Carphone Warehouse 2015 Annual Report Download - page 36

Dixons Carphone plc Annual Report and Accounts 2014/15
Strategic report
Corporate responsibility
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Tablets for Schools
We believe the use of technology in education can inspire
children with a lifelong love of learning, motivate them to know
more and empower independent thinking. Tablets for Schools
is a registered charity behind the largest independent research
programme in the world into the use of 1:1 technology to
transform education.
The real benefits have been defined, the major issues for
schools uncovered and robust data around pedagogy,
attainment, cost savings and the impact on behaviour /
attendance is being gathered.
In 2014/15 Dixons Carphone continued its support of the work
of this charity, donating a total of £210,000. The Company also
made the charity a loan of £150,000 in lieu of income from our
Charity Dinner and Auction.
In January 2015, Tablets for Schools relaunched as
Techknowledge for Schools with the aim of helping schools
by providing a united vision and blueprint for the successful
deployment of technology in education to transform
learning outcomes.
The Dixons Carphone Foundation
The Foundation is a fundraising account established under the
Charities Aid Foundation (registered charity number: 268369)
for the benefit of the charity or charities selected by Dixons
Carphone and approved by the Charities Aid Foundation.
This account was set up in March 2015 to deliver our ambition
of making lives better through technology. The Dixons
Carphone Foundation will also facilitate employee match-
funding applications and one off donations to emergencies and
disaster funds.
Through the Dixons Carphone Foundation, employees can
apply for support with sponsorship. The Foundation will match
the amount an employee has raised for their chosen charity by
up to £100 or £300 for a team fundraising for the same event.
In 2013/14 we donated £36,000 to a variety of causes through
the CPW Foundation.
We are in the process of closing the CPW Foundation and
transferring the balance of £41,000 to the new Dixons
Carphone Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Account.
The DSG international Foundation
The DSG international Foundation is a charity in its own right,
registered with the Charities Commission. For the time being
we will continue to operate charitable activities through our
new CAF account Dixons Carphone Foundation.
During 2014/15, a total of £73,000 was transacted through the
DSG international Foundation for Children in Need. The
balance of this account stands at £18,000.
Give As You Earn
We encourage employees to contribute to charities of their
choosing through our payroll giving scheme. In 2014/15 Dixons
Carphone employees donated a combined total of £49,000
benefitting a wide range of causes.
Other charitable support
Dixons continued their support of Children in Need enabling
colleagues across our store, service and logistics networks
to get behind fundraising efforts for a nationally branded
fundraising event that supports causes across the UK and
local to their places of work. As a result of a number of
activities, total fundraising and donations to Children in
Need were £75,000.
Senior Dixons Carphone executives took to the tennis courts
for a charity tennis tournament at The Queens Club raising
£50,000 for the Dallaglio Foundation and their work to inspire
and change the lives of young people through sport.
Our Sheffield Contact Centre supported the live Comic Relief
television appeal by taking donation calls. 150 colleagues,
friends and family gave up their free time to take £62,000
in pledges.
The Company responded to the Ebola Crisis at the request of
the World Health Organisation (WHO) through the provision
of 200 fully functioning smartphones, allowing WHO field
operatives to collect key data in real time in Sierra Leone,
Guinea and Liberia. The gift in kind value to our business
was £20,000.
Carphone Warehouse Race to the Stones
On 19 and 20 July 2014 over 1,600 public participants ran,
trekked or walked 100km from Chinnor in Oxfordshire along
the Ridgeway to the ancient stone circle in Avebury. This was
the first time Carphone Warehouse sponsored a charity
sporting event and over 130 employees signed up to get fit
and raise over £45,000 for our charity partner, Get
Connected. Sponsorship of this event continues for 2015
as the Dixons Carphone Race to the Stones. Over 250
employees from across Dixons Carphone will take part,
many of them trialling wearable technology for training.