Carphone Warehouse 2006 Annual Report Download - page 21

Corporate Responsibility
premises enabling wheelchair access to offer more
volunteer opportunities. In March 2006 Charles
Dunstone and Andrew Harrison hosted the second
charity auction at BAFTA, Piccadilly. With continued
support from suppliers and partners the charitable
income increased to over £107,000. Employees and
guests at the annual company ball raised an additional
£30,000 for Get Connected’s valuable work.
TreeHouse
The aim of TalkTalk is to enable people to communicate,
making TreeHouse an ideal partner. TreeHouse was
established in response to the huge unmet national
need for specialist education for children with autism.
Its aim is to provide an educational centre of
excellence for children with autism and related
communication disorders. TalkTalk has committed
to donate 1 penny from every call to its directory
enquiries service to help support its work as well as
introducing them into the charity partnership to offer
employees the opportunity to volunteer and raise
funds. TreeHouse has recently launched an appeal
for £11.5 million to construct a permanent building
that will enable it to increase its support of children
in need of specialist education. TalkTalk is committed
to helping TreeHouse to see this ambition realised.
Namibia Trek
One of the year’s highlights for both employees and
charities was a trek with a difference to Namibia.
Building on the huge success of previous treks,
61 employees each raised £2,000 to travel to Namibia
and undertake a project to renovate a school in
a hugely deprived area in the heart of the Namib
Desert. As well as dramatically improving the lives
of children who attend the school, the project also
raised in excess of £50,000 for our partner charities
supporting the needs of children in the UK.
Helping with Homelessness
We have continued our work with Business Action on
Homelessness (BAOH), helping to develop skills and
www.cpwplc.com 17
TREEHOUSE BECOMES
A NEW CHARITY PARTNER
GET CONNECTED AUCTION
RAISES OVER £100,000
The Group has a strong track record as a responsible
employer, consumer and distributor. This year we
have demonstrated a further increase in our level of
commitment in all key areas of corporate responsibility
from our charity, community and employee activities
to our social and regulatory responsibilities.
We have a dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) manager who co-ordinates strategy and
actions across both elements, interacting with
senior management within business operations,
human resources and communications. Following
the retirement of Martin Dawes at last year’s Annual
General Meeting, we are delighted that Sally Morgan
has agreed to act as Board sponsor of the Group’s
CSR activities.
Charity, community and employee activities
The Carphone Warehouse continued its support of its
two partner charities, Barnardo’s and Get Connected,
with a wide range of activities. The expansion of
TalkTalk, The Carphone Warehouse’s fixed line service,
has enabled it to take on its own partner charity,
TreeHouse, supporting the needs of children with
autism throughout the UK. The Carphone Warehouse
UK Foundation has also maintained its work,
supporting smaller charities nominated by employees,
and this year will expand its activities to provide more
support for local communities. The Group supports
the partnership in many ways, from donating gifts for
sales and raffles, offering extra holiday for employees
undertaking overseas treks and other specific
volunteering activities, to donating profits from sales
of accessories over the Christmas period.
Get Connected
The Carphone Warehouse has maintained and
developed its six year relationship with Get Connected
providing accommodation, phone lines and IT support
as well as offering employees the opportunity to earn
extra holiday or have matched time off to volunteer.
In 2005 we undertook improvements to the charity’s
Governance
Governance