12 May 2009
Orange announces two charity partners in East London
London – 11th May 2009: Orange has today announced two new charity partnerships in East London, with Groundwork – an environmental regeneration charity working with local Trusts and partners, changing places, changing lives and Barnardo’s – ‘Children’s Charity Barnardo’s. These partnerships form part of ‘Orange Community’, Orange’s new community investment programme which supports local charity projects across 25 regions in the UK. In total, over 5,000 Orange employees voted across the country to decide which charities would be supported in their local area.
As part of this scheme, all Orange employees will be encouraged to get involved through fundraising projects and volunteering schemes. In addition, all employees interested in volunteering will for the first time be given an annual, paid, flexible day-off so they have the opportunity to support their chosen charity.
Sue Hammett, Community Investment Manager at Orange UK said:
“We are delighted that so many of our employees have got behind ‘Orange Community,’ our charity scheme which supports our key corporate responsibility themes of “Include, Protect and Environment.” Our employees already have an impressive track record of supporting Orange’s charity partners – having raised £470,000 over the last two and a half years. We are looking forward to continuing this success with our new charity partners over the coming months.”
Judith Grice, Regional Director for Groundwork East of England said:
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to partner with such a major corporate organisation as Orange on its volunteering programme in Essex, Hertfordshire and East London. I am sure together we will be able to bring some real benefit to local communities and show how volunteering can positively improve local neighbourhoods”.
Martin Field, UK Director of Fundraising, Barnardo’s said:
“We are extremely pleased to be one of the chosen charities for the partnership and it is a real accolade to have been selected by Orange employees. We know that these staff will ‘go the extra mile’ to fundraise and volunteer for us and that their efforts will help Barnardo’s support some of the UK’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable children”.
These two charity partnerships are initially scheduled to last twelve months, beginning in April 2009.
Notes to editors
About Orange
Orange is the key brand of the France Telecom Group, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With 123 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates.
At the end of 2008, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion euros (12.7 billion euros for the first quarter of 2009) and at 29 April 2009, the Group had a customer base of almost 184 million customers in 30 countries. These include 123 million mobile customers worldwide and 13 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers in Europe. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK population. At the end of March 2009, Orange had almost 17 million customers in the UK – 15.8 million active mobile customers and close to one million fixed broadband customers.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.
For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com
For further information, call the Orange press office on 0870 373 1500 or email: .
About Groundwork
Groundwork is an environmental regeneration charity that supports communities in need, working with partners to help improve the quality of people’s lives, their prospects and potential and the places where they live, work and play.
Our vision is of a society of sustainable communities which are vibrant, healthy and safe, which respect the local and global environment and where individuals and enterprise prosper.
About Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s works with more than 100,000 children, young people and their families in 383 specialised projects in local communities across the UK. For more information about Barnardo’s, visit our website at www.barnardos.org.uk
We believe in the potential in every young person, no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. We will support them, stand up for them and bring out the best in each and every child.