Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Doing our bit for a "big society"

by Shaun

In this new era of political consensus, co-operation and talk of a big society, I’d certainly like to see the coalition Government put ethics and concern for the community at the heart of its policies. As a co-operative business, Ethos public relations recognises the importance of supporting the communities we live and work in, and all of us should be doing our bit.

Every year Ethos public relations gives at least one per cent of its pre tax profits to charity. In 2009-10, we donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal, Parkinson’s UK, Orchid – Fighting Male Cancer and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Our charities are generally chosen on the basis of an annual staff ballot and those employees whose names are drawn decide which charities they would like Ethos public relations to donate to. However, this year there was also an immediate consensus amongst our team that we should donate to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal, which we did within a couple of days of the earthquake striking.

As well as annual donations, we do a range of other things for charity and the community.

On a day-to-day basis, we do things like collecting stamps for charity, recycling our ink cartridges and buying charitable Christmas cards. We also try to use our American Express “RED” card for business purchases as the “RED” scheme supports children and young people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

As part of our commitment to national children’s charity Action For Kids, we provide them with one day’s PR per month free of charge.

We contribute to the community in a number of ways and our staff undertake some activities during the working day in support of a range of local community and charitable causes.

We have a policy of buying fairly traded products and we proactively aim to avoid purchasing products from oppressive regimes, preferring to buy products made in Britain, Europe and the Commonwealth whenever possible.

Finally, we believe we should make our voice heard on certain important issues – for example, on our website there are links to campaigns that we promote and support such as Amnesty International, Make Trade Fair and the Free Burma Campaign.

For Government I think a "big society" should include implementing ethical procurement policies such as local sourcing, giving more charities and community businesses the chance to tender for Government contracts, and not buying from oppressive regimes. For the rest of us it should mean making informed choices to help create a better society for all.

Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Posted at 2:54pm on 18^th May 2010