Pavers to donate £2.3m & 2% of annual net profit following foundation launch

Shoe retailer Pavers is pledging £2.3 million to charity, following the launch of its charitable trust, The Pavers Foundation. The Pavers Foundation will provide charitable funding in three ways: Staff will vote for two national charities annually. In December 2018, Macmillan Cancer Support was the first charity to receive funding: £62,500. The foundation also awarded the three runner-up charities the Brain Tumour Charity, Children With Cancer UK and Barretstown £2,500 each. Any of the business's 1700 employees can apply for grants relating to health, education or community projects in their local area. Within the application, staff members put down how much money their cause needs, and from there the foundation committee will make a decision on how much money to grant. Staff can apply for grants up to the value of £50,000. Donations for the first round of applications have ranged from £500 to £11,000, depending on the cause and the amount requested, with £71,000 has been awarded to the first round of 25 applications. Staff who have applied for the grant contact the initiative and advise them of the amount awarded and also directly provide the cheque. Rounds take place in May and November each year. The Pavers family will make personal donations to good causes too. Following the initial £2.3m, York-based Pavers, which is projected to increase turnover in 2019 to £140m and profits to £14m, will donate two per cent of net profit per annum to The Pavers Foundation. Stuart Paver, Managing Director at Pavers, said: “As a family, we wanted to share our success by helping causes that are personal to us, as well as those that matter to our colleagues, who work so hard every day. The Pavers Foundation allows everyone from all regions and areas of the business to get involved. “Everyone at Pavers is able to submit a grant application for any local charity or initiative that means something to them – as long as the application relates to health, education, or community, we will consider it! “We’re excited to be in a position to encourage philanthropy and we’re off to a wonderful start, providing in excess of £200,000 to charities and local initiatives across the country in our first three weeks. And this is just the start, we’re already looking forward to making a difference to many more.”   Main image: Jason Paver and Stuart Paver with the Macmillan team

from UK Fundraising http://bit.ly/2TKLnB0