At YSC we place a strong emphasis on our corporate citizenship. Our various offices support a wide range of local communities and charities. Below is a snapshot of the partnerships and initiatives we are involved in:
Educational
We are a key partner of Arrival Education, an organisation that works tirelessly with schools and businesses to help and support young people make a successful transition to adulthood, unlocking their true potential. Our partnership includes mentoring students on the programmes and providing the use of our central London office and its facilities for workshops and events.
Social
Our online division, YSC Online has supported many pro-bono projects. Examples include
- PARC, a charity providing support to families who have children with additional needs;
- World Development Movement (WDM) a UK-based anti-poverty campaigning organisation;
- Mercy Corps, a charity which aims to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities; and
- Charities Aid Foundation, a charity dedicated to getting the best for other charities and their donors through the provision of financial services, advice and donation processing. YSC Online has also designed a Board Evaluation survey for Camp Quality, a charity that provides life-changing holidays for children with a potentially life-limiting condition.
YSC Australia has supported The Westpac Group’s Organisational Mentoring Program, designed to help deliver sustainable benefits to the social sector by supporting continuous improvement, innovation and collaboration in the not-for-profit sector. As part of the programme they provided executive coaching to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Inspire Australia, CanTeen, National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy and Tranby Aboriginal College.
YSC's London office has recently partnered with the NSPCC, working with their Board to help define the leadership framework and behaviours that are needed to support big organisational change. The London office has also partnered with Scope, a UK disability charity that supports disabled people and their families. Our work with Scope includes coaching members of the top management team and facilitating team days.
YSC Americas staff travel extensively across the region. They make the most of their time in hotels by collecting complimentary toiletries for a campaign dubbed 'Take The Shampoo!' Every six months they bag up and distribute the collection to the Bowery Mission, a charity serving the local homeless and hungry in New York. Staff in the UK liked this idea so much that they have decided to collect minis wherever possible to help out their local homeless charities.
YSC Americas also partner with Dress for Success, a non-profit organisation providing interview apparel, confidence boosts and career development to low-income women in over 75 cities worldwide. Our support has included 1:1 coaching, sourcing facilitators and conducting workshops at Dress For Success’ Global Affiliates Leadership Conference, fundraising by donating items to silent auctions and organising office suit drives to donate. This partnership has recently extended to YSC's London office.
Representative smaller initiatives include the London office sourcing lunches and office flowers from their neighbours in Covent Garden to help small independent businesses thrive. As well as this, the bakers among our staff hold the occasional bake sale for a nominated charity and at Christmas they hold a charity cake and mulled wine sale to raise money for Crisis.
Environmental
YSC Online has worked with Project Kaisei, a non-profit organisation focused on increasing awareness of the scale of marine debris. For this project our online division ran a survey to help with a study on the economics of sharks with respect to the diving industry and the knock-on effects to local economies
In the UK we use an office fruit supplier, who, for each bowl of fruit ordered, plant a fruit tree in Malawi to help local farmers with income and to mitigate the effects of deforestation. Any leftover pieces of fruit get sent to London Zoo for the animals to enjoy!
For further details of our CSR initiatives or to discuss how we might support your organisation, please contact Nicola Graham in the first instance.
