DMGT and the Community

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Corporate Responsibility
The Community

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Community involvement is integral to our business as well as to the personal motivation of our employees. We donate money, time and in-kind donations such as radio air time and Teletext pages, and staff actively give time to areas including fundraising and trusteeships.

Fundraising

In 2007, the Group donated £866,000 to charity.

The use of media channels and activities for fundraising is driven through participation in the communities we serve and the concerns and contributions of our readers, viewers and listeners.

Charitable donations are allocated by a Charities Committee at DMGT, as well as being made on a smaller scale by divisional and local managements. The Committee prefers to make donations to media and local charities where there is an employee representative who will sponsor and report back on the impact the allocation has had.

Associated Newspapers operates an on-line Payroll Giving scheme, working in partnership with Workplace Giving UK, which enables staff members to make more tax-efficient personal donations to their preferred charities.

In addition, recipient charities save the administration costs of applying for Gift Aid on the donations.

Media Trust

DMGT has been a Media Trust Corporate Member for over 7 years, giving £10,000 per annum and helping more than 5,000 charities and voluntary organisations a year to improve their communications skills and strategies. The trust supports over 5,000 charities annually with communications advice and resources.

DMGT regional newspapers and radio stations host Media Trust seminars and workshops, and DMGT editorial staff volunteer their expertise by speaking at these training events. The Media Trust also matches DMGT staff with charities on a one-to-one basis as volunteer advisors in diverse communications areas, as well as giving pro bono legal and insurance advice. Metro editor Kenny Campbell contributed to a Media Trust guide on communicating with young people

For the third year running, the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and Metro provided work experience internships to charity press officers, enabling them to increase their understanding of the media industry.

Teletext continues to donate Community Pages to the Media Trust, enabling over 500 charities a year to promote a wide range of news and volunteering opportunities to over 17 million Teletext viewers each week, which is more than a third of the UK adult population.

Supporting local communities

A great number of community activities go on throughout the Group.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc

DMGT has concentrated its charitable giving during the year. The charities the company has donated to have been predominantly local and in the media. Each donation must be sponsored by a Group employee who is charged with following the progress of the donation and reporting back on the charities progress.

The Rothermere American Institute

The Rothermere American Institute (RAI) continues to grow and develop. The highlight of the year was the visit by President Jimmy Carter in June, the day after he had been awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. At the RAI, President Carter was presented with the Oglethorpe Medal by Corpus Christi College, commemorating the college’s historical links with the state of Georgia.

Another high point of the year was the selection of Oxford as the venue for U.S. Ambassador, Robert Holmes Tuttle’s speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. The Institute also hosted academic conferences on a wide range of topics, from broadly-conceived areas such as “U.S. National Identity in the 21st Century” through to a more specialized focus on political, historical or literary topics, such as “In the Shadow of the Great Society” (on politics and culture since 1964) or “Transitional Nabokov”.

The Institute continues to attract a very broad and distinguished range of conference contributors and speakers. For example, the conference on the “The New Face of American Capitalism” in May 2007 included Amartya Sen of Harvard, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998, George Soros, philanthropist and founder of the Open Society Institute, Senator Bill Bradley, candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 1999-2000, and Ronald Dworkin, Professor of Law at University College, London, and at New York University. Among those participating in the RAI’s “transatlantic dialogues” this year were local MP Evan Harris, Liberal Democratic spokesman for science and society, and Carl Djerassi, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, who debated public understanding of science on both sides of the Atlantic. The 2007 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters was given by Robert Venturi, a practicing architect and key figure in the theoretical development of post-modern architecture.

Commonwealth Press Union

The Company continues to support the CPU, which assists newspapers in 53 commonwealth countries. The main aims of the organisation are to provide training for journalists and to encourage a free and responsible press in Commonwealth countries by assisting and advising on the setting up of self-regulatory systems and providing legal education and aid where appropriate.

Associated Newspapers

Opera Holland Park - Free Tickets Scheme for Young People

For the first time, Associated Newspapers was sponsor of the Free Tickets Scheme for Young People to attend a performance of the 2007 Opera Holland Park season. Offered London-wide in the Evening Standard, the scheme made available 1200 tickets for young people (aged nine-18) to attend one of the operas in Holland Park during the summer. An annual scheme, the main aim is to introduce opera to young people and encourage those who may never have experienced it to give it a try. It also benefits young people who are interested in opera but cannot afford to attend.

