Corporate Social Responsibility Activities 2010
Santa Fe Relocations and Yearn2Learn
In June 2010 AustCham joined with member company Sante Fe in donating much needed items to AustCham Beijing CSR Partner, Yearn2Learn.
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Yearn2Learn works to provide educational and therapeutic facilities to children living in orphanages. The newly established charity is currently working with a children’s welfare organisation located an hour from Beijing in Northern China’s Hebei Province. Last week’s joint effort saw representatives of Santa Fe and AustCham travel to the Yearn2Learn-supported centre to deliver toys, books, clothing and furniture.
Santa Fe business development manager Monty Meng said many expatriate families leave household items behind when returning to their home countries. “This presents an opportunity for Santa Fe to further contribute to community,” Meng said. “By redistributing these items to charity organisations, Santa Fe can ensure the items are used by those who need them most.”
With many rooms in the orphanage left bare, items such as furniture and bedding are crucial for increasing capacity. Orphanage staff said there is also a great need for everyday items such as cleaning products, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap, and for learning materials such as exercise books and stationary. One staff member also mentioned obtaining a washing machine is a priority.
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Santa Fe’s contribution to Yearn2Learn is part of a wider global policy on social responsibility. An open policy statement signed last year by Santa Fe CEO Lars Iverson commits Santa Fe to human rights compliance under UN Compact Principles 1-6. “We pledge to continuously monitor our governance system,” says the statement. “to ensure compliance with basic human rights within our organisation and with those whom we interact.”
For AustCham, the donation was an opportunity to continue supporting Yearn2Learn. After providing financial support throughout 2009, AustCham this year hosted a benefit for Yearn2Learn in the form of charity quiz night at Beijing’s Hilton Hotel.
Since this visit, AustCham has established a fund to purchase a washing machine for use in the orphanage. With ten per cent of the needed funds generously donated by Christine Woo, individuals or companies interested in contributing are invited to contact the Secretariat.
Telstra Sensis China and Dandelion Middle School
Sensis China’s recent CSR partnership with the Dandelion Middle School in Beijing has delivered benefits to both the school and the company. The partnership is part of a wider commitment to CSR involving business, humanitarian and environmental initiatives, and a 1 million RMB donation to earthquake relief.
Established in 2005 by a Chinese-American academic, the Dandelion School caters specifically to low-income migrant families in Beijing. Sensis China’s partnership is delivering support to the school across a range of key learning areas.
Last month, Sensis China initiated a programme engaging staff volunteers in school-based science projects. Volunteers from Sensis China assisted students in establishing flower gardens as part of the school’s science curriculum. Volunteers were matched with three to five students to complete the activity, with both parties indicating they found the partnership fulfilling. “This is a great event that I hope we can continue long term,” said one Sensis China volunteer. “I really enjoyed interacting with the students and answering their questions.”
Sensis China plans to continue the science programme series by sponsoring a visit by the Dandelion School to the Beijing Museum of Technology later this year. Sensis China will also implement a programme to assist students in the design and installation of solar-powered streetlights on campus next year.
Sensis China’s partnership with the Dandelion School is part of a wider CSR programme, which was launched in July 2009. The programme includes a business-oriented scholarship programme, a disaster relief programme and a green office project.
Launched in September last year, the Telstra Sensis China Scholarship Programme has seen 15 staff selected for English language training lasting up to 12 months. Drawn from the Telstra Sensis portfolio of companies in China, up to three of the 15 staff members will participate in a work exchange programme with Telstra or Sensis in Australia. The scholarship is part of the company’s commitment to sustainability in China, which also includes a Green Office recycling project.
Outside the office, the company has been contributing to earthquake relief and development work in Qinghai Province. Telstra Sensis China, in association with its portfolio of companies has made a RMB 1 million donation to the China Youth Development Foundation. The funds are being used in the reconstruction of classrooms and other school buildings destroyed in the Yushu quake area.
Telstra Sensis China’s establishment of a CSR programme involving multiple beneficiaries has increased the company’s capacity to engage employees, business stakeholders and the wider community. The CSR programme is currently in the first stage of a three-stage implementation process, with subsequent stages aiming to engage a wider range of stakeholders.
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Sensis staff and Dandelion students pose for photos after school science activity |
Telstra Sensis China CEO Robert Rath meets Dandelion Students |
ChinaM VP Mu Zhiquan, Sharp Point CEO Pu Dongwan and Telstra Sensis China CEO Robert Rath present a 1 million RMB cheque to CYDF Deputy Secretary Yang Xiaoyu and CYDF Partnership Director Cui Ziyan |
AustCham CSR Partner - Wokai
Wokai is a non-profit dedicated to alleviating poverty in rural China through microfinance. It is the first microlending platform to connect philanthropists from all over the world with entrepreneurs in China.
How did Wokai start?
In 2006, two young Americans met while furthering their studies in Mandarin and development economics at Tsinghua University. Courtney McColgan and Casey Wilson observed first-hand how a USD300 loan enabled an impoverished woman, Mrs. Wei, to start her own food stall in Sichuan and eventually earn enough stable income to pay for her child’s education and healthcare. It was then that they decided to commit themselves to bringing this type of poverty alleviation to China. In spring 2007, Courtney and Casey founded Wokai, which means “I Start” in Chinese; conveying the organization’s mission to help people start new lives by starting their own businesses. The website launched in November 2008.
