Community spirited businesses and charities across Dacorum are hoping to see their plans to form a skills bank of local business expertise to snowball this month.
Members of Connect Dacorum, a Community Action Dacorum project which helps businesses improve their corporate social responsibility activities within the local community will meet at the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead on June 10th.
Glenda Ferneyhough, a partner at legal firm Pickworths, trustee of the Community Action Dacorum will be co-presenting the event with other businesses and the Vounteer Centre.
Mrs Ferneyhough who is also on the steering group for Connect Dacorum said: “There are over fifty local organizations who are members of Connect Dacorum including businesses and charities. They meet regularly throughout the year to discuss a variety of topics to encourage businesses to become more involved in the local community.
“We are setting up a Skills Bank so that people locally can contact expertise in business to help us achieve a lot more for our local community.
“We are keen to launch the Skills Bank to help local charities and voluntary groups access the help they need – often to set up projects for which they have already raised funds. They need to be able to tap into the business expertise they need to help them work more effectively.
“As we know, traditional sources of funding for charities and community groups are under threat and are being reduced. By joining with like-minded professionals, skills and expertise can be shared for the greater good. Business can do more to support charities and other voluntary groups in the area. We know that volunteering has become very popular with younger people who wish to do something for the community but are in employment and don’t know what opportunities might be available. With the support of their employers they can offer the skills they already have to voluntary groups.
“We’ve all heard about improving our Corporate Social Responsibility and this group aims to help do just that.”
If you would like to know more about opportunities for volunteering in Dacorum contact Heather Allen on 01442 247209 or peep at www.volunteerdacorum.org
