A policy on political and charitable donations is incorporated into our Code of Conduct. We make no political donations, but political lobbying is undertaken when appropriate, generally through local industry associations.
Local community support is important to us, especially in our more remote sites such as Australia and Wales. In our manufacturing plant in Wales, we periodically organise educational open days for local schools. In addition we sponsor the local, mid-Wales section of Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) "Top of the Bench" competition, a national competition run by the RSC for 14-16 year old students. Our manufacturing plant in Australia supports local community sport teams and held an educational open day last year for local students from the University of Adelaide.
We support charities and organisations that are either relevant to our area of work or are local to business activities and operations, and we encourage our employees to participate in fundraising events for our designated charities.
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A main focus of our charitable giving initiatives involves proactive engagement with sustainable development initiatives.
We are sponsoring the education of David Tusime in Uganda through World Vision. We’re also sponsoring Janvier Kaseniza a pharmacy student through the Orphans Project (on the left). Janvier is studying at the University of Butare in south west Rwanda. |
During the last year we made local donations to charities including:
- CCLG - The Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, UK
- Cancer Research UK
- Wales Air Ambulance, Wales
- Christian Lewis Children's Cancer Charity, Wales
- Ty Hafan - palliative care for children, Wales
- CARA - local riding for the disabled, Wales
- Melmark School, Philadelphia, PA, US
- Leukaemia & Lymphoma Society, US
- Anti-Cancer Foundation South Australia
- Lifeline telephone counselling service, Australia
| Charitable contributions made during the year: |
£6,193 (08/09: £5,955) |
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In 2009/10 we donated an educational grant of $10,000 to the Loma Linda University Medical Centre Venom Fund which helps supply snake bite anti-venom, develop educational materials and work with local physicians and in Swaziland and Zululand. |
We operate a Give As You Earn ('GAYE') Scheme in the UK. This enables employees to efficiently donate so money that would normally be given in tax goes to their chosen charity instead. A new GAYE scheme will be launched in 2010/11 following the identification of a more cost effective service provider.
2010/11 Targets
- Maintain our sustainable development sponsorships such as World Vision and Rwandan Orphans and increase donations to our local corporate charities.
- Launch the new Give As You Earn (GAYE) Scheme in the UK to provide a more efficient mechanism for employees to their charity of choice.
- Organise an activity day at the Melmark School near Philadelphia which provides residential, educational, therapeutic, and recreational services for children and adults with developmental disabilities.
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