Superhero Friday!

If you happen to be passing our office, or indeed Ampthill next Friday, don’t be surprised if you bump into Superman, Wonder Woman, or even Danger Mouse…!

As part of our commitment to support Keech Hospice Care, we are all dressing up as superheroes to raise money on Friday 25th May. Not only are the Bonfire team dressing up, we’ve also been busy inviting other businesses and shops to join in the fun, including Limelight, our local fancy dress shop, which is offering a discount for costume hire.

If you fancy being a superhero for the day to help us raise money, and you’d like a collection box, please get in touch on 01525 841079. We’re all meeting at Ampthill Market Square at 10 am on Friday for a big superhero photo!

Bonfire upgraded to Platinum for Payroll Giving

Payroll_Giving_Platinum_12_RGBBonfire is amongst the first 29 companies in the country to receive a new level of quality mark for our contribution to charity. Having held the Gold award for the last 4 years in a row it is a great acknowledgement of the team’s support to making a difference.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Payroll Giving in the UK and the Institute of Fundraising has celebrated the occasion by launching a new ‘Platinum’ level of Quality Mark to the existing Payroll Giving Quality Mark Awards.

The Platinum Quality Mark Award recognises employers that continually strive to increase donations to UK charities through Payroll Giving.  Employers that are recognised through the Platinum Award have committed themselves to promoting Payroll Giving in the workplace and increasing charitable donations.

The Payroll Giving Quality Mark is funded by HM Government, organised in conjunction with the Institute of Fundraising and administered by the Payroll Giving Centre.

A day to get fired up

MJB_4187Every year we shut up shop for a day to review our past year’s activity in line with our corporate social responsibility commitments and plan for the year ahead. This year, our away day was hosted by Keech Hospice Care in Luton, our nominated charity for 2011/12, and facilitated by Goodthings, a CSR consultancy dedicated to aligning personal and organisational goals.

Here are some of the highlights:

  • We started the day by building ourselves and Bonfire out of Lego! We were team building…literally.
  • We turned £50 into £,1,192.00 for Keech Hospice Care following eight months of creative fundraising ideas, from designing and selling a font to a winter wonderland event for the local community. We won Keech’s Creative Fundraising Idea award for our approach to raising money.
  • Over 180 team hours were donated to charitable causes and projects.
  • We were 1 of 29 companies to receive a Platinum Award for our ongoing commitment to payroll giving..
  • Our staff received £250 in matched sponsorship for charity.
  • The majority of our invoices are now electronic.
  • Our old office furniture was donated to NOAH (a charity dedicated to the homeless).
  • We got into the Design Business Association’s PQQ Ready Directory (Pre Qualification Questionnaires are widely used by the public sector).
  • Steve Judge was appointed a board director of SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership).
  • We donated £2,000.00 to Bedford Creative Arts, a local arts charity and became patrons to the Eastern Pavilions Arts initiative.

We decided as a team that we were going to continue our support of Keech Hospice Care and we’re planning lots of fun activities and volunteer work. Watch this space!

Once all of the hard work was completed, we thought we’d do some crazy stuff, like jumping off buildings and flying in a wind tunnel. It was all done in the safe environment of Body Flight in Bedford and it certainly sorted the men from the boys!