But it’s a volunteering activity… why should I pay?

By Marc Ruiviejo Cirera
Founder of Companies for Good
marc@companiesforgood.ae

This is a question we get asked a lot by businesses. And it’s fair enough. You want to do good, which is a great thing, and you’re already giving away your time – why should you have to give your money away too?

We run volunteering activities with some of the world’s greatest brands. Here are 3 things we’ve learned.

1. Someone has to organise the activity. And while you’re volunteering, they’re not. 
When you want to do good – say, empowering children with special needs or helping clear the ocean of plastic trash – you’re volunteering your time, but the people organising it for you aren’t. Someone needs to arrange the activity, get the required permits, explain what you need to do and how to do it. These people aren’t volunteering, they’re working, so it’s only fair they’re paid for their time.

2. Charities can’t run effective, meaningful volunteering activities without money.
Charities who run volunteering activities have limited resources. They rely on donations to keep doing their amazing work. Paying to volunteer with charities means they can carry on helping people, and continue to run volunteering activities in the future. And sure, you could do your own volunteering activity – just go to the beach with a bag and pick up the trash – but real, positive impacts only happen when the work is continuous. If it’s just a one-off, you’ll get some great selfies for LinkedIn, but you won’t make a meaningful impact or be able to tell a credible story.

We only properly protect the ocean when we clear it every day. We only support vulnerable communities effectively when we help them regularly. You can’t volunteer every day – you have other jobs. But you can make a difference if your volunteering activity is part of structured, ongoing work run by charities and social organisations. And they need financial resources to keep up your good work all year round.

3. You’re getting a lot of bang for your buck – volunteering has huge business benefits
A team volunteering activity is much more than just ‘a philanthropic act’. It has major benefits for your business too – motivating your people, improving their communication skills, making them more creative, building empathy and boosting team spirit. Companies happily pay for a team lunch, or to take people to ‘Go Karting’ or ‘Escape Rooms’. So why wouldn’t you pay for a CSR activity that has the same positive impact while also helping the planet?

On top of that, it will help you recruit, too. It’s a well-known fact that people want to work for companies that take CSR seriously and consumers prefer buying from responsible brands. Being committed to doing good and increased brand reputation are positively correlated. Basically, the benefits of doing CSR and having a motivated, engaged workforce massively outweigh the cost of doing the activities.

2018 - An Overview

This year has been a tough and challenging one for Azraq. We started the year having our operations suspended until March due to various legalities regarding our set up. This put a lot of strain on our core team and resulted in four board members resigning as well as unexpected costs in restructuring the organisation and having requirements such as volunteer insurance made legal as well as having to move our head office. We have also found it difficult to get the necessary permits to host some of our activities and to find venues such as cinemas to rent that are available and cost effective, which has also impacted our offerings and the opportunities to raise the funds needed to pay for ongoing overheads.

Despite these setbacks, we have been determined to raise awareness and partake in activities for the oceans. Seven of our team made up The Sea Warriors in January as we fought for the Sustainable Development Goal 14 - Life Below Water - in the Global Goals World Cup played at Sustainable City. We were further motivated by our first school partnerships with Emirates International School and Clarion School in February focussing on marine debris and shark conservation, and the launch of the #stopsucking campaign with Freedom Pizza, which focussed on food outlets reducing the use of plastic straws, one of the top five items found in coastal clean ups.

We were extremely thrilled to officially launch our website on 31 March designed by our Director - Marketing, Georgina Rawlings and to also have Lush Middle East joins hands with us in order to promote our marine debris initiatives. We also held our first movie screening on the impacts of plastic straws at The Junction, which was a sell out, and was followed by a great panel discussion with Emma Banks, Managing Director of Jumeriah Restaurant Group and Ian Ohan, CEO of Freedom Pizza hosted by radio personality, Emma Brain.

The screening of STRAWS saw us form a partnership with GEMS Modern and attend presentations at Star International Schools, as well as form further partnerships including Myocum and two CAS student which made fish out of repurposed wood in order to raise funds for Azraq.

Azraq finally got its house in order by finalising the appointment of four new board members in September, including two local females, which followed the launch of our #buttsstink initiative focussing on the impacts of cigarette butts on the marine environment which was kindly supported by Analog through a video highlighting the issue. Our first beach clean of the year was with with X-Dubai on World Clean Up Day. We have since assisted with clean ups with IMG Events, Fox Networks Group and National Geographic, Abu Dhabi and have one additional beach clean up scheduled for the year.

We have released our shark conservation program for schools, joined with Rove Hotels to raise awareness of recycling water bottles, were a key sponsor for the 1st Ocean Film Festival with Surfhouse Dubai and Single Fin Cafe and had three trophies created for the winners with thanks to JWP Technical Services, had a stall at Yogafest 2018 and announced our third initiative for the year #balloonsblow focussing on the impacts of balloon releases on marine life.

The year ahead looks to be a smoother one as we hopefully move forward with finally getting our bank account sorted, securing another corporate beach clean up in January, forming additional school partners, hosting at least three movie nights (venue and permits pending) and joining with additional outlets like Ignite Surface and Companies4Good to allow for people to connect or reconnect with our oceans.

Given the year we have had, we are looking forward to celebrating the successes this Friday on board the Lotus Megayacht. We invite our supporters, partners and stakeholders to join us and thank Dutch Oriental for hosting this event.

We would particularly like to thank our partners for their ongoing support including Alkira Consulting, Boon Coffee, Divers Down, Dnata4good, Liquid of Life, Lush Middle East, Myocum as well as individuals such as Amanda Rushforth, Marita Peters and Mariska Nell and last but by no means least, our 65 volunteers who have helped incredibly with our successes and continued with us despite the challenges.

Wishing everyone a safe and joyous festive season.

AZRAQ URGES ORGANISATIONS TO RECONSIDER BALLOON RELEASES

AZRAQ URGES ORGANISATIONS TO RECONSIDER BALLOON RELEASES

 Local marine conservation organisation Azraq is urging organisations to reconsider balloon releases as we enter the season of celebrations and events.

 As part of their #balloonsblow mission, the entity has already reached out to one local developer who released balloons as part of the UAE National Day celebrations, in order to raise awareness of the impacts of balloon releases on bird and sealife, particularly turtles who mistake burst balloons as jellyfish and ultimately die as a result of suffocation.

 Managing Director for Azraq, Natalie Banks stated that many