationally; the ability for each of our trading offices to connect with a local Carers' Centre; and most specifically as The Trust aims to support the full spectrum of carers through managed care centres, research, influence, and partnerships.
On a business level Markel (UK) Limited are providing donations on a £1 per insurance policy basis. Additionally our employees enjoy raising funds through sponsorship of their escapades at a host of different events. As a partner of The Trust we look forward to being able to share our skills and business opportunities to further The Trusts cause.”
Anne Hudson, Business Development Manager, Markel
Since 1999, funding from the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) has been instrumental in helping our legacy organisation Crossroads Care support carers across England and Wales turning out to be the charity’s largest supporter donating more than £1.5m.
In the last two years alone NGS has enabled the charity to launch a fund to establish or extend volunteer led activities in six locations across its network, as well as the development of three new projects to involve carers of people with dementia.
Each project is producing a series of toolkits and service development models for distribution across the network, enabling all Network Partners to ultimately benefit from NGS’s funding. The learnings will also be used to provide evidence of what works to secure future funding from other sources.
Carers Trust is delighted that NGS continues to be a supporter of its organisation following the merger of Crossroads Care with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.
Pall-Ex, launched in 1996 by award-winning British businesswoman Hilary Devey, operates a palletised freight network with annual revenues of over £100m. Both Hilary, who dedicates much of her time to charitable causes, and her company have been supporters of The Trust since 2007.
Beginning in 2007, the company’s “Penny-a-Pallet” scheme has generously donated a penny for every pallet processed by the company’s hub. To date, the scheme has raised over £40,000. In addition, Pall-Ex staff and network members have given their support through events such as golf days and dinner dances.
The company’s founder, Hilary Devey, is in her own right one of The Trust’s most valued benefactors, helping to raise funds by hosting private dinners and just as importantly by working to raise the profile of carers issues in the UK.
Since 2007, Hilary and her freight network have raised over £100,000, a truly tremendous amount which has enabled us to continue to develop our work in support of carers across the UK.
The Quilon, an award winning, Michelin starred restaurant supported The Princess Royal Trust for Carers by appointing it as their Charity of the Month for all of July and August 2011. Every month a different charity is given the opportunity to raise funds through their ‘£1 off the bill’ initiative.
“We are delighted to support the Trust through the Charity of the Month scheme, to help support unpaid carers with the help they so desperately need – all the staff are happy to support such a worthy cause”.
Chef Sriram who introduced the scheme
The Slaughter and May Charitable Trust has provided for the last three years significant funding towards The Trust’s online support services.
They have also generously provided pro bono support across a number of departments, as well as hosting Trust Policy Round Table events and working directly with their local Carers' Centre.
"The firm has a long history of supporting good causes financially, strategically with pro bono and volunteering. We recognise that charities face the same legal challenges as any other type of organisation and we are happy to be able to help The Trust with contracts and other legal issues when it is needed. Our lawyers have advised The Trust directly on specific issues and we have worked in partnership with The Trust to develop a 'legal toolkit' of best practice guidance and advice for The Network of Carers' Centres, to better equip the centres to deal with day-to-day legal issues. Our non-legal staff have provided pro bono support as well, advising on website redesign and procurement and helping with writing a position paper.
"Tackling this type of work enables our staff to use their skills in a different context and helps them to understand more about the way in which The Trust supports carers."
Chris Saul, Senior Partner, Slaughter and May
STAEDTLER (U.K.) Limited, part of the STAEDTLER Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of writing, artist, and engineering drawing instruments, adopted The Trust as its nominated charity in 2011. The company is committed to supporting our work across the UK, and in particular with young carers. We are absolutely delighted to have their support.
To date they have made a very significant financial contribution to the on-going development of our dedicated young carers’ website, www.youngcarers.net, helping to reach a growing number of young carers who might otherwise become isolated from the support they desperately need. STAEDTLER (UK) Ltd will also be actively promoting our schools resource initiative through their newly formed ‘Teachers Club’. Our publication, Supporting Young Carers: a resource for schools, developed in partnership with The Children’s Society, guides schools through all the necessary steps needed to help young carers, from identification and understanding through to strategic and practical support.
In addition to their generous financial donation to The Trust, staff at STAEDTLER’S offices in Pencoed will be undertaking various fundraising activities in support of local carers’ services in South Wales.
“We are very excited about supporting The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. We hope that our current support and future projects we have planned with The Trust enable STAEDTLER (U.K.) Limited to make a significant impact on the lives of carers and, in particular, young carers”
Duncan Savage, Managing Director of STAEDTLER (U.K.) Limited
Openwork is a UK-wide network of over 700 financial advice firms, comprising over 2,200 advisers. It is backed by the worldwide Zurich group. In 2005 The Openwork Foundation, which is funded and supported by Openwork staff and advisers, was set up to support charitable causes. Every three years, Openwork’s staff and advisers vote for a charity to support through the Openwork Foundation. We are delighted that from 2012 to 2014, they have chosen to support the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. The staff and advisers will support the Trust through regular giving, as well as supported fundraising events – this year’s highlight being a cycle challenge in India.
The Openwork Foundation will support the Trust with £50,000 per annum to fund two grant programmes aimed at supporting young carers. The first is Opening Doors, which will help to identify Young Carers, and the second is for respite breaks for Young Carers. In addition to their generous donation to the Trust, the staff at Openwork’s office in Swindon have for many years worked closely with the Swindon Carers Centre.
“The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has done invaluable work for young carers over a long period of time and The Openwork Foundation is delighted to be able to offer them our support for the next three years.”
Sam Tesch, The Openwork Foundation Manager