The Lady Rothermere Drama Award

Established in 1993, this is a biennial award in two parts: it goes to an outstanding actor/director who has a history of helping students in some form and who is the final judge at the Drama Award auditions which provides a grant to a talented student who could not take up their place at drama school without financial support. The Evening Standard and Rothermere Foundation jointly pay for the fees and living costs for the student’s three years at drama school. The current winning student is at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Books for Schools

Regular fund raising fairs are held in Northcliffe House for staff. Either a percentage is taken from sales or a stand hire levy made, which goes towards buying books for schools in the areas in which the Company operates. For example, in the last year anti-bullying books, produced by the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain, have been supplied to local primary schools for children aged 7-11 years. The proceeds of one sale were donated to the Inner London charity Kids’ Company, which also supported the event with T-shirts designed and produced by some of its members. Another project was to help The Pavement, a publication produced for the homeless in London.

Work Experience Programmes

Associated Newspapers receives many requests from students seeking work experience with the Company in areas ranging from Editorial and Advertising to, Promotions, Marketing, Legal and Accounts. During the period June/September 2007 more than 50 students were taken on in various departments. In addition, for the first time, a set programme was devised for a group of 15 year old students from schools within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which included a day trip to printers Polestar at Colchester. This was very successful and another programme is planned for 2008.

Demelza House Children’s Hospice

Harmsworth Printing continues its support for Demelza House Children's Hospice, which helps families who have a child with a life-limiting condition. This year £53,000 was raised through an annual charity golfing event and the funds were allocated to a project to build the charity's new centre in Greenwich. To date over £380,000 has been raised by Harmsworth Printing in support of this cause.

Surrey Docks Farm

Harmsworth Printing has also sought new opportunities to support the needs of the community and has agreed to donate £12,500 to a local farm which suffered a severe arson attack, damaging many of their facilities. The farm is a two acre site situated on the banks of the Thames, which provides educational day trips to school children throughout London. Along with the monetary support, HPL is working alongside the staff in an advisory capacity, to help restoration.

Harmsworth Printing has now commissioned a new production facility in Didcot and is beginning to make donations to local charities in order to assist in fundraising, examples include sponsoring a local school to print and publish a children's calendar.

The newspapers run campaigns in aid of charitable and community causes:

Throughout the last year the Evening Standard has been running major campaigns in the paper on the following issues:

Safer Cycling is a campaign launched in April aimed at encouraging Londoners to take to two wheels and warmly welcomed by the cycling community. The paper has pressed for better cycle facilities, discussed how extra funding should be spent, called for trucks to be fitted with safety mirrors to prevent accidents as part of its 12-point Safer Cycling charter and examined the causes of cycle accidents, while demonstrating how extra training can help.

Safer Cycling helped achieve important changes to improve cycle safety in the new Highway Code, highlighted the lack of secure parking facilities at key places such as train and Tube stations and significantly raised awareness of cycling.

Save Our Small Shops is an ongoing campaign launched in March 2006 in response to growing public concern about the way in which "cloned" chain stores were squeezing out London's independent shops.

The campaign has had a huge impact, driving the issue rapidly up the political agenda. The Competition Commission launched its own official investigation into the power of the supermarkets and, as a result, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council has adopted a package of measures to protect small shops, a move that looks certain to be followed by other local authorities.

At a national level both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have called for stronger measures to protect small shops and it looks certain to be major campaign issue at the next General Election.

A Seat for Every Commuter: This campaign started in January 2007 with a single demand - that rail companies should provide enough trains for commuters not to have to stand on their journeys to and from work. It was inspired by comments from senior rail official Dr Mike Mitchell that it was "not unacceptable" to expect commuters to stand. The pressure from the campaign led to an announcement from the Government in March that funding for up to 1000 extra carriages - mainly in the South East - would be provided by 2014.

The Size Zero Debate: The campaign was launched in September 2006 in response to mounting concern about the appearance of unhealthily thin models on London's catwalks. Mounting pressure forced the British Fashion Council to launch an independent Model Health Inquiry, headed by Baroness Kingsmill, in March 2007.

