As a global manufacturing Group operating in highly competitive market sectors we face challenging issues, and we try, wherever possible, to link our community involvement into those areas that concern our business most.
The Community Team
Corporate community investment programmes are managed by our corporate community relations team. Reporting to the Group’s Director of Human Resources, the group works closely with community partners and with colleagues around the world to promote community activities globally and share best practice.
Partnership approach
Helping us on our journey are the experts, charities and community partners who have a deep understanding of the needs of the groups and individuals they support. By listening carefully and working closely together we can devise a programme of activities that address real issues.
Our starting point is to balance the needs of the initiative with our own business objectives. Over time, we deepen and broaden our relationships with our partners, creating the ultimate ‘win-win’, which makes a positive and lasting impact in our communities and helps our business to prosper. Many of our projects start small and grow into multifaceted relationships.
Adding value
Due to the holistic nature of many of our community projects it is now common for a partnership initially involving education, for example, to grow and embrace other areas that we support. We encourage this wherever possible to broaden the reach of our activities and maximise the benefit of the investment we have made.
We also try to generate even more impact from our own involvement in community projects, often by involving additional partners, and leveraging their specific skills and expertise to propel initiatives further forward.
We give our support in a number of ways:
– Donations
– Employee involvement
– Sponsorship
– Gifts in kind
Charitable donations
A major part of our community support is through charitable donations. In 2003 we donated more than £1.1 million to hundreds of community-based groups around the world. We have a Group community investment committee (Group CIC), chaired by a non-executive director, which is responsible for setting the Group’s global policy on charitable donations. The Group policy on donations is to direct its support primarily to causes with educational, engineering or scientific objectives, as well as social objectives connected with the Company’s business and place in the wider community.
The Group CIC is supported by a series of national committees which deal with in-country appeals within the policy established by the Group committee. In addition, site-based committees at our major facilities handle local appeals.
If you would like more information, please go to 'Give us your views' page.
Employee involvement
Our employees play a vital role and are given every encouragement to get involved in their community and make a difference. External partners help find them a broad range of opportunities. These range from individual or team-based projects as part of formal career development programmes through to people gaining personal skills and experience through their participation in activities such as mentoring young business people.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is given to projects which further our business interests, such as educational, industry or science, engineering and technology related events. Corporate sponsorship is administered by the Rolls-Royce Sponsorship Committee and business-related initiatives can be specific to a country, region or business area.
Gifts in kind
Our gifts in kind activity demonstrates that a little can go a long way. We support projects in ways which cost us very little but make a world of difference to the community.
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