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!

Bonfires Judge brought in to help find the South Easts most innovative student

Creative Challenge Logo 2012Bonfire director, Stephen Judge, will be assessing competition entries for the second year running as part of the University of Creative Arts’ (UCA) annual Creative Challenge programme. The competition is open to all students at UCA.

The Creative Challenge is an industry-led programme that helps students to develop their creative business and innovation skills using a live project scenario. The idea of the competition is to find the most enterprising and innovative students at the University. Industry experts then nurture students with their ideas through a development programme. Ideas are kept top secret and range in theme and discipline.

Stephen is looking forward to supporting this programme and will be on the lookout for fresh talent, breakthrough ideas and technical skills.

He is amongst judges and supporters from Kanoti, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Virgin Media, who will all play an active part in selecting the top 10 finalists. The prestigious Creative Challenge Awards will be held in May at Kensington Roof Gardens in London.

Corporate responsibility news flash

  • Keech Accumulator Challenge, Creative Fundraising Idea AwardWinners of Keech Hospice Care Accumulator Challenge Creative Fundraising Idea
  • We Are Bedford awarded
  • Payroll Giving Gold Award

Lots of good stuff has been going on at Bonfire, thanks to the support of our staff!

A local hospice, Keech Hospice Care, set a challenge for local businesses of accumulating as much money for them as possible over the course of 2011 with seed capital of £50. At the start of the year, we devised a tool box to help the team. Each month a different team member took on the task of doing something to raise money. We had lots of creative fundraising ideas, from designing a new font that would raise money each time someone bought it, to selling Italian food at lunchtimes, with a grand finale of transforming our entrance into a Winter Wonderland in time for the turning on of the Ampthill Town Christmas Lights for the local community. In total, £1,192.00 was raised and was presented to Keech Hospice Care in January. They liked our ideas so much, that we were announced as Winners of the Most Creative Fundraising Idea at the presentation evening (in conjunction with the window display wining best dressed window by the local Business Chamber).

Community group We Are Bedford, run by Kayte Judge and Erica Roffe, that we provide marketing and creative support to, received an award from a local newspaper publisher. The Rising Stars Awards, run by The Times & Citizen in Bedford, had a special category, the District Improvement category, to recognise the work carried out by the group.