The panel published a series of recommendations in September 2007. The campaign continues.

Daily Mail Editorial Campaigns

In the last year the Daily Mail has run three fundraising campaigns in the paper related to topical news events:

Daily Mail Alzheimer Charity Campaign – raised £234,992.95
Daily Mail Charity Carers – raised £17,757.09
Daily Mail Protect Our Protectors – raised £237,787.11

The Armed Forces Memorial

The Armed Forces Memorial was opened on October 12th at the National Arboretum, near Lichfield, Staffordshire following a campaign by the Daily Mail to commemorate the deaths of more than 15,600 soldiers, sailors and airmen since the end of the Second World War. The dedication ceremony was attended by HM The Queen, The Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister.

Daily Mail Student of the Year Award

For the twelfth year, the Daily Mail Classified Advertising Department has sponsored the Daily Mail Student of the Year Award for the London College of Printing. The top 12 LCP students of the year in both printing and publishing disciplines receive a Certificate of Merit and the Blue Riband trophy is presented to the year's top student. This award reflects the Daily Mail’s dominance of the printing and publishing recruitment category in national newspapers.

Daily Mail Schools Rugby

Now in its 18th year The Daily Mail Schools Rugby is the largest schools rugby tournament in the world, with an entry of 986 schools this year. The Finals will be held at Twickenham on 2nd April 2008. England players who have taken part include Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Dawson, Richard Hill, Paul Sanderson, Trevor Woodman, Steve Borthwick, Ollie Barkley, Mike Tindall, Mathew Tait, Andrew Sheridan, Nick Easter and Peter Richards.

Daily Mail Foursomes

In its 44th year with an entry of 3,231 clubs, the Daily Mail Foursomes has more than 200,000 participants, making it the largest golf competition in the world. The Finals were held in October at Marriott Forest of Arden near Coventry.

The Mail on Sunday National Golf Club Classics

Now in its 15th year, this is the largest team golf competition in the world with 2,953 teams of five. This year's Quarter Finals were held at the Marriott Worsley Park in October and the Finals at PGA Golf de Catalunya, northern Spain, in November.

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday have sponsored the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run for eight years. The Run is watched by approximately one million people and there are nearly 500 veteran cars participating each year.

Financial Mail Women’s Forum

The FMWF was formed in 2001 by Financial Mail editor, Lisa Buckingham to help as many women as possible reach the very highest ranks in British business and to support them once they get there with the most relevant news and features coverage, advice and networking opportunities.

The network is now one of the best regarded and most successful in the country. It runs mentoring programmes helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and to support women aiming for non-executive directorships.

FMWF organised the first conference for head teachers of girls' schools in both the private and maintained sectors to attempt to broaden and improve careers guidance for young women. A second conference focussing on entrepreneurship for young women leaving education will be held in spring 2008.

Our website, FMWF.com, has developed into the largest database of women in business stories, profiles, business tools and personal finance advice.

Fundraising for Charities – The Mail on Sunday Advertising Department Annual Conference
This year The Mail on Sunday Advertising Department chose to raise funds for charity for their annual conference. Divided into eight teams, everyone made a huge effort in the weeks leading up to the conference, embarking upon various fund-raising schemes such as packing shopping in Marks & Spencer (Kensington) and baking cupcakes for sale to staff Northcliffe House. Friends and family were lobbied and the team campaigns were generously supported by agencies and clients.

The real tasks took place on conference in Estepona, including an amateur flamenco concert for bemused hotel guests, climbing the Sierra Bermeja in full Spanish costume whilst handcuffed to colleagues and dressing up in fat suits to cross the seafront promenade aboard various forms of wheeled transport. The net result was more than £28,600 raised for the Anthony Nolan Trust, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research, Help the Aged, National Autistic Society, NSPCC and Whizz-kidz.

Clarins Most Dynamic Woman of the Year

In 2007 YOU Magazine was media partner for this search (sponsored by cosmetics company Clarins) to find a woman whose charity helps sick or underprivileged children. The winner was a remarkable 73-year-old grandmother, Josie Masters, founder of the Hand In Hand Trust, which offers nursery schooling to poor children in Peru, who would otherwise be left on their own during the day while their parents go out to work. Josie, from Telford, has 15 natural and adopted children of her own, and has fostered a further 69! She was awarded £30,000 to help the work of Hand In Hand. Past winners of the award include Camilla Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company. This year sales from a limited edition bottle of Clarins' Eau Dynamisante fragrance is expected to raise £10,000 for runner-up Sarah Settelen, founder of The Promise, a charity which provides specialist teaching for disabled children in Russia, many of whom have been abandoned by their families and receive no loving care or therapy.

