Goal 17
FM Conway is one of the founding members of local social enterprise Goal 17, using business mentoring and the power of football to help end youth homelessness.
The organisation involved bringing together two groups of people from very different backgrounds to help break down boundaries and unite them over a day of learning for both FM Conway staff and young people.
As well as completing a range of engaging activities on the day, the participants were then invited to continue their relationship through a structured weekly telephone mentoring program. During this time the young people received a weekly football coaching session followed by an afternoon of classroom-based careers, skills and training development.
At the end of the 10-week program the young people were invited to the FM Conway head office in Sevenoaks, Kent to get a feel for the working environment, but also to celebrate what they and their mentors learned through the 10-week process.
Sevenoaks Rugby Club
£75,000 donated to Sevenoaks Rugby Club in a three-year sponsorship deal to support the club in becoming a recognised centre of excellence for sport in the South East.
Sevenoaks Rugby Club is home to five senior teams and over 850 junior teams – a valuable part of the community in which our head office is now based. In addition to supporting the club to grow, we will be working together to promote job opportunities to school leavers by engaging with local schools and helping young people at the start of their careers.
Street Soccer Foundation
The Street Soccer Foundation enables selected young participants aged 18–24 (male and female) to achieve positive social change by using the power of football as a catalyst to improve their lives and their environment. Following on the success from last year, we are delighted to be the main sponsor donating £12,000 to support a further three academy programmes for vulnerable young people. Delivered in day sessions once a week throughout the duration of the course, the programme is a fully structured employability-driven course delivered in partnership with Gillingham FC. Upon graduating the Street Soccer Academy, the core aim is to then improve the health and wellbeing of course participants and to improve their overall confidence and motivation to improve their current situation.
Through our sponsorship and business mentoring, Street Soccer has also been able to raise the profile of the Academy across Kent:
Six events hosted for local businesses engaging with 21 companies.
22 community events to promote Street Soccer School.
27 businesses engaged and promoted Street Soccer School and FM Conway as the main sponsor.
For every £1 invested in the Street Soccer Foundation, up to £8 of social value is generated through training, employment and increased confidence.
Construction Youth Trust
We were one of four employers to support Construction Youth Trust’s Budding Brunels programme. In November 2017, Paul Holdstock, our Commercial Quantity Surveyor, attended Industry Networking sessions to speak to students about his role and responsibilities. The Budding Brunels programme is a three day course for A-Level students who are interested in working in construction. It includes a tour of construction sites, interviews and industry networking with professionals. In total, 25 students across three schools were engaged in the programme.
Biennial Event
We held our biennial Conway Staff Conference in 2018 which brought together over 1,000 FM Conway employees to share our achievements and plans for the future. The focus for the event was ‘working better together’, highlighting the benefits to both customers and the wider public of effective partnerships and sharing knowledge and expertise across the business.
The Honeypot Children’s Charity
£17,600 was raised for Honeypot Children’s Charity after our staff completed the Three Peaks Challenge.
Honeypot provides respite breaks and outreach support to young carers and vulnerable children from the age of five up to 12-years-old.
With the £5,000 raised from the Three Peaks Challenge, together with an additional £12,600 through our Conway Roadshow Event, our donation will provide children with yearly respite breaks and support throughout their childhood, as well as fund respite weekends.
Sutton United
FM Conway sponsored Sutton United Under 10s, following a request from an employee, with £500 to provide all 10 children with a full training kit, a winter jacket and a training fleece.
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity
We donated £10,150 to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre. Our donation will help Royal Marsden to provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments.
Lighthouse
£64,953 donated to the Lighthouse Club to support injured construction workers and their families.
Now in its third year, we continue our pledge to donate £1 for every near miss reported by our employees to the Lighthouse Club Charity. The money raised will help to support construction workers who need support with living costs or to retrain following an injury at work. By encouraging our staff to report near misses, we donate to this worthy cause whilst reducing the risk of accidents on site.
The SUDC Foundation
We donated £14,000 to SUDC UK.
Sudden Unexpected Death in Children (SUDC) UK is a charity co-founded by three bereaved mothers who have all lost a child suddenly. The charity focuses on the ‘why’ to better understand the cause(s) and help prevent the sudden unexplained death of children in the future. SUDC UK is dedicated to increasing awareness in the UK and funding crucial research. As a new charity set up in 2017, our donation will help support them to grow and raise awareness of their special cause.