eir launches new Corporate Social Responsibility programme the eir Fund Connecting Communities
eir recently launched a new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, the eir Fund – Connecting Communities. This new programme is a key element of eir’ s CSR strategy, designed to enable eir employees make a positive impact in their community and to enable the company to do more to support local community causes throughout Ireland. The eir Fund, their corporate responsibility investment programme, will see €160,000 per year invested across a range of charity initiatives in line with eir’s corporate social responsibility strategy.
eir has a long history of community support in Ireland. eir’s relationship with Special Olympics Ireland is the longest CSR partnership of its type in the country and it’s a relationship of which they are very proud. Last year eir raised €266,157 in vital funding for this charity and this partnership is just one of many charity partnerships eir currently has in place. The company also supports Samaritans, Rehab, Irish Hospice Foundation and Dress for Success amongst others.
Carolan Lennon, Wholesale Managing Director open eir: “eir is known as a company that is extraordinarily supportive of charitable causes. Our employees are incredibly generous, with their time, their creative fundraising ideas and indeed their financial contributions. It’s rare to have a week without a fundraiser taking place. Every day we receive requests for more support, from employees, charities, from community groups and schools. We can’t say yes to everything, but we can do more, in a structured and transparent way. To do this we conducted an audit of current activity; we followed this with a new CSR strategy to enable us to select projects that are aligned with our current business objectives. Over the past year we consulted with the Senior Management Team, employees from across the business and external stakeholders to help shape and build eir’s CSR strategy. We are committed to a Corporate Social Responsibility agenda which shapes a responsible and sustainable business and which is part of the fabric of Irish life. Our CSR strategy is focused on three key areas, eir in the Community, Diversity & Inclusion and Sustainability.”
Michelle Toner, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility: “Community is a key element of this programme as eir is present in every community throughout Ireland, and supporting the communities in which we operate and our employees live is very important to us. However, we rarely reach outside of Dublin in terms of charitable support. For this reason we are putting in place regional CSR teams in Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster.
An allocation of €10,000 (£8,000) per region, per quarter, will be made available to charitable causes, terms & conditions apply. Each quarter the regional CSR teams, comprised of eir volunteers, will review applications for funding relevant to their regions. They will then put forward the applications they feel are aligned to eir’s CSR strategy and that are most in need of funding. Eir will ask their employees to review the shortlisted applications and make the final decision on allocation of funding each quarter, beginning April 2016.
The eir Fund is open for application for all eir employees and registered Irish charities. Nominating employees will be tasked to follow their programme should their application be successful, and update us on the positive impact our support delivers, we’ll share those stories on eir.ie
Tags: eir
