Why does caring matter to your business?
1 in 7 employees in your workplace could be carers. 4.87 million people in the UK are currently juggling paid work and caring. Over the next two decades, the number of carers in the UK is expected to grow as our population ages.
As this happens, organisations will need to adapt to recognise and support staff who are also carers, making it possible for them to stay in work.
Every business is different – so each of our partnerships is too. We'd love to talk to you about some of the ways we can work together. Take a look at some of the most popular opportunities we have on offer or see our current partners here.
Why Carers UK?
According to our Juggling Work and Care report, 600 people every day give up work to care. With at least one in seven of all workers thought to be caring this is a challenge facing your workforce right now.
Partnering with a trusted national charity that is supported by a team of over 500 passionate volunteers that reach in to the heart of local communities enables your business to:
- develop your staff's skills, including communication, teamwork and more
- support those caring in your workforce
- increase customer loyalty
- attract, motivate and retain staff
- increase brand awareness and strengthen your brand
- increase sales by associating new products and services with a good cause
- help integrate local communities with our brand and yours.
How we can support you
We have the right resources to understand your business, engage with your employees and develop a bespoke partnership.
You will be supported by:
- a dedicated account manager who will work with you to develop meaningful objectives for the partnership, inspire you with ideas and be in regular contact, keeping you informed on all aspects of the partnership
- the knowledge and expertise of our teams both at our head office and national offices in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast
- our Comms & Press team, who will help you engage with our strong Facebook community and dedicated supporters on Twitter
- tailored fundraising materials, from collection tins and T-shirts to posters and balloons.
Strategic Partnerships
We work closely with a number of different partners to help create lasting change for carers across the UK. Find out about some of our current strategic partnerships.
Employee engagement
This is a great opportunity to unite your staff behind a cause that they can identify with and feel passionate about. We will be on hand to advise how your staff can get involved in fundraising activities, volunteering and sharing their skills and more.
There are plenty of fun ways for your staff to raise money to support our work. You could test your colleagues in an Apprentice-style challenge or even set up a five-a-side football or netball tournament. See more ways to work with us here. We'd love to help you come up with or develop great fundraising ideas that relate to your business and can be applied in your work environment.
You and your team’s time, skills and experience can help us make sure no one has to care alone. We have a dedicated team of volunteers working across the UK to improve services, support carers, campaign, fundraise and raise awareness of caring.
As a volunteer we will support you to use your existing skills and develop new ones while helping to make life better for carers and their loved ones.
See our volunteering opportunities here.
Sponsorship opportunities
We are delighted to offer a variety of sponsorship opportunities that can be tailored to suit your business objectives, from special events to national campaigns such as Carers Rights Day and Carers Week. Our conferences, such as our annual members conference or State of Caring conference look at the findings from our State of Caring Survey.
The State of Caring Survey is the UK’s most comprehensive research into the lives and experience of carers. Each year we also produce a number of resources including our Looking after someone guide which shows the reality of what it’s like to care for family, friends or loved ones.
Caring magazine
Our Caring magazine goes out to our growing membership (circa 26,000 as of January 2020) four times a year. Caring magazine, brings together the latest news, features, products and information from Carers UK and is a great place to promote your work, products or services. Get in touch to hear more about opportunities to advertise.
Charity of the Year
Make us your Charity of the Year and we'll make it a year to remember.
If you choose Carers UK as your Charity of the Year, we will work with you to create a bespoke calendar of engaging events, tailored to help meet your business goals and corporate social responsibility needs.
Increasingly, companies are seeing the benefits of working with a charity partner for multiple years, embedding the partnership within the organisation's culture to deliver mutually beneficial results with a lasting legacy.
Other ways you can help
Raffles or competitions are a popular way to raise funds so we are always looking for prizes from our networks. Whether it’s vouchers, signed merchandise, a meal for two or a trip away, if you can we would love to credit you for your donation.
By giving a Gift in kind, your company can support Carers UK through donating:
- products
- services
- professional advice.
Gifts in kind are a great way to utilise your company's assets and professional skills, while achieving your Corporate Social Responsibility goals. By giving a Gift in kind, you will help us save valuable time and resources. This enables us to spend more time fundraising effectively, so even more money can be spent on our vital research.
Launched in 2009 as an employers’ membership forum, EfC now has over 115 member organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The total number of employees covered by member organisations is now above the 1.7 million mark. The number of working carers represented is likely to be in the region of 190,000. There has never been a more important time to focus on the benefits of retaining skilled workers rather than incurring the costs of recruiting and retraining new staff.
Membership benefits include:
- Dedicated resources, guides and practical advice for managers and carers including case studies, model policies, FAQs and tools and tips.
- Bringing our expertise into your business, through a free information or strategy session, our popular ‘lunch and learn’ events and additional consultancy and training services.
- Opportunity to share and learn from other employers including at our regular member networking events.
Find out more about Employers for Carers