March 2011
How does your business support charity?
Spencer Buchan, Managing Director of AVC Media
AVC has long been a supporter of local charities. Staff are annually involved in the Macmillan Coffee Morning, Breast Cancer Pink Day and a whole host of other fundraising activities. Recent staff fundraisers which we have readily supported have included the Great Scottish Run and a skydive for Cornerstone.
It’s not just a financial investment AVC give but also time. As we are a local company we readily support local charities in terms of computer equipment donations, audio visual support including staffing for events such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ball.
We are annually involved in the Gary Walker ‘Dreams Come True’ charity dinner. The money raised through this event enables terminally ill children to have their dreams become a reality.
We also offer a ‘charity rate’ for our services and have clients such as Cornerstone, VSA and Camphill who we regularly carry out work for.
 Rae Younger, Managing Director, Cognity
Our staff agrees that we have an obligation to support charitable causes to give something back to the community and to make a difference locally. Since Cognity formed in 2010 we have collectively decided to donate a fixed percentage of our profits annually to worthwhile projects and causes.
Dyce Juniors FC is the first beneficiary and was nominated because one of our engineers is a former player for the club and knows how tight funding is at the moment.
Our staff is currently looking at other local charities and good causes which could benefit from our support.
The idea of giving a fixed percentage is that, as our business grows, our charitable donations will also increase. If we double in size, we double the amount we can give
 Ken Massie, Managing Director of Compass Print Holdings Ltd
As a small but vibrant company we contribute as much as we possibly can towards charity and our staff is also very generous.
Compass Print was formed in 1974 and during those early days a custom developed whereby staff would make a small donation of around £1 or more each week which was accumulated in a ‘biscuit tin’ over the year and then dispersed to local charities chosen by the staff. This must have raised well over £30,000 since the company started.
In the run up to Christmas staff also donate items towards hampers, which are raffled, and this raises a further few hundred pounds towards charitable causes.
Compass Print has offered print support either free or at cost price to many charities over the years and we also make occasional donations to individual charities.
We are also often asked to support clients by sponsoring events in which they are participating like bungee jumps, charity walks and even walking across burning coals.
 Susan Crighton, Fundraising Manager, CLAN Cancer Support
At CLAN we know firsthand how important support from individuals, groups and companies can be to charities.
Although, as an organisation, we may not be in a position to give monetary donations, we place a great deal of emphasis on working closely together with other charities, some of which may not have the level of resources that we do, with fundraisers and supporters pulling together to work as one.
“We also encourage local working partnerships, which recently includes working with Glencraft, as we plan furnishings for our new headquarters.
As individuals we are also actively encouraged to support other charities on a personal level. As we know how important the support of the local community is this is something that we all embrace.
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