How does it work?
Wokai users log on to the site (www.wokai.org), browse through borrower profiles, choose a borrower they like and then go through a simple checkout process to make a contribution of a minimum of USD20. The user will then receive monthly updates on the progress of the entrepreneur they helped fund until the loan has been repaid. Users can reuse their original loan capital, once it has been repaid, to support more borrowers. Each donation to Wokai goes much further than an equivalent ‘one-off’ donation.
The loans are distributed by Wokai’s two award winning microfinance institutions (our field partners) in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan to administer and manage the loans. Wokai requires extremely high levels of reporting and accountability from its field partners and is proud to have a default rate of less than 1%.
Achievements and future milestones
Wokai has raised over US$300,000 in loan capital from contributors around the world, enabling our 2 award-winning MFI field partners to make over 500 microloans in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan. Its activities have been featured in local and international press, including Bloomberg, China Daily, CNN, Newsweek and Phoenix TV.
Over the next few years, Wokai plans to grow its network of field partners in rural China and to enable Chinese philanthropists to donate. Achieving these two goals will help the organization lift more people out of poverty and allow us to reach sustainability.
How you can help
If you would like to contribute to Wokai, please sign up on http://www.wokai.org. You can then contribute to an entrepreneur of your choice, or use our recently launched contribution plan to make a monthly contribution to our entrepreneurs. Whichever method you choose, 100% of your contribution will go to our borrowers in rural China.
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Coal for Kids
Coal for Kids was established in 2005, in response to a need for winter heating in Hebei’s non-government orphanages. During Northern China’s cold winters, inadequate heating and infrastructure mean many children living in these orphanages suffer from frostbite, even while they sleep.
In the past, these cases of frostbite have required amputations or lead to other permanent damage. The goal of Coal for Kids is to ensure Hebei’s orphanages have the warmth to raise happy and healthy children.
The Coal for Kids programme currently brings warmth to nearly five hundred individuals in five orphanages. Coal is the only viable source of heating for these children and 375 tonnes are required annually to keep the cold at bay.
In addition to coal, the Coal for Kids programme also provides training to orphanage staff on keeping children healthy throughout winter and runs a year-round School Sponsorship programme aiming to address the children’s educational needs.
In November 2010, AustCham organised a very special Kooka Networking Drinks in support of Coal for Kids. The event introduced Coal for Kids to a number of potential collaborators from within the Australian business community and raised enough money to buy 1.75 tonnes of coal.
If you or your company would like more information about Coal for Kids and how to become involved, contact the AustCham Beijing Secretariat or visit the Coal for Kids page on the Our Chinese Daughters Foundation website.
AustCham Hosts Coal for Kids Kooka
October 2010 saw AustCham host a very special Kooka Networking Drinks in support of local charity, Coal for Kids. The event introduced Coal for Kids to a number of potential collaborators from within Beijing’s Australian business community and raised enough money to buy 1.75 tonnes of coal.
The coal will be distributed by Coal for Kids among orphanages in desperate need of winter heating.
Sedgeman Clothing Appeal for Orphaned Premature Babies
The Beijing Winter for most is a very cold experience, but for the Orphaned premature babies in China it is just another factor threatening them in their battle for survival.
Recently we went to a local orphanage and spent time with a premature baby boy who is only days old. Weighing under 2 kilograms the only clothing he had on was a jacket that was so large it was gaping open, with no singlet or under garments, no pants to cover his legs, no booties for his feet or hat for his head.
It is with this image firmly etched in our memories and fear for his future health and safety that we send this urgent plea for help. From first hand experience in fostering premature babies and working in a variety of orphanages we know the availability of premature baby clothing in China is practically non-existent. Up until this point we have been able to provide necessary clothing to these children through kind local donations from the International Expat community. BUT we need to do more, we can do more! If each person who reads this request can donate even 1 piece of premature baby clothing then we know that we will be able to provide hundreds of tiny battlers with one of the basic necessities in life - clothing.
In conjunction with Sedgman Beijing we send this request out to our Australian friends. Maybe you have lovingly used baby clothes you no longer require or you know of a group of new Mum’s looking for somewhere to pass on their now unwanted baby clothes, all of these would be greatly appreciated and well used! However, we kindly request that the clothing donated be premature to 00 in size only. If you are unable to donate suitable clothes but would like to still contribute, monetary donations will be gratefully accepted and ALL donations will go directly to the purchase of new clothing, premature nappies and specialised infant formula. Sedgman’s Brisbane office haskindly agreed to be our collection point. To ensure the donations reach these children before the winter settles in we request that your donation be made prior to the 20th December 2010. From this point the clothes will be dispatched to the Sedgman Beijing office where they will be sorted and distributed to a variety of Orphanages and Medical Foster Homes throughout Beijing and China. Please help us make the battle of life for these little ones easier.
Thank-you for your support!
Kim Dorr and Mary Long
Sedgman Beijing.
Please direct all donations and delivery enquiries to KazBurridge in the Sedgman Ltd – Brisbane Office - Level 2, 2 Gardner Close, Milton QLD 4064 or Suite 1004, 1st Building, Teda Times Center, 15 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100026 / 北京市朝阳区光华路15号泰达时代广场1号楼1004
For further information about what you could do to help please email Kim Dorr at ckmldorr@gmail.com
