Benefacto, one of the leading social enterprises in the UK, has announced its plans to expand to the North West.
Currently working with a large network of over 50 charities and 50 corporate partners in London, from the summer of 2017 they will also be providing their unique volunteering service in Greater Manchester, working closely with the thriving business community and charity sector in the city.
Aiming to encourage more professional people to engage in meaningful volunteering work, Benefacto’s innovative approach helps individuals to find volunteering to suit their interests and their schedules; companies to build a strong culture of volunteering; and charities to recruit a regular supply of enthusiastic help.
Placing emphasis on the donation of an individual’s time, rather than financial contributions, their pioneering model works on the basis that an accessible and personalised approach to volunteering leads to a more meaningful experience for all. By enabling individuals to choose volunteering aligned with their own personal interests, this in turn helps to strengthen relationships within the wider community.
With the Manchester economy continuing to grow and employment levels predicted to rise by 22,000 within the next year, the unique culture of the city and its history of volunteering work, presents the ideal location for their first expansion outside the capital. Currently confirmed to work with five key businesses from the area including MACE Group, Kellogg’s, MediaCom, Autotrader and Amicus, who have all pledged employee hours for the volunteering scheme, Benefacto are continuing to enlist additional business members from the city.
Ben Darlington, Head of Member Services at Benefacto commented: ‘Manchester is a unique city with an extraordinary tradition of charity and philanthropic work. We are thrilled to be able to announce our expansion plans to support the wider community and our partnerships with five influential organisations from the city, Kellogg’s, MACE Group, MediaCom, Autotrader and Amicus. For the past six months we have been working closely with businesses and charities within the area and are excited to unlock the potential of the thriving Manchester workforce to support the incredible charities who serve communities across Greater Manchester”.
Diane Quinn, Community Engagement & Event Manager at Autotrader said: ‘Benefacto offers a fantastic solution that is not only simple to use but supplies us with lots of data and different volunteering opportunities which allows everyone to really make a difference, something we feel will be really useful and beneficial to all our employees.
‘The process so far has been great, we are planning our internal launch with the support of our Benefacto Account Manager, Lucy and have plenty planned to get our staff excited!’
Kris Patterson, Operations Officer and Amicus CSR Champion added: “As a business that opened an office in central Manchester late last year, we were really keen to integrate and support our people make valuable contributions within the community. Our CSR programme provides employees with a whole day to volunteer at a charity that is important to them, and partnering with Benefacto will enable each of us to turn this into a reality. We’re looking forward to developing our partnership with Benefacto during the summer to deliver meaningful outcomes for everyone involved.”
