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Guildford Philanthropy welcomes new Corporate Ambassadors
11th November 2019
23 local businesses have signed up to represent Guildford Philanthropy as Corporate Ambassadors, illustrating the commitment of the local business community to support those who need a helping hand in our community.
Set up by Guildford Borough Council and the Community Foundation for Surrey, Guildford Philanthropy encourages local giving to tackle local need, and supports projects that deliver training opportunities, work experience, jobs and other benefits to local people who need help.
The aim is to build confidence and self-esteem by enabling access into a working environment and by encouraging the development of new skills, through social enterprise initiatives.
Peter Cluff, Chair of Guildford Philanthropy welcomed the new Corporate Ambassadors at an evening reception at the Guildhall on Thursday 7 November, saying: “We set out this summer to find at least 25 local businesses who understood the need that exists outside their workplace, on their doorstep; and I am thrilled to announce that we already have 23 Corporate Ambassadors signed up. With the benefit of the generous match funding from Guildford Borough Council, this means that nearly £100,000 this year, and hopefully also in future years, will be available to help our community.”
Peter adds: “An exciting development which has been made possible by your kind donations is a new social enterprise we are setting up.
“The concept is simple, to provide a first job for young people not in education or employment, making and delivering sandwich lunches, salads and other fare to local businesses. We are working closely with a charity who established a similar concept in London a few years ago, who are allowing us to benefit from their experience.
“We believe this concept will work well in Guildford with our office parks, research parks, universities and over 80,000 people working across the borough. For every sandwich we sell we will donate 30p to feed a person for a day somewhere else in the world. We are currently looking to support projects in Romania, Kenya and Uganda. So you buy a delicious sandwich, knowing that you are giving a local person a job and feeding someone else in the world for a day.”
