Each year, colleagues from across The Ardonagh Group worldwide unite in the shared value of community spirit in our Group charity event, Give Back. 2023 saw our c.10,000 people around the Group 'give back' in a whole variety of ways in support of the causes that matter to them around the globe.
After a week of coming together across Ardonagh to fundraise, volunteer and collect donations, we reveal our grand totals and share photos of just some of the special moments from this year's event!
Across Ardonagh, a spectacular grand total of £100,000 was raised, including £50,000 donated by ACT all going to the causes that matter to our people!
Plenty of teams also got involved with our Group-wide donation drive, leading to an incredible 6,200 items being donated to local charities ranging from food banks to paediatric centres and women's refuges.
Through all these incredible efforts, 95 charities around the world were supported, and all thanks to our fantastic Ardonagh people!
As a result, to date through our annual Give Backs, ACT together with our people have raised more than £830,000 for hundreds of charities special to Ardonagh colleagues.
We loved seeing our colleagues' many photos and messages over the week, showcasing how they were giving back to their chosen causes. Here's just some of our favourites!
In Australia, colleagues went above and beyond to collect items for several different charities. Fitzpatrick & Co supported Backpacks 4 Vic Kids, creating backpacks filled with items to support children in foster homes. Meanwhile, in Resilium items were collected for Foodbank Australia, to help people in need in the community.
Elsewhere in Ardonagh International, more avid donation drives took place. In SRS Group in Greece, over 300 items were donated, and colleagues even handcrafted more than 70 gifts and cards for Tandem-PIKPA, a charity which supports children with special needs. In the central International team, over £2,000 worth of gifts were bought to donate to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London and The Salvation Army.
In Ireland, Arachas colleagues went all out to fundraise for their spotlight charity, Cancer Fund for Children - from donations to a desk decoration competition and a performance from Sea of Change choir.
In Ardonagh Specialty, a group of colleagues donned their finest Santa outfits to complete a fun run in aid of Specialty's charity of the year, Magic Breakfast. Whilst in the safety of the London office, a beautiful giving tree was up, as the team collected gifts for Family in Action.
Ardonagh Retail were creative as ever, with all manner of fundraising activities, from egg roulette, to food bank collections, bake sales and even dogs in the office! Members of the Swinton team helped at Candlelighters Charity annual party, dressing up for the part in some very fetching elf outfits.
In Ardonagh Advisory, there were also fundraising challenges aplenty, with festive outfits proving very popular! Thompson & Richardson had a fantastic Christmas hat competition for Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, whilst the Towergate team in Perth meanwhile kept things classic with a Christmas jumper day.
Finally, at Ardonagh Analytics Lab in Mullingar, Ireland, the team came together to create a laden tree with all sorts of items ready to donate to the Ken Smollen Food Appeal. Meanwhile, our Ardonagh Graduates joined forces to fundraise for DEBRA UK, which supports people with a rare skin condition, which the group have been supporting over their grad programme.
It wouldn't be a true Give Back without ACT giving back to colleagues around the Group through Ardonagh's very own radio show, Radio Ardonagh. This year, Radio Ardonagh travelled to Ireland, where the Arachas team in Sandyford, near Dublin, hosted the proceedings.
The live show saw cross-overs to colleagues around the Group, showcasing their Give Back stories, and a whole host of competitions to enable colleagues to win additional donations for their chosen charities.
We were delighted to also welcome representatives from Arachas' spotlight charity, Cancer Fund for Children. As well as CEO of the charity, Phil Alexander, a very special member of the wider Cancer Fund for Children team, Alex McEleney, a youth ambassador, also joined. Alex shared his own personal journey with cancer and how the charity's respite centre, Daisy Lodge, provided a 'magical place' where he could simply be himself.
Over the three-hour live show, over £2,000 was given away in donations to a range of charities and provided a much deserved feel-good factor to round of a fantastic week of community spirit!
Give Back might be over for 2023, but ACT is here throughout the year to enable Ardonagh colleagues around the world to support the charities that matter to them!
Through our funding programmes, including our match funding scheme and Community grants, to date ACT has supported 1,000 charities special to our people. If you are an Ardonagh employee, visit the ACT section on Engage to learn more about how you can make the most of our Group charity to give back.