Bury St. Edmunds wins Baker Tilly charity competition

Over the past year, Baker Tilly UK has organised an internal competition aimed at promoting and rewarding CSR. The award has recently been won by Baker Tilly’s office in Bury St. Edmunds, which managed to raise over £11,500 and volunteered a day at St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich. As a reward, the team received a sum to donate to a charity of their choice.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important for accounting and consulting firms. CSR helps build the employer brand, boost the commitment of employees, and win the charm of (potential) clients. As a result, firms are increasingly making time and money available to support charities. To help boost its CSR, Baker Tilly last year decided to launch an internal competition aimed at promoting CSR initiatives and rewarding ‘best in class’ performance. The prize would ultimately be won by the office with the largest dedication to CSR – including among others charity work, community investment and commitment to the environment.

After evaluating the performances of the several participating offices, the Baker Tilly’s office in Bury St. Edmunds was chosen as the winner. The Bury team raised over £11,500 in one year’s time, through a range of different activities. The activities included weekly dress down collections, a 25 mile walk, rounders events, various raffles, quizzes and cake sales as well as sale of office equipment and general cash collections. In addition to raising money, the team also volunteered a day at St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich; their activities included cleaning paving slabs and paths in the garden and edging the lawns.

“Baker Tilly takes the work it does to support local communities very seriously, and it means a lot to us to be able to raise money for charities within the region and support the essential work that they do. The teams work well together in coming up with new and innovative ideas to raise funds for various charities, and are always keen to beat the prior year’s fundraising total. They motivate the staff in the office to take part and do a large variety of events to ensure everyone can be involved in something throughout the year,” says Stephen Duffety, Managing Partner at the Bury St. Edmunds office.