Asking your colleagues to devote time, effort and money to charitable causes can result in a number of interesting reactions. This is especially the case when the individuals at the company work very long hours, spend time away from their families and partners on a regular basis, and have little time to focus on activities outside their perceived sphere of influence.
But following the Indian Ocean earthquake tragedy in December 2004 that's just what LDC did. "Our culture is built around a number of strong cultural themes - teamwork, camaraderie, partnership, professional integrity and community support. As an organisation LDC has always made charitable donations, but the tsunami disaster acted as a catalyst for our organisation to do something bigger. Identifying the route our organisation should take was the next step", says Rob Pendleton
Following the tsunami several staff travelled to one of the worst affected areas of Sri Lanka and spent two weeks helping the local community repair buildings and build a community vegetable garden.
It was from this that the 'LDC in the Community' concept was developed; an approach that has become an integral part of the LDC organisation. 'There was a firm-wide desire to create an organisation to be proud of', says Rob Pendleton.
The 'LDC in the Community' initiative provides an overarching theme for the charitable work that goes on across its national and regional networks. The team raised over £250,000 in 2008 and £300,000 in 2007 compared with just £30,000 in 2004, 'it really is part of the heart and culture of our organisation. It's not about ticking the CSR box. We do this because it's the right thing to do, and because we want to', says Rob Pendleton. It also goes to illustrate how much more effective a team can be when philanthropy is instituted at a firm-level, providing a framework for engagement across all levels of a team.
The capital from the 'LDC in the Community' programme is distributed amongst a number of national and regional charities and is derived from the team's fundraising efforts in addition to a portion of LDC's profits. Each LDC local office champions its own causes, and this matches the regional culture of the organisation.
This cultural resonance is important, and serves to match the skills and values of an organisation, and its employees, with its charitable work. For instance, LDC in the North supports Hollybank Trust, a charity supporting children with complex disabilities, raising funds during 2007 with its 'Team Bacon Buttie' in the Circuit Driver Caterham Academy Championship racing events. In the South, the team supports Camp Mohawk, a summer camp for children with autism, raising over £13,000 in 2006; and in spring 2007 and 2008 the LDC staff and other individuals from the local business community spent a day preparing the camp for summer. The whole LDC team also comes together to get involved in company-wide initiatives, including the annual LDC charity quiz, which takes place across six venues simultaneously with 140 teams taking part - an event that is only possible with the support and generosity of local corporate finance communities; and the London Marathon, with LDC entering this event since 2007 in support of the Juvenile Diabetes (JDRF). The 2009 team is currently in training!
