Corporate partnerships: a blog from Scottish Gas

In the lead up to Christmas, we have asked some of our corporate partners to write a guest blog post highlighting why they think it's never been so important for both individuals and organisations to support CHAS this Christmas. Our first guest blog post is from David Robertson, Head of Customer Delivery at Scottish Gas, who has a personal attachment to CHAS and the work we do in the community.

I was so pleased to be asked to write a blog piece for CHAS, especially in the run up to Christmas, to shine a light on the important Scottish Gas corporate partnership, and to particularly highlight why there’s never been a better time to support such a crucial cause. Our partnership with CHAS truly means a lot to us at Scottish Gas. We’ve been working in partnership with CHAS since January but it’s a charity that I’ve known about for a long time. I’ve always admired the great work they do – it’s a lifeline for so many – and understanding the scope of their services was an eye-opener for me. We decided to approach CHAS because one of my team members had volunteered with the organisation previously and was passionate about us supporting as a business as part of our corporate social responsibility. We had done some volunteering days in the past so making the partnership more formal felt like the right thing to do and a natural fit given our community focus.

I have seen first-hand the amazing impact that CHAS makes and having a clear and common goal has really supported our team ethos. We want to be a part of helping CHAS achieve its ambitious goal of reaching every child and family that needs their help but this is no easy task. At Scottish Gas, we care deeply about the impact we make on the communities we serve and this really aligns with CHAS. We also both cover Scotland which is a nice fit!

This year has been a very busy year for our partnership but it hasn’t quite gone to plan! At the beginning of the year, we set out with a clear roadmap to our self-imposed fundraising target. Then COVID-19 took the wind out of our sails with many of our planned social events being cancelled. Despite the challenges, we have rallied and really embraced virtual fundraising with the support of the CHAS team. We’ve helped with the delivery of CHAS’s virtual hospice, which has included delivering packs made up by Rachel House to families ahead of the virtual visits, and we’ve helped with food parcels for both hospices too. We’ve also done quiz nights, big nights in, virtual dinner parties and the latest effort is an online auction.

Going into 2021, CHAS needs support from individuals and businesses more than ever. We want to help raise awareness of CHAS and raise funds to reach every family in Scotland that is caring for a child who will die much too young. This is especially important now as the pandemic has had a devastating impact on our ability to raise funds. We’d encourage you to do the same. Partnering with CHAS gives back so much to you and your business. It adds perspective to the daily challenges we all face in business. I find that at the most challenging times, perspective is invaluable. It also creates a common goal for your colleagues to focus on away from work.

So, on behalf of the Scottish Gas team, I’d encourage you to support CHAS and help keep the joy alive for children and families across the country now and in the years to come.

David Robertson

Head of Customer Delivery

Scotland and Northern England