What does charity mean to you?

Charity – giving to, being part of, supporting, raising money for… There are so many ways of being involved in charity.

The old saying goes “Charity begins at home”, but perhaps it is more exact to say it begins on your doorstep. One look into the outside world will throw up a vast array of people and planet issues, which need our tender loving care.

No ONE person can fix the issues which the planet, and its people, are facing. But the support from ONE person to a charity can make a HUGE difference to the work the charity, as a whole, is doing to tackle important issues facing people and planet.

The weight of the environmental issues facing planet Earth doesn’t’ just fall on the shoulders of charities though.

Companies across the world are being asked to ramp up their Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. Many organisations are making minimal efforts. Other organisations take looking after the future of their planet extremely seriously, and see CSR as a very small aspect of protecting our planet and its people.

People’s Postcode Lottery falls within the second category. As a charity lottery, its mission is to raise funds for charities and good causes, and increase awareness of their work.

So to ‘practice what they preach’, the organisation continues to build on the ways charities can benefit from People’s Postcode Lottery. The launch of the Dream Fund has seen charitable projects being awarded £100,000 to realise their dream idea. The creation of People’s Postcode Trust, a grant giving charity, has ensured that smaller charities, who are very often trying to tackle and support issues going on at community level, can receive funding.  The formation of the Green Challenge has seen five projects which are environmentally sustainable be awarded more than €500,000.

The charities which receive funding from People’s Postcode Lottery, are supported before, during and after grants are awarded.

People’s Postcode Lottery encourages staff to volunteer, allowing them to use their office time to support charities.  Charities are frequently invited to present to the staff, allowing staff a greater understanding of the aims and objectives of those charities, and underlining the importance of protecting our planet, and its people.

Organisations that continually encourage staff to change their way of life, so to protect this planet and all that is on it, assist in underlining the importance of every individual changing their perception of ‘charity’, and involving themselves in all aspects of charity that they possibly can.

So, the next time you read about an individual, or an organisation adopting a greener way of life, wonder – “Is that the best you can do?”