Community Initiatives
Each year the Board approves a budget for charitable donations of around one percent of gross dividends for the previous financial year. Donations are made through either the John M. Menzies Community Fund or the Charities Fund.
The Charities Fund
The Charities Fund is the Company’s main channel for supporting charitable causes or investing in community projects. Its activities are managed by a Charities Committee, which is chaired by the Group Finance Director and met 4 times during the year. Altogether, the Charities Fund receives over three hundred applications every year from very diverse charities and projects, both local and international and donations are approved by the Charities Committee. In 2007, some 84 organisations benefited from charitable donations of around £80,000.
In addition, and supporting its commitment to the areas in which it operates, Menzies Aviation provides financial support to various local projects including an annual donation of around £7,000 to support children living in a Children’s village programme in Romania, and an annual donation of US $5,000 to the Educando project which provides support for children in Peru.
Donations recently from the fund include the Educando Project, which provides children's education in Peru, facing the world which provides medical assistance for people suffering facial disfigurement and Yorkhill Children's Foundation, which supports Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. We also supported small, local charities, such as the Rochdale Special Needs Cycling Club, which provides specially adapted bicycles to allow disabled individuals to enjoy the sport of cycling.
The John M Menzies Community Fund
The Group employs more than 18,000 people in 28 countries all around the world, many of whom participate in various forms of charitable, voluntary and other community related work. We are therefore supportive of these initiatives, and encourage and support these through the work of our Community Investment team. The John M. Menzies Community Fund supports the work of our employees whether engaging in voluntary work or other charitable or community-related projects. It makes individual cash awards of up to £350 per employee, or £700 per team of employees, undertaking a charitable or community project. Such awards are made in consultation with the Managing Directors of each business. During 2007, some 20 projects were supported by this Fund to a total of around £6,000.
Employees have been able to use funding from the John M Menzies fund to support their personal involvement with Charities. Recent grants include "The Moonwalk" for Walk the Walk Worldwide, raising money for breast cancer, The Shooting Star Children's hospice in Middlesex, and some of our staff ran a half marathon to support the British Heart Foundation.
National Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF Scotland)
We are pleased to have supported the National Schizophrenia Fellowship in Scotland, donating £6,000 in the last 12 months. NSF Scotland is closely involved in a number of activities which promote greater wellbeing and quality of life for people affected by schizophrenia and other mental illness.
“Mental health in general and schizophrenia in particular are not popular causes for fundraising so we are all the more grateful for your support and understanding of our work. With 1 in 4 experiencing some form of mental illness at some stage in their lifetime it is an issue that more and more people are becoming aware of and seeking help and advice”
Pat Carmichael, NSF Scotland