Royal Bank of Scotland’s Mark Walters explains how a simple scheme to support World Vision has inspired staff across the company.
“We’re going to transform a village in the poorest country in the world.”
This is the vision I set out to achieve by linking the passion and enthusiasm of my colleagues at work with the skills and expertise of one of the world’s leading development charities. Six months into the project and we’re well on the way to realising our dream of transforming the lives of thousands of children in Komabangou village in Niger.
How it all started
The idea was sparked by a leadership course I went on with a company called Vita Brevis.
They taught me their seven principles of leadership, which included creativity, inspiring people and stepping out of your comfort zone. Like with any training course, I needed to put these principles into practice and build on what I’d learnt.
I sponsor a child in Malawi through World Vision who send me regular updates on how my sponsored child is getting on, and how my donations are helping the development programme for their village.
In one update I read about an initiative to drive down the high infant mortality rate in the village. By buying five bicycle ambulances the villagers could get expectant mothers to the nearest hospital quicker. This really hit home as my wife was due to give birth at the time and I couldn’t imagine taking her to hospital on the back of my mountain bike!
The article also made me think about the leadership principles – and suddenly I saw an opportunity to promote child sponsorship to my colleagues. I work for Royal Bank of Scotland who run a Give As You Earn scheme as part of our benefits package. The scheme is open to all UK taxpayers, and you can contribute to any UK registered charity.
For every £1 an employee gives, RBS gives an additional £2. Also, because the donations are made through payroll, they’re deducted net of tax. Sponsoring a child through World Vision usually costs £18 per month. By doing it through the Give As You Earn scheme, an RBS employee only has to give £4.68 per month net because the taxman pays £1.32 and RBS contributes the remaining £12. For higher rate taxpayers it only costs £3.60 per month net.
Pitching the idea to World Vision
I knew that if my idea was going to succeed, I had to get people to sit up and take notice. The updates I receive from Malawi highlight that child sponsorship is a vehicle World Vision uses to fund village development programmes. I started to think big – if we could generate enough child sponsors, we could transform a whole village. Then, as well as keeping in touch with the children we sponsored, we could also follow the progress of their village.
I approached World Vision with my idea and met up with Dr Paul Marko, their head of corporate relations. Originally from a corporate marketing background, Paul saw the project’s potential straight away. He offered us two village development programmes, one in
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Niger and one in Guatemala. I opted for Niger where the programme was built around four key objectives:
• Health, drinking water and hygiene sanitation
• Food security and economic development
• Training and education
• Promoting cultural links and the children’s understanding of the wider world
Setting up the project
To get the project off the ground we had to have a quick and simple process for employees to sign up for child sponsorship. World Vision gave us a hotline number we could call to sponsor a child. This was where the experience came to life as people could find out more about the village development programme and select a boy or girl to sponsor. Many chose children who were around the same age as their own children so they could be pen pals.
The feedback on the process was excellent. Once someone had signed up to sponsor a child, all they had to do was complete a standard Give As You Earn form to arrange the monthly payment.
How it took off
The most important step in the project was to put together a team to manage and promote it. This is very much a team project. It’s owned and driven by staff – a bottom up process, not top down. It thrives on the enthusiasm and teamwork of employees throughout the company. And the word of mouth benefits have been massive as people have picked up the idea and promoted it to their teams.
I think it would be fair to say the reaction from people has been unprecedented. We really started to see significant volumes of sponsorship sign-ups when we ran trade stands with World Vision at a series of conferences. One member of the project team organised a stand over a 3-day Private Banking conference and got 214 people to sponsor children in Komabangou.
In addition to the child sponsorships, a number of teams within the company have asked to get involved by raising funds for World Vision. For example, Private Banking South has committed to raising £10,000 which will be used to fund the supply of safe drinking water to the village. While child sponsorship is still our principal aim, this is a great way to promote the project and generate income up front to give the development programme a boost.
The results so far
To give World Vision enough revenue to fund the entire village development programme for Komabangou, our target is to sponsor 2,500 children. This will generate £7 million over the next 15 years. Just six months from the start of the project, we’ve signed up sponsors for 350 children, with nearly 300 coming from just two weeks of conferences.
We’ve also raised over £8,000 which will be used to buy mosquito nets for the children, and also to fund an agricultural project and a new classroom and equipment at the village
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school. In addition to all this, we have commitments to raise £16,500 to fund the village water supply and 150 toilets.
Our next step is for the project team to visit Komabangou with World Vision this winter to see the programme for ourselves and report back to our colleagues.
Everyone’s a winner
The project with World Vision has proved to be a genuine win-win situation, benefiting employees, the company and the people of Komabangou.
The feedback from employees is that they get so much out of sponsoring a child –
particularly if they have young families as it helps children understand African issues. From a financial perspective, many employees were already sponsoring a child, paying £18 by Direct Debit. Through the Give As You Earn scheme they’ve been able to reduce the amount they donate or, better still, sponsor more children for the same amount.
For a company of any size, this is a great way to get your employees engaged and motivated. It’s also a very effective way to develop their skills. This was my original driver and it’s certainly helped me in my own development.
Most important of all, projects like ours mean that thousands of people in some of the poorest countries in the world will get safe drinking water, a reliable food supply, education for their children and the ability to stand on their own two feet and contribute to the development of their villages.
A modern business partnership
I strongly believe that the project we’ve set up can work for any company, large or small.
Links with a leading charity like World Vision is a modern business partnership which can transform the lives of many people in the developing world.
You don’t have to fund an entire village development programme. By generating a certain number of child sponsorships, you can fund a capital project such as a school classroom or the water supply to the village. Your company doesn’t even have to contribute to the Give As You Earn donations. Your employees will still receive the tax benefits – and the paperwork is minimal.
This project has been a remarkable experience for everyone involved. The key success for us is that we can see the difference we’re making. Although we work for Royal Bank of Scotland, this is not a project or charity sponsored or officially supported by RBS. We as staff are simply using the company’s Give As You Earn scheme to do something we’re now really passionate about.
I would recommend working with World Vision to any company. They’ve been the perfect partners, helping us set up and promote the project, keeping us in touch with the children we sponsor, and sending us photos and video as the village development programme continues to make a difference.
If you would like more information about World Vision’s child sponsorship and village development programmes, contact Dr Paul Marko at [email protected] or on +44 7990 591931.
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