With Covid19, environmental disasters and geopolitical tensions rising, the last few years have been challenging and enduring for many. As 2022 came to an end, the world was shaped by a looming recession and a cost of living crisis that has been driven by a myriad of geopolitical and economic conditions. Once again, the world appears to be grappling with another crisis. However despite this landscape, difficult times present us with an opportunity to seek out where we can do good.
At the start of the year Forbes shared an article exploring the role of corporate philanthropy and what we can learn from this strategy as we emerge from a series of global crises. Whilst crises themselves are not good, they present people and businesses with an opportunity to do good. It has been an onerous time globally and now more than ever we need to be able to embrace a community-centric mindset. In light of this global context, Vorto Trading has been exploring the role of corporate philanthropy and we ask the question as to whether it is a phenomenon that is growing?
In our efforts to respond to this question, we reviewed some stats regarding philanthropic giving. Interestingly, the conclusions show that the majority of ‘giving’ comes from individuals. According to research organisation Giving USA, ‘out of the $484 billion dollars given to charity in 2021, 67% of this money was given by individuals’. 19% of the sum was given by foundations. Bequests gave 9% and corporations gave a total of 4%. Based on this research, corporations have a lot more scope to be able to give more to the world.
In addition to these stats, we learned from a report conducted by the company Giving A that 78% of employees want the opportunity to be able to engage with corporate social responsibility initiatives.
This is where Vorto Trading wants to and has been stepping up. This search for doing good is something that is at the heart of Vorto and our CEO, Bobby Ward seeks to combine the world of finance and business with helping others. Vorto has established the mentality of ‘giving back’ as a key part of organisational culture within the business. This is important to the team here at Vorto as not only does corporate philanthropy directly help communities that need assistance and support, it also has a positive impact on those who give. It encourages employees to be community-centric. This helps to promote wellbeing and a positive mindset for employees. However, there is also research by Gallup to suggest corporate social responsibility can improve employee engagement as teams who incorporate these initiatives into their work have ‘ 21% higher productivity than their counterparts who do not’.
At present, the ways in which Vorto has been giving back via corporate philanthropy include raising £6,000 through a JustGiving page which was used to purchase toys to donate to charity and children’s hospitals. We provide ongoing support to the charities Bonded By Love and Inner Science Research Fund which are close to Vorto’s heart. We have been continuing to support the charity Laureus by hosting a corporate golf day whereby we donate revenue from the event to their cause.
However, with our eyes on the future, we are always asking ourselves how we can be doing more and helping more. This is why we have decided to announce at our next charity golfing day the launch of our Vorto Sporting Initiative whereby any clients that we trade with who are in the sporting sector (private or corporate); 50% of the revenue generated will go to Laureus on a monthly basis. In the words of our Founder Bobby Ward: ‘we wanted to create an initiative that is a win for everyone involved. It’s a win for the client as they will be treated as VIP, save money, and know that 50% of the profits go to a life changing cause. It’s a win for Laureus and it’s a win for us. Every team member at Vorto loves sport so it’s a cause very close to our hearts. We believe business can be a force for good and are excited to implement the developments of our initiative into action to help provide support to those who need it.
