By Jo Cole, Head of corporate Partnerships
Working from home during the pandemic has transformed the working practices of many companies – there have been good aspects and some challenging ones, for example, keeping team spirit alive when you’re not in the office. During lockdown, our Over The Wall fundraising team have been reaching out to our friends in the business world to bring them a taste of camp and news of our new virtual camp – Camp in the Cloud. The response has been wonderful and companies have been telling us how it has helped them and their businesses feel connected.
There are lots of ways Over The Wall corporate supporters have been staying engaged with us through lockdown and finding fun and unique ways to fundraise for us. There have been online quizzes, physical challenges like running, cycling and hikes either singularly or as a team (observing social distancing) and donation drives with company donation-matching. I have enjoyed engaging with our corporate partners to present updates and to discuss Camp in the Cloud and Over The Wall’s plans for the future – there’s even been an online dance party or two! It was particularly wonderful to see the Abercrombie & Fitch associates grab their families to join in with the dancing: a wonderful reminder that camp is about bringing fun back into the lives of children and families during difficult times.
We’re incredibly grateful that many of our long-standing partners like Abercrombie &Fitch, GSK, and Hasbro have made fundraising for Over The Wall and volunteering at camp an intrinsic part of their offering to their staff. As well as giving their employees the chance to experience the ‘warm fuzzies’ of giving back and making a difference to seriously ill children’s lives, team volunteering is great way to bond. Camp in the Cloud also offers more opportunities for volunteers to get involved in very flexible ways.
Supporting a charity during difficult economic times may seem like a daunting prospect but it can help with many of the core issues companies are facing at this time. A charity partnership demonstrates companies are thinking about the bigger picture, are committed to making a positive difference to communities, make their brand stand out and give them a competitive edge. Our current partners have said engaging with Over The Wall has helped during the pandemic with employee emotional wellbeing and brought teams closer together (metaphorically of course).
Richard Palframan from Servier recently said: “Working with Over The Wall has given us a good cause to get behind – our first event raised over £750 and the feedback from the charity is great. In this difficult time, it has allowed us a reason to get the whole company together to have some really important fun while raising money for a great cause!”
Over The Wall is now looking for companies to help us run Camp in the Cloud by providing online volunteers to support campers, to create activities for the children to try and to provide resources, prizes and gifts for the children in their Camp in the Cloud activity boxes. Is this something your company could help with?
Get in touch with me (jo.cole@otw.org.uk) to find out if this would be right for you.