Kids Company

During the last few years there has been an ongoing relationship between Kids Company and Associated Newspapers (see also Book Sales above) and now the editor of YOU Magazine, Sue Peart, has been invited to join the Committee of Kids Company.

Cosmetic Executive Woman

In conjunction with Cosmetic Executive Women, the leading professional organisation for women working in the beauty industry, YOU produced a completely revised and updated version of Living & Working with Cancer, an invaluable for women coping with the disease. Available free in book form and, for the first time, online, the project was supported by a number of top beauty companies, plus Marks & Spencer and Harvey Nichols. As Chairman of the CEW's Cancer and Careers Committee, Sue Peart was closely involved in the project.

Cancer Research UK

For the last year Cancer Research UK has been Metro’s Charity Partner of the Year, having been selected via Metro’s employee survey. Initiatives worked on include: Christmas card money donations, regular book collections, a foreign coin collection, participation in events such as Race for Life, volunteer works in shops across the country, the ‘Big Kerching’ clothes collection (in London and regional offices) and book sales.

In addition to supporting Cancer Research UK, all Metro employees are eligible to support their local charity for one working day a year.

Help a London Child

Over the last year Loot employees have raised £25,000 for Help a London Child via a charity day where the sales team sold a HALC feature and through selling celebrity items donated to a Car Boot event.

Mark Scott Foundation

The Scottish Daily Mail and The Scottish Mail on Sunday continued their commitment and willingness to work in communities where our readers live. As in previous years the Mail titles have helped fund a charity called the "Mark Scott Foundation" which helps create leadership skills among Scottish youngsters through its "Leadership for Life" programme. This encourages school pupils to create such things as community gardens, work with older people and generally improve people's lives. It has become a huge success and now operates in a wider area of Scotland than ever before.

Media Training

Elsewhere the Scottish Daily Mail and The Scottish Mail on Sunday have provided valuable help to housing providers across Scotland on how to handle the media. Free training sessions have been organised in Glasgow and Borders town of Peebles allowing these organisations to become more proficient in their dealings with newspapers.

Children's Library

Items left over from reader promotions have been donated to community groups. A children¹s library in an inner city housing estate Glasgow was set up and has now tripled in size because of its popularity. It is stocked with classic novels, encyclopaedia and cartoon DVDs and provides these items free to local youngsters.

Northcliffe Media

Every employee in South West Weeklies is entitled to take one days paid leave a year to allow them to volunteer to take part in a charitable or social project of their choice. In Lincoln a Reading in Schools Scheme Partners in Reading with Business in The Community. In the South East, Northcliffe allow editorial staff time off work to commit to carrying our charitable work At Nottingham, in the past six months the company has committed to working the city’s libraries through a campaign called Let’s Read. The campaign aims to improve literacy and get people across the city reading together. It wants to show people of all levels and from different backgrounds and ages that reading can be fun - and can make a profound difference to their lives. Soon, the campaign moves up a gear by working with schools who will produce their own pages in the newspaper with the help of our journalists. Nottingham’s Go Green initiative appeals to our readers to take small steps to make their lives that bit 'greener' and will soon encourage staff to become involved through internal and external projects.

Gloucestershire Media instigated the launch of the Gloucestershire Flood Relief Fund in July this year. With the MD as trustee alongside county civic leaders, the fund has raised £750,000 to help households affected by flooding within the county. Of the total raised more than 80% has been raised by Gloucestershire Media approaching county businesses directly and seeking their pledges of support.

Nottingham has launched its biggest ever appeal, to help cancer sufferers and their families, in association with Maggies Charity. The Evening Post wants readers to raise £500,000 towards a £3m support centre in Nottingham to open in 2009. The Nottingham centre will be one of the first to be built in England.

