Publish date: 2 May 2024
For Ashley Henderson, Managing Director of Fresh Business Group, the connection to our charity begins with her mother’s work in the NHS.
Motivated by her understanding of the pressures faced by healthcare workers like Ashley’s mum, Fresh Business Group has joined the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Charity as a charity partner. Their aim is to strengthen their business values and raise their local business profile, while leaving a lasting impact on the communities they call home.
“My mum is 20 years plus in the NHS. I have seen her struggles at work in A&E in occupational therapy, helping people go home rather than having to go into wards. It is our local healthcare system, so in addition to the connection through my mum, it was a natural charity for us to choose.
“Fresh is a local family-run business, employing around 20 people. We’re made up of an accountancy practice, Fresh Business Solutions, as well as Fresh Digital which is a marketing company and the Axe House. So the charity is getting three corporate partners in one.
“Supporting the charity has benefited us too. It’s helped us get our name out there and given us massive brand exposure across our region. At the charity events for example, people get to see how much we do as a business for the charity – it’s a nice pat on the back for us and for our staff. We also get to make connection with other businesses and business leaders.
“I have taken part in the Women in Business Awards and recently sponsored an award for second year running for the charity. It’s great visibility and great fun.
“When it comes to fundraising, I don’t tie people to their chairs and tell them, it’s something we encourage staff to do. For example, we get posters from the charity and let the team know about up-and-coming challenge events in our internal newsletter.
“Financially we have set ourselves an ambitious goal for the next five years to raise around £100k. This year eight of us are doing the Great North Run and the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. We’ve also been talking about setting our own challenges. We’ve set £10k as our target for 2024 and are about £4.5k in in the first quarter so we know it’s achievable.
“We do monthly donations of £100 as a business and fundraise on top of that. The charity is great at keeping us up to date on what they need and where the money is going. We work with the team to understand what the charity needs, how much that costs and we set our target off that. We’ve raised money for bladder scanners and cold caps for chemotherapy patients through collection tins and selling raffle tickets at the Axe House for example.
“We do a lot of networking between us. A lot of people ask about the corporate partnership, and we know that it has opened doors for us. We always take the love hearts and charities badge as well as leaflets so we can encourage other businesses to join us. Pat also made us vinyl stickers with QR codes for our cars, we have a team JustGiving page and people can just scan to donate.
“My advice to other local business owners is: get involved. Just do it and get involved. The positive repercussions are endless. In addition to the CSR, knowing that something you’ve done has impacted someone’s life is incredible. It’s a feeling you don’t often feel, especially in business. It’s extremely powerful being able to see the impact of what we’ve done as a team.
Find out more about becoming a charity partner.
