By Cass Briscoe, EA & Company Secretary
Our successful CSR Programme, Clearcast For Better, has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2015.
Over the years we’ve been involved in different charity and fundraising events and programmes such as The Whitechapel Mission, Inspire, and Caris Camden Families. In 2019 we hosted the second annual ‘Clearcast World Cup’ tournament against our shareholder broadcasters Channel 4, Sky and ITV, as well as the ASA, where we raised over £1000 for The Outside Project.
However, in 2020 Clearcast For Better, along with just about everything else, was forced to change considerably. We were unable to organise our annual internship with Haverstock School, which would have been our sixth in a row. We are hopeful to organise this again when we are back in the office and it is safe to do so, but in the meantime, we’ve been working hard remotely to ensure we continue Clearcast For Better’s work.
Since working from home our regular fruit supplier, Fresh Fruit Daily, has delivered our weekly office order to deserving people around London instead, including NHS staff in hospitals and local food banks. We also purchased 12 new laptops to send to families for home-schooling organised through a brilliant charity called Caris Camden Families, who posted about it on their Instagram here.
During the pandemic, some of our staff members have been volunteering for a variety of different causes and initiatives. Our Copy Group Executive, Vicki Ford, has helped Tidy Up Brighton Beach by litter picking and Copy Group Manager Elliot Lord, trained as a volunteer vaccinator with St Johns Ambulance to help with the national effort to vaccinate people against Covid-19.
As well as volunteering and Inspiring the young, one of our biggest aims is to look at how Clearcast operates from an Environmental perspective in order to be as green as possible. Over the years we’ve developed several sustainable and responsible approaches to our business like moving to First Mile (a zero-to-landfill waste management company) and recycling everything from paper to printer cartridges and electronic equipment. We report our energy consumption to Camden Climate Change Alliance annually and have been awarded a Level 1 Going Green Certification – our aim now is to get a Level 2 Cutting Carbon Certification and look into their other classifications and initiatives.
Looking forward to 2021, whilst we’re hoping to get involved with some in-person activities, we’ve still got an eye on our CSR even if we’re remote for a while longer. Remote working means that our carbon footprint has been much lower than previous years, and with it looking unlikely that we’ll return to the office full time, this will continue to have a positive impact. Several staff members started cycling during lockdown to stay fit and get around when the government advice was to avoid public transport, making their new commutes more sustainable.
The previous Head of CSR, Steph Hughes, retired at the end of 2020 and part of her legacy was the creation of Clearcast For Better. As EA & Company Secretary I will now replace her as the Clearcast For Better lead and do my utmost to keep up the good work. Also, we have some new volunteers who’ve joined the working group in 2021- we’re excited to see what fresh ideas they bring in order for Clearcast to meet its CSR goals and continue to help in our local community.
If you have any questions about our CSR work or anything else, please email us here.
