Community engagement
Engaging with our communities through colleague volunteering and charitable giving is an important part of our culture. Our colleagues are encouraged to use their time and skills for volunteering, fundraising for charity and helping people fulfil their potential.
Volunteering
All colleagues are encouraged to give their time and skills to support their local communities.
During the last year, nearly 170 colleagues gave nearly 1600 hours. They raised funds for our charity partners and also:
- provided mentoring and language-learning support for refugees in Jordan and Lebanon as part of a partnership with Kings College London and the Partnership for Digital Learning & Increased Access
- transcribed audio interviews with Book Aid International partners, including staff and students at the St John of God College of Health Sciences in Malawi and midwife, activist and writer Edna Adan Ismail
- helped judge a children’s creative writing competition for the National Literacy Trust, giving children the opportunity to tell their own story about their local area
- ran virtual work experience sessions for more than 500 school children in Peterborough
- took part in a Careers Carousels session for 240 Year 7 and 8 students at Barr’s Hill School in Coventry
- packed and delivered food hampers to families during the school holidays
- helped the Wildlife Trust manage ragwort, helping maintain the diversity of a Cambridge nature reserve
Charity partnerships
We partner with educational charities internationally, and our colleagues are encouraged to fundraise, support and volunteer with them. During the last year, we donated nearly £200,000 through a combination of organisational donations, colleague fundraising, matched giving and Give As You Earn.
Work placements
Equal access to opportunity is one of the most pressing issues young people face, and we believe we have a responsibility to help address this.
We have delivered virtual work experience days to more than 500 school students and we aspire to reach more young people internationally.
During 2020 and 2021, 15 people took part in paid internships – eight in the UK and seven in South Africa. Three colleagues who started as interns in South Africa are now on permanent contracts, and three are on fixed-term contracts.
In the UK, we have worked with Creative Access since 2018. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise that helps people from underrepresented communities get into the creative industries. The 12 paid internships we offer, each six- weeks long, give young people experience of and insights into publishing.
In 2021 we worked again with Creative Access, the Oxford University Crankstart Internship Programme and our Disability and Neurodiversity Staff Network to reach talented young people interested in learning about publishing and assessment.