Cornwall & Devon Media ‘Your Pics’ project allows us not only to encourage user-generated content for our papers but also support local charities. For each picture that is submitted by a reader which is then published £1 is donated to local Cornish charities such as Newquay Zoo, Newquay Hospital League of Friends, and Cornwall Hospice Care and Mevagissey Activity Centre. They have also linked this in to the many Macmillan Coffee Mornings taking place across North Devon. The centre has strong links with Cancer Research UK, especially with the various Race for Life events that happen across the region, both through Editorial and Marketing support."

The Western Morning News organised a fund raising event on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Care, Wooden Spoon and the RNLI, successfully raising £150,000 during the 31 days in August on the Great South West Walk. Members of staff and readers were sponsored to walk sections of the South West Coast Path, advertisers made prize donations for an auction and also sponsored sections of the walk. The event has proved to be a huge success, not just financially for the charities, but in raising the profile of the newspaper across the region.

The South East Weeklies have donated £10,000 to launch a ‘Save Brentwood Theatre’ campaign. They also sit on the Crimestoppers local committee board and are represented on numerous business development bodies and town centre committees, such as Choose Chelmsford, Mid Essex Enterprise Agency, Chelmsford Business Forum, Chelmsford Promotions Group, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce and The Heart of Essex Economic Partnership.

Throughout the midlands community engagement is promoted on the free-access Beehive internet site. This provides a portal for local clubs and societies. Nottingham has just launched three football fan sites “ thisisnottinghamforest, thisisnottscounty and thisismansfieldtown.co.uk, which provide a meeting place for fans to discuss their favourite team. Forums on the sites are moderated by our sports journalists and content for the sites are managed internally. These follow similar sites at Leicester.

Nottingham has also launched its Shape Up Notts campaign to encourage people to improve their health and fitness. The paper has teamed up with Sport Nottinghamshire - the county sport partnership - to urge people to get moving. Whether it's getting off the bus a few stops early, going for a gentle bike ride with the kids or entering a full-blown marathon, there's something for everyone to try. Only one in five people currently exercise for 30 minutes, three times a week. The Post will help readers along the way with a website diary to help you track your progress; regular advice and information from experts and sporting stars; inspirational stories from ordinary people who've transformed their lives through sport and activity; monthly milestone events for you to take part in plus special offers and incentives.

The Leicester Mercury has been praised in the last few months for its work in the community in a government report on integration and cohesion. The paper was singled out as a positive example of how media can work with local voluntary and statutory partners to promote messages of integration and cohesion to a wide audience. Leicester’s Editor chairs regular meetings of a local multi-cultural advisory group and the report said trust had developed because of the confidentiality of discussions and meetings is respected.

In the South East, Community engagement is promoted on the free-access Beehive internet site. This provides a portal for local clubs and societies. They are currently reviewing the accessibility that communities have with their local reporters and have developed a trial arrangement working with a local leisure centre to provide an environment where members of the public can come in and meet a reporter and talk about issues affecting their local community. If this is successful it will be extended to other areas."

DMG Information

Dolphin Software provided sponsorship for the Westside Christian High School to take a trip to Thailand in order to assist Thai children. They also donated money to ‘Kate's Kids for a Cure’ a charity which covers living expenses for families while undergoing cancer treatment.

EDR made donations to the American Cancer Society, Making Strides for Breast Cancer, the Boys & Girls Village, Toys For Tots and the Habitat For Humanity home repair projects during the year.

Hobsons, annually sends 6 or 7 staff for a week to the school or part of a school that Hobsons has built that year. In October 2006 the visit was to Kenya. In October 2007 the visit was to Vietnam. Each Hobsons office conducts events to raise money (e.g. auctions, cooking competitions, parachute jumps, dress down days etc. etc.) as well as employees giving from payroll and the company making a donation to Plan - a global charity that effectively builds a Hobsons school or part of a school each year. All of the activity is focussed on the Hobsons school / Plan project each year.

Landmark Information is supporting local charities near each of their two offices.
They sponsor Exeter Chiefs Rugby club which promotes the brand in the local community and provides opportunities for employees to attend matches. It also promotes environmental awareness via community activities such as tree planting to offset the impact of paper used in their reports. Where a Landmark employee is being sponsored for a charitable event (e.g. London marathon, Lands End to John o'Groats cycle) the company matches other sponsors' contributions. Two Landmark teams (18 employees) entered the Three Peaks challenge and raised more than £12,000 for the National Deaf Children’s Society. The company sponsored a local Multiple Sclerosis Sports Dinner.

