Emerald raises £25,000 For Social Mobility Foundation

Bingley, United Kingdom, 18 December 2018 – We’re pleased to announce that we’ve raised £25,000 for 2018’s chosen charity, the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF). 

 

This year, Emerald has committed to focusing its Social Responsibility activities around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of 'Quality Education' and partnered with the Social Mobility Foundation for 2018 - a charity which aims to make practical improvements to the opportunities and networks available for young people from low income backgrounds, helping them to access education.

 

This year’s fundraising has included activities such as: auctions; office tuck shops and bake sales; a calendar featuring all the wonderful places around the world our employees are based in; and a mammoth challenge in the form of the Emerald Grand Tour.  

 

The Grand Tour involved nine intrepid employees agreeing to the gruelling challenge of cycling 500 miles from our office in Wimbledon to our Edinburgh office in the space of an ambitious five days! The aim was to raise £10,000 from this activity alone, and we’re pleased to announce that we smashed that target, raising a total of £12,307.26. 

 

The money raised from the Grand Tour will be used to provide delivery of a programme to provide 15 students in Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow with the opportunity to attend insight events, workshops and work placements.

 

Our partnership with the SMF didn’t stop at fundraising. During Emerald’s Volunteering Day – which saw colleagues from around the world commit to a wide range of charitable activities across the globe – a group of employees signed up to help with the SMF’s personal statement checking service, and 15 Emerald employees also signed up to the SMF e-mentoring programme, a scheme that connects an SMF student with a professional, based on their academic and career interests.  

 

Juliet Harrison, Executive Publisher, who is one of the mentors, said: “I’ve really enjoyed being a mentor as part of the SMF’s mentoring programme, and continue to be impressed by the breadth of knowledge and drive of my mentee, which far extends my abilities at that age! I hope that I have been able to impart some wisdom, but am also learning a great deal myself, so can absolutely see the value for both mentee and mentor.” 

 

Khalil Rheman, Senior Developer has also found the scheme rewarding and said: “I have found the mentee programme rewarding and challenging in equal measure so far. It’s rewarding in that you were helping and giving guidance to someone to help them achieve their education and career aspirations in a challenging environment and background. But it is also challenging, personally, in that I have to constantly be self-aware and always try to place myself as an enabler and a coach to allow the mentee to make their own decisions.” 

 

David Johnston OBE, Chief Executive of SMF, said “We’re so grateful to Emerald for their support of SMF in the past year.  It is rare for us to be chosen as an organisation’s charity of the year, so we were delighted that Emerald picked us and we were so impressed with the innovative ways that their staff raised money for us during 2018, showing real commitment to helping young people fulfil their potential across the organisation.”