Press release

Involve Swindon celebrates 10 year anniversary with Prime Minister’s Award

Involve Swindon, a network of organisations that encourages employees to volunteer in the local community, wins the Big Society Award.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

A network of Swindon companies and organisations encouraging employees to give their time and develop their skills by volunteering in the local community has been recognised with a Big Society Award by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The award will be presented to Involve Swindon by the Minister for Civil Society, Brooks Newmark in Swindon today as the network celebrates their 10 year anniversary supporting employee volunteers.

The Involve Swindon network includes companies, statutory bodies and voluntary organisations working together to increase volunteering. It acts as a link between voluntary organisations and companies based in Swindon to highlight opportunities for volunteers, and also provides guidance to companies on how to develop their volunteering policies. Involve Swindon also holds Involve mornings where members can celebrate volunteering successes and share ideas around how to encourage more people to give their time to the community.

Since 2004, Involve Swindon has worked with over 120 organisations facilitating over 3,500 employees to give their time and skills to the local community. In 2013 alone, 762 employee volunteers donated 4,474 hours either as teams or individuals on projects supporting 52 charitable organisations and 14 schools. Employers who are part of Involve Swindon’s network include Zurich, Intel, Nationwide, The Marriott and De Vere Village Hotels.

Minister for Civil Society, Brooks Newmark said:

Involve Swindon have been strengthening their local community for 10 years, through connecting local businesses with voluntary organisations. I am delighted to present Involve Swindon with their Big Society Award today on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Tony Martin, Founder and Chair of Involve Swindon said:

We’d like to thank the Prime Minister for recognising our efforts, putting the ‘icing on the cake’ in our 10th anniversary year. We’ve been living Big Society for the past decade, building an environment of collaborative working that has benefitted the Swindon communities.

Find out more about the Big Society Awards.

Published 21 August 2014