Lewtan sponsors an Easter Seals volleyball tournament each year. The company also participates in the Chase Corporate Challenge road race each year.

PPR run a volunteer program and has long been involved in helping the community. Over the years, the focus and nature of their programs have varied, ranging from contributing to local organizations, supporting charities their clients are involved in, matching contributions raised by employees to aid the Red Cross in national and international disaster recovery, and participating in programs sponsored by their property management company. However, PPR’s commitment has not changed, and in fact is only growing stronger. Early in its history, PPR supported the Comin’ at Ya Foundation, a leadership program for inner city kids. After the program dissolved, they shifted their focus and resources to other organizations. Their prior office location made this transition rather smooth, as the building had organized volunteer events that employees could participate in at their discretion:

Community Servings – a group of employees prepared food for people that were homebound with AIDS
School Backpacks – groups or individual employees would fill a backpack with requested school supplies to help local schoolchildren
Toys for Tots – donating to the building’s annual holiday toy drive
Food Drive – donating food for the Boston Food Bank near Thanksgiving
Clothing Drive – employees helped the building collect business attire for people who could not afford clothing for an interview

PPR has also held internal programs and food drives. In recent years, people brought in food and supplies to send to a troop in Iraq, donated spare change to the Jimmy Fund (a local cancer-research program), and last Christmas, donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, in lieu of having PPR’s holiday gift swap. Employees decided to give money to a charity in which the company matched all contributions and voted to give to St. Jude’s. The year marked a significant change and evolution in PPR’s charitable work. A Volunteer Program called “Helping Hands” was established. It will feature four pre-scheduled external volunteer opportunities, as well as several internal ones. PPR is soliciting ideas from employees, but some suggestions have included Habitat for Humanity, helping harvest at local farms for food programs, Boston Harbor cleanup projects, and the kick-off program of volunteering at the Boston Food Bank. “Helping Hands” is completely voluntary, and all employees are welcome to participate. They anticipate bringing 10-12 people on each volunteer opportunity, with a cross-section of the firm represented at each. This program came about because employees wanted to get involved in the local community to give back. The “Helping Hands” program was pioneered by a group of four people, with the assistance of numerous others. The various programs will be a great morale booster and a way for people in different departments of the firm to come together and do some good. They look forward to establishing long-lasting relationships with volunteer organizations throughout the greater Boston area, and helping make their community stronger, year after year.

Genscape focused its philanthropic efforts towards one of Louisville’s strongest and most beneficial charities, The Fund for the Arts during the year. The Fund for the Arts’ mission is to increase revenues for the arts and to enable the Louisville community to become the pre-eminent regional arts centre in the United States and to maximize the impact of the arts on overall economic development, education of children and community aesthetics. The Fund for the Arts is the oldest united arts fund in the country and has risen over $130 million since its establishment in 1949. The 2006 campaign raised nearly $8 million, a long way from its first campaign in 1949, of $99,000. Genscape received an award for its generous contribution to the FFTA, as well as special recognition for increasing its overall contribution 501% in 2007. The Fund provides financing, facilities and administrative support for twenty-four area arts groups and programs. In addition, over 200 community access grants are awarded annually to community groups and schools in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Other Fund sponsored activities include the annual Whittenberg Young Artist Scholarship, co-sponsorship of the Gheens Young Artist Program with the Kentucky Centre and support of the annual Black Achievers Arts Scholarship Program. The William Tolbert Whittenberg Scholarship for Excellence was established in 1987 to enable gifted students with limited financial support to pursue advanced study in the performing arts. In 2007 one of Genscape, Inc.’s own VP’s made it his own personal mission to make a young boy named Michael’s dream come true. Vice President of Global Sales, Mike McAuliffe networked amongst his colleagues and network of friends to get young Michael, who was diagnosed with a very serious and life threatening illness into a New York Yankees Baseball Game. Not only did the young boy get to see his favourite team play, he was able to get pictures taken with Yankees stars Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter. The company are very proud of Mike and his efforts to contribute to the community. Genscape prides itself on its vast and many efforts in regards to social and economic responsibility.

