2022 Fundraising: Revealing Our Three Main Charities & Total Raised So Far

We’re delighted to be continuing our charity partnerships in 2022, with a dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and three core charities we will be fundraising for and donating to throughout the year. These charities have been chosen to echo our values, and what is important to the team and the communities we work within.

This year, as part of our UK fundraising, we will be working with Mind, Girls into Coding, and World Land Trust, all superb causes doing incredibly valuable work locally and around the world.

We’ve chosen causes close to our hearts; mental health, diversity in tech, and the environment, with the aim to raise tens of thousands by year-end. This will include sponsoring the great events run by Girls into Coding, taking part in a Halloween half marathon for Mind, as well as making one-off donations throughout the year, for instance, for the LGBTQ+ support charity Galop, and donating to the Ukraine crisis in June.

Here's a closer look at the incredible work of the three main charities we’re supporting in 2022:

1) Girls Into Coding

We’re passionate about improving diversity in the tech industry, which – as our Talent reports show– is massively lacking in all sectors we work in (e.g. Front End development, Java, Python, and more), so are delighted to partner with Girls Into Coding this year. The London-based Community Interest Group highlights young females working with a range of technology, ranging from CAD and hardware & software/coding platforms to electronic components and prototype materials.

We’re proud to be sponsoring at least two events as part of our 2022 partnership with Girls Into Coding, which will be led by educators and mentors who will highlight the amazing career paths STEM can lead to through hands-on workshops and events.

Perhaps nothing summarises Girls into Coding’s great work better than its vision: “Our vision is to see girls and women engaged in STEM activities, education & careers – equally comfortable, with an equal sense of belonging and in equal numbers.”

Find out more: https://www.girlsintocoding.com/

2) Mind

For over 60 years, charity Mind has been doing life-changing work providing mental health through 1000+ services in local communities across England and Wales, as well as supporting an online community and providing many virtual wellbeing resources. Mind’s policy work also influences the government to ensure those with mental health issues get the support they need and the respect they deserve.

It's very important for us to support Mind, as part of our commitment to normalising conversations about mental health in the workplace and between colleagues, in addition to also having in place our Wellbeing Committee (including Mental Health First Aiders) and free Calm membership for team members.

Find out more: https://www.mind.org.uk/

3) World Land Trust

International charity World Land Trust (WLT) has been doing critical work since its inception in 1989, which has protected over 2.4 million acres of land and funded the planting of over 2.4 million trees to date. The charity works internationally to protect environmentally threatened land and create reserves and give permanent protection to habitats and wildlife in around 20 countries, including Africa, Asia, and Central & South America. We’re thrilled to be supporting them this year so they can continue to protect endangered animals and land around the globe.

P.s. Check out WLT’s stream live from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest for a worthwhile look at what the charity is working so hard to protect!

Find out more: https://www.worldlandtrust.org/

Our current fundraising total

“To date, we have raised over £11,000 in the UK and US (July 2022), with our US team, Acceler8 Talent, dedicating their fundraising activity to Women Who Code, who are again, doing fantastic work in improving diversity in tech.”

2022 fundraising events:

• Volleyball tournament
• Hot wing challenge
• London Halloween Walk
• Tuck shop (with price difference going to charity)
• Quizzes …and many other events involving the UR team!

Thank you to TomParker, Head of DevOps & SRE, and leading our Corporate Responsibility Committee for sharing what our fundraising focus will be in 2022.