The New Year marks a fresh start for many of us, full of possibilities and good intentions. Could volunteering opportunities help you meet your personal goals as well as helping an important cause?

Across the world our people have been supporting organisations spearheading change for those most in need. We’re shining a light on what causes our colleagues are passionate about and how they’ve been supporting them in 2022. It might just be the inspiration we need to kickstart 2023!

Spain

Colleagues in Madrid teamed up with A LA PAR, a charity helping to create jobs for people with physical and neurodiverse conditions. Some of the careers include horticulture and landscape gardening.

Our volunteers got stuck in, mud and all, at an allotment, which is sustained by people with intellectual disabilities. Our budding gardeners helped the orchard workers pull dry plants and weeds to prepare the land for new crops to grow.

Germany

In Frankfurt, colleagues spent the day with local charity partner TAFEL, which provides support to more than 2 million people a year in need of food – a third of which are vulnerable children.  

Our people supported one local food bank, sorting, packing and preparing food for those in need.

“Helping at the food bank put into perspective how many people don’t have anything eat and the great work that charities such as TAFEL to do support.” – Tanja Engel, Chief Operating Officer, Germany.

Italy

Our Italian team joined our new charity partner, Rete Clima, to support the Italian national forest campaign.

The charity is focused on promoting sustainability in organisations, in particular it aims to tackle the causes of climate change, such as national deforestation. This is where our people stepped in to help.

200 trees were planted in a dedicated area near Milan, while volunteers also helped with forest planning and maintenance actions to support new tree growth.

United States

To support low-income and homeless residents of Staten Island, in partnership with Project Hospitality, our New York colleagues packed 180 basic hygiene and wellness kits to deliver to those in need. The kits included supplies like soap, shampoo and dental care. 

Volunteers also prepared 343 blank cards and pre-stamped envelopes for all our US colleagues to send. Within these envelopes, our people would write a thoughtful message and mail it to someone they cared about, because sometimes a small act of kindness can make a big difference.

Carolyn Chamberlain, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Americas, said: “I want to do things like this more often because the little things really are the big things.”

Hong Kong

Our team in Hong Kong supported the elderly by providing social and emotional support to the community following the impact of the pandemic.

The Floral Green Pathy promotes environmental protection, upcycling and green living by making homemade stone diffusers. As part of this initiative, our people teamed up with the elderly to create these diffusers, before donating them back to the elderly together with gift packs.

“This was such a great green event and it was rewarding to have fun with all the lovely and energetic elders.” – Esther Ki, Head of Fund Operations. 

Schroders Giving

We support our people and the causes which matter to them, through global employee engagement campaigns, employee fundraising matching and volunteer schemes. Find out more about our charitable partnerships and what it’s like working at Schroders.

Related news:

• Superbloom: hear from six of our blooming wonderful volunteers
• Volunteering to invest in our planet
• Schroders: a year in review 2022