Euromoney

Traditionally Euromoney Institutional Investor encourages its people to be active in charities. It channels its charity budget exclusively to good causes that its employees support, matching or better the money raised by its people.
Last year, an excellent one for profits, it did the same, but it also set out to do something extra, something much more ambitious.

It searched for a special one-off charity project before choosing a single cause that was particularly suitable for a publishing company that earns much of its revenues in emerging markets.

The criteria it selected were that the project must make a maximum beneficial change to people’s lives, that it would concentrate on children, that it would be permanent or self-sustaining, that it would fire the imagination of the company’s 2,100 employees around the world, and that it would be entirely funded through the company’s efforts.
When the search finished, Euromoney Institutional Investor had found its project, to create a children’s eye clinic in Orissa, the poorest state in India.

It would take three years to come fully on stream, by which time it would save the sight of between 10,000 and 20,000 children annually.

Avoidable blindness is very common in poor regions of India and Africa. Much of it can be cured by a simple cataract operation that costs around £12.

The clinic would be attached to the existing Kalinga Eye Hospital. Surgeons and nurses would be recruited and trained to perform delicate eye surgery on children under the guidance of ORBIS, the international blindness charity, which is Euromoney’s partner in the project. The mission of ORBIS is to restore sight to poor people in developing countries.
The clinic will sustain itself by charging better off parents, so that no child will be turned away. Hospital teams will tour local villages, testing children’s eyesight and encouraging parents to bring them to the clinic for surgery if needed.
The cost of the project is £188,000. ORBIS suggested the funds be raised over three years. Euromoney Institutional Investor set out to raise the money in a year.

At the end of calendar 2006 it asked its people, the company itself, and its customers to combine in one big effort.
The Board, with the full support of DMGT, decided that, in addition to the usual charity budget, the company would donate a further £50,000 to Kalinga.

The Directors individually gave an additional £50,000. Employees everywhere rose to the challenge, jumping from aeroplanes, raising funds at the company’s conferences and awards dinners, organizing quiz evenings, running marathons and holding cake sales. They raised a further £77,000.

The company then appealed to its customers, who responded with a generosity that took the total raised through £200,000 by the beginning of September 2007, ahead of target and a month ahead of plan. The additional funds will enable more eye operations.

Progress is swift. The doctors and nurses have begun training. The new hospital is being built. The company’s initial donation has already enabled the surgeons to save the sight of 2,000 people and treat thousands of others. The people in the area are becoming aware that the sight of their children can be saved. Other areas of Orissa will be encouraged to follow the example of Kalinga.

The involvement of Euromoney Institutional Investor and its people will continue. As the hospital comes on stream, field teams of the company’s employees who have contributed most by their efforts will visit the Kalinga clinic to see the work which they have made possible.

dmg world media

For the Daily Mail Ideal Home Show 2007 dmg world media generated £50,000 for Cancer Research, the show charity, through donations from the Daily Mail.

The Ski Show raised £3,400, through donation of free stands for the Back Up Trust.

The world media ‘Outdoors Team’ participated in the Rat Race which is an 80,000 adventure race around Manchester and raised £120.00 for charity.

At The Outdoors Show visitors donated £405 to Outward Bound Charity, a charity which encourages under privileged children into the outdoors and learn new life skills

DMG Radio

Sean Ryan, General Manager of Nova Brisbane came up with a fundraising idea that has raised AUS$1,000,000 in the last two years by being a Board member of Telethon which is one of the biggest fund raisers for Princess Margaret Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

DMG Radio Australia has supported the Leukaemia Foundation, the Hear and Say Centre, National Drought Day, Earth Hour, the P-Plate Debate, the LIVE Earth Concert, Youth Focus, Umbrella Month and Ride for Youth amongst many others. They hosted a golf day for ‘Zoe's Place’, raising money for this respite home for terminally ill children. They supported the WAMi awards (Western Australia music industry) and WAM song of the year.

Nova hosts ‘All Ears’, a panel show on air focusing on different issues (e.g. youth suicide, cancer, male poverty history, and youth driving).

The Nova Brisbane Breakfast team members spent the day at Mater Hospital chatting to the ill children. Also they have done a guest spot on the starlight TV channel which is broadcast to all the TVs in the hospital.