Our Community

BAN1244 - In Kind Direct H1 Overview_2023 During 2022, we were proud to have surpassed our expectations, with our donations reaching over 725 deserving organisations in the voluntary, charitable and social enterprise sector.

We continue to support InKind Direct's mission to enable communities to thrive by reaching 237 organisations in the first half of 2023 alone.

Donations have reached far and wide across the UK and Northern Ireland, across 18 VCSE sector types ranging from Community Groups or Projects to Schools.

The real social value, of course, comes in the feedback from the charities and the difference our donations enable them to make.

“The gloves have been a real help to us. We always went through boxes of gloves in normal times, as our staff and volunteers use them when sorting through the bags and boxes of donations we get, but since COVID, it has been even more of an imperative for everyone here, and the cost has been fairly taxing as many of our normal suppliers were charging far more than they had been previously. To be able to get a few bulk boxes has saved us a fair bit of money and allowed us to build up a supply for the next few months.” Starter Packs Glasgow

For more information on the work of Inkind Direct, click here.

At Banner, we’re aiming to support 1000 charities and good causes by 2025. To achieve that means working strategically with partners who have many years of experience in the needs of the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, whilst continuing to review and respond to requests for assistance from employees, customers and our local communities alike.

Banner facilitates and encourages support for charitable activities of employees. Our colleagues can volunteer a working day per year to a good cause of their choice; donate pennies over a round pound from their salary via ‘change for change’ or promote and support site based fundraisers from cakes sales to sponsored runs! All of this good work adds up to a huge contribution to the community. Celebrating the charitable activity of Our People is a key part of ensuring engagement and well-being at work. We look forward to bringing you news of our activities here.

On Tuesday 6th December 2022, the DVLA held their 7th annual Code Challenge final, hosted by news presenter Sian Lloyd, and streamed live to children across Wales.

As one of the sponsors of the event, Banner donated £300 to be given as a prize for the participating schools.

The competition provides primary and secondary aged students from across Wales with the opportunity to win up to £2,000 worth of IT equipment for their schools, and showcase their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills.

To enter, pupils had to code their very own game. The Code Challenge enables students of all ages to develop their problem solving, teamworking skills and improve their knowledge of computer programming in a fun and innovative way.

Over 300 school children and teachers from across Wales joined the DVLA in-person for the live final, with even more taking part through a live stream.

Click here to read more

Banner's Studio Manager, Clive Andrews-Lewis, made good use of his annual Charity Day by taking on a double shift for Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire Blood Bikes (SSCBB).

Starting at 7am on Thursday 1st September 2022, and covering in excess of 300 miles over the next 12 hours, Clive carried blood tests & samples, fecal matter for treatment, and even loaned blood (of rare blood types) between Queens Hospital in Burton-On-Trent, two locations in Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, Royal Worcester Hospital, George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, and University Hospital Warwickshire.

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Ian Dixon, James Stables and Laura Jones from Banner recently took up their corporate volunteering day in Castleford Valley Gardens, near Normanton. Ian, who is a regular volunteer there, proposed the activity of helping out with a big day of planting.

The area to be planted was previously described as ‘barren’ by the Secretary of the Castleford Valley Gardens who wrote to Banner to thank the team for undertaking work that will make a big difference by spring: “We really appreciate the work Laura, Ian and James undertook. It has made a big difference and is work we would have struggled to undertake. We will certainly see the benefit next Spring. They planted around 400 bulbs, shrubs and two trees.”

The volunteers enjoyed a change of scene, meeting new people and spending in the fresh air. Banner offers all employees the opportunity to take a working day each year to volunteer for a good cause.

On 10th March 2022, members from Banner's sales and marketing teams joined forces with Business Fives, a corporate charity events company, to raise money for the NSPCC through a 5-a-side football tournament at Bradford Goals, competing against other local companies.

As a team with rolling substitutes, Banner's All Stars played 8 games and made it all the way through to the semi-final!

Banner employees came together to raise a wonderful £325, which was subsequently matched by Banner; raising a total of £650 for the NSPCC.

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“Our sincere thanks go to all at Banner for their incredible fundraising during these unprecedented times. Donations such as these will truly help us to ensure we continue to support our staff working through this challenging time, we are so proud of our Staff who continue to show the highest level of compassion, courage and commitment in caring for our Communities to overcome the Virus.” – Kirsty Jowett, Fundraising Manager MY Hospitals Charity.

The team decided to donate the money to the COVID-19 staff fund at the local Pinderfields Hospital support those who have been working on the front-line during this pandemic and keep morale high.

Supporting local communities is a big part of the Banner ethos and forms one of four social responsibility pillars that are integral to how Banner operates as a business.

The sun came out for us last week, 26th April 2022, at the tree planting ceremony organised by Tree Appeal and Edding UK. As Edding UK's partner, Banner got their hands dirty as part of the tree-planting team at Ryecroft Academy in Leeds.

Four members of the Banner team - Alex Clayton, Kirk Townsend, Alex Milano-Tee and Natasha Barker - joined colleagues from Edding, as well as a big group of pupils from Ryecroft Academy, and got stuck in to planting over 200 trees of different varieties - helping us and them learn more about sustainability and the environment.

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Simon Eady, a member of Banner's Central Government sales team, made use of his volunteer day offered by Banner to support the Towcester Rotary Club by volunterring at Silverstone Racetrack.

"On behalf of the Rotary Club of Towcester, I would like to thank you for your help and kindness in volunteering to drive the minibuses at various prestigious events at Silverstone Circuit this summer.

The HR management at Silverstone Catering Ltd have expressed thir gratitude for the excellent and reliable service we were able to provide with your help.

The total funds you helped to raise amounted to £6,300 which will be used by our Rotary Club to fund local and international projects to assist those less fortunate than ourselves. My sincere thanks." - a letter from Alex Cooke, President of the Rotary Club of Towcester.

Well done Simon, we admire your commitment to your volunteer work!

We’d like to shine a light on our Banner teams and colleagues who have been busy helping their communities through the unprecedented time in 2020.

Not only have they been adjusting to the new norm, but they have been going above and beyond to help family, friends and their wider communities up and down the country.

So far we have donated gloves, PPE and supplies, helped friends and family, raised awareness for Parkinson's, supported communities and small businesses and become NHS volunteer responders.

Click here to find out more

We encourage, organise and support Banner staff to give their time to a range of worthwhile causes. Teams have taken part in challenges, such as a Tough Mudder for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, completed a Total Warrior event for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, supported Yorkshire Air Ambulance at the Tour de Yorkshire and helped distribute warm clothes, hot food and drink, blankets and sleeping bags to homeless people in Leeds. We also donate to most of the fundraising events our teams take part in.

At Banner we are aiming to weave social value into our day to day. This means thinking differently and measuring consistently with an acknowledged and agreed value on our investments – no matter what pillar of our CSR program they fall under. That said, our desire to go beyond being ‘just’ a supplier, to being a contributor for good is impossible to quantify. So one may ask ‘why bother to consider what cannot be measured?’ For us, it’s the feel good factor of the outcome, which we describe as the social impact; the immeasurable value of a feeling, whether that be of recipient or donor. Our work in supplying product and services is driven by targets, processes and measures, but as people we are often more driven by emotions that contribute to our wellbeing. Connection to others in society is a fundamental human need as we have found during the restrictions and hardships of Covid19. At Banner we hope that as our contribution for good helps to drive positive connections, it will drive social impacts.

In the last few weeks, EVO has organised donations across all of its sites in the UK. The result has been staggering, with some incredible work carried out by our amazing team.

Our site in NDC collected a fantastic volume of aid which caused Michelle Green, Senior HR Advisor at Banner, to have to find logistical alternatives to our initial plan. After coming across the fantastic 'UK Rail for Ukraine' freight train service supported by the UK Government, EVO's donations were delivered to Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

A special mention to Mark Payton, Regional Transport Manager, who volunteered his expertise to help coordinate and support the movement of essential aid donated by colleagues. In total, Mark ensured that eight pallets were collected from our NDC, Sheffield and Bradford sites, which he then took to meet the freight train in Barking and load the goods in time for the departure.

Alongside Mark, staff in the NDC warehouse provided wonderful support throughout the whole process, packing, wrapping and storing items. A big thanks you to Angie Davies, Assistant Warehouse Supervisor, for coordinating the donations within the warehouse and Martin Sinar, Transport Operations Manager, who drove the loaded truck to the drop-off point.

Volunteers from our Truline and Banner teams in Basingstoke travelled to Ukraine to deliver donations directly to the Red Cross using their own transportation. Further donations were loaded into a van by Andrzej Augustyn, Stuart Shipley and Daryl Parsons and driven to the Foundation in Slough.

A big thank you to all Banner and EVO colleagues who have collected and donated items for this appeal. Our efforts have proved that our family at EVO know how to pull together to support a worth while cause and these items will be truly appreciated by those in need.

Nicola Dawes, Founder & Chief Executive of Stripey Stork said “Our Christmas campaign is always the busiest time of year for us and we are expecting a much bigger demand this year. So many more families are struggling as a result of the end of furlough/drop of Universal Credit uplift/increase in fuel and heating costs. Receiving this support, and being able to divert more of our project funds to new presents for local children, makes such a difference.”

Banner is pleased to have played a small part in helping the charity to provide gifts that, in some cases, will be the main or only presents the families will receive this Christmas.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Banner Healthcare team have enlisted the help of our Bradford office and remote colleagues to collect for a local food bank.

Here are a few photos of only some of the wonderful donations collected, including non-perishable goods, hygiene products, and some festive goodies, which have been delivered to Drighlington Foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust Network.

At Banner, we're very proud and supportive of our colleagues' actions within the community, and encourage all to help out wherever they can.

A BIG thank you to all who contributed, it's a great achievement, and will be hugely appreciated by the local community.