14 October 2009
Hardship fails to defeat heart as Lord Mayor’s 2009 Dragon
Awards experiences big leap in applicants from newcomers to
Corporate Community Involvement
(34% of all applications for the Heart of the City Award, the
award category for newcomers)
Today the City ’s Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards 2009 revealed that
the Heart of the City category for relative newcomers has seen the
highest number of entrants for the prestigious annual awards - with
34% of all applications (a 69% increase on last year).
The Heart of the City ‘Dragons’ category celebrates City
businesses and organisations that have established CCI programmes
for the first time in the last three years, and this year took
nearly 50% more applications than the second highest category,
Education.
With over a quarter of all applications from SMEs, it is
apparent that City organisations, both large and small, are
recognising the benefits that Corporate Community Involvement
initiatives have for both their business model and their
surrounding community particularly during the economic
downturn.
In the 22nd year of the Awards the Lord Mayor Ian Luder said,
“With a noticeable influx of applications for the Heart of the City
category it is evident that even in these tough times,
organisations are recognising the real value of community
initiatives not least for the benefits they bring their
employees.“
“Employee volunteering improves employee engagement, improves
staff morale, increases the sense of corporate belonging and helps
improve the company’s bottom line. Volunteering strengthens the
values of an organisation by exposing them to a wider business
network. It also introduces innovative product ideas that offer a
great return for a simple sharing of existing skills and
resources.”
The Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards is the oldest award scheme to
celebrate excellence amongst London businesses and public offices
who, by sharing their knowledge, expertise and time through their
Corporate Community Involvement programmes, have taken an active
role in promoting greater social inclusion and economic
regeneration in local communities.
Spokesperson from 8build, the SME Construction Company
shortlisted for the Heart of the City Category for their ‘Giving
Back Initiative’ says, “At 8build we recognise that the industry in
which we operate can affect millions of people. We also recognise
as a company, that every day we impact on the workplaces and local
environments of these people. As a result we support our employees,
customers and the community in which we live and work.”
The City of London Corporation’s City Action initiative, which
brokers volunteering opportunities between private and public
sector parties, has seen a dramatic 90% increase in new matches
between City companies and community organisations, in the first
quarter of 2009/10 compared with the first quarter of 2008/9. With
the majority of these new City organisations signing up with City
Action this year were SMEs.
The Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards established by the then Lord
Mayor Sir David Rowe-Ham in 1987, reveal that competitive
compassion can both be good for the bottom line and for the
community, as leading London corporations and their employees work
with their neighbours, whether through large-scale corporate
projects or on an individual volunteer basis.
Winners will be announced at an annual celebratory awards
ceremony, hosted by the Lord Mayor Ian Luder at the Mansion House
on Thursday 15 October 2009.
Ends
Notes to editors
The 2009 entry categories and the shortlist are as follows:
Social Inclusion
For companies working on projects that aim to decrease social
exclusion and/or help improve the quality of life for socially
excluded groups of people. Examples could include working with:
- Young people in transition
- Homeless people
- Substance mis-users
- Older people
- Young offenders
- Lone parents
- People on low income
- Accenture: NSPCC Partnership
- Broadgate Estates: ‘Reaching Out’ Cambridge House
- BT: BT Community Connections
Education
For companies working with educational establishments. Examples
of work could include:
- Mentoring
- Learning Partnerships
- CV workshops
- Work Experience
- British Airways: British Airways Community Learning Centre
- erbert Smith LLP: Thomas Buxton Junior School Programme
- Lovell Partnership: Partnership in Action
- Slaughter and May: Slaughter And May’s Education
Programme
Economic Regeneration
For companies that are contributing to the economic regeneration
of an area. Examples could include:
- Local procurement of goods and services
- Helping local people to become more employable e.g. through
mentoring, CV advice, offering work experience
- Providing professional skills and expertise to local
micro-businesses, SMEs, social enterprises or community
organizations through employee volunteering
- Badenoch & Clark: CSR Committee: Economic Regeneration
Work
- Base Creative: Working with us Programme
- Denton Wilde Sapte: City Gateway
- Queen Mary, University of London: Clean Living: The return to
an in-house cleaning service
Heart of the City
This award is for companies who have set up an effective
Corporate Community Involvement programme for the first time in the
last three years. Heart of the City is a City of London Corporation
initiative which provides free support for companies that are
interested in Corporate Community Involvement and the wider area of
Corporate Social Responsibility.
- 8build: Giving Back Initiative
- Badenoch & Clark: CSR committee
- EnterpriseMouchel
- Investec: Social Investment Programme
- Speechy Bircham LLP: Speechly Bircham’s CSR programme
- The Bank of New York Mellon: The Bank of New York Mellon
community partnership programme
The Lord Mayor’s Award
For companies that have shown a long-term, sustainable
commitment to a wide-ranging programme of community engagement in
London, characterised by outstanding levels of staff involvement at
all levels of the organisation and a strong evidence of leadership
from the top and a commitment to the integration of community
involvement into organisational life.
- British Land: West Euston Community Support
- Herbert Smith LLP
- KPMG: KPMG Community Investment in London
Volunteer of the Year
Schools, charities and community organisations are invited to
submit nominations for a business volunteer who has made an
outstanding contribution to their organisation in 2009.
Press enquiries
Lizzie Boylan Ward or Iona Mccaie at Rain UK
T: 020 7222 4345
E: name.surname@raincommunications.co.uk