BT Wales CSR policy

BT receives many applications for individual project funding and therefore have rationalised our community sponsorship into several key programmes. These programmes are designed to provide a clear and transparent means of distributing our community sponsorship.

BT contributed over £26.4 million to society last year as part of its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and over £1.3 million of that was committed to the communities of Wales.

All of our community programmes are to be found on a single website, www.bt.com/betterworld, where you will find a wealth of information about BT's policies, gain a better understanding of our community programmes and performance across a range of social, environmental and economic issues. The web site also provides you with an opportunity to explore how your organisation might benefit in the future. The site also provides guidance on what sort of community programmes BT is able to assist with and how to apply for support.

BT Age & Disability Action

At BT we are proud of our reputation as a socially responsible organisation. Our shareholders and partners have told us that we should support members of society who need extra support and this includes older and disabled people throughout Wales.

BT in Wales actively supports organisations such Age Concern Cymru and Carers Wales.

We have over 20 years experience of helping people with a wide range of disabilities including those who have experienced impairments such as hearing loss as they have become older. Our aim is to promote awareness of traditional phone services and new wave technologies to find a communication solution that best meets the need of the individual customer. For additional information visit Inclusion website.

BT Education Programme

Helping young people improve their communication skills is a top priority for BT social investment and includes a number of key programmes.

• Our communications skills road show has visited over 400 schools in Wales.
• Each year school communities from across Wales are invited to nominate their most outstanding head teachers, teachers and teaching assistants for the UK Teaching Awards.

For further information visit www.bt.com/education or www.teachingawards.com  

BT Volunteers

Many BT people in Wales give their time to work as volunteers with causes they choose. The BT Volunteering programme is a venture designed to make it easy for BT people to get involved in their local communities. It aims to make BT and ex-BT people available to volunteer in their local communities. All activity is closely aligned with the company focus on improving communication skills. There are over 120 employees in Wales who are registered as BT Volunteers.

More details are at BT volunteers website and www.communitykit.ik.com.

Charities

Our stakeholders believe it is proper that we should be supporting the neediest in society. Our support for ChildLine, along with the help we can give by enabling major telethons and provision of websites not only have a natural fit with our business, but also make a real difference to the charity sector. 

Over the last ten years BT Community Connections have made more than 6,500 awards to a diverse range of community groups with over seven million beneficiaries. Forty community and voluntary groups in Wales have been awarded a laptop and a year’s broadband internet connection during 2009-2010 including the Vale of Clwyd Young Life group, North East Wales Search & Rescue and the Wales Council for Deaf People.

Give As You Earn (GAYE) Scheme – BT operates the UK's largest payroll giving scheme and in 2009-10 our employees gave £2.5 million to charities of their choice through the scheme to which BT gave an additional £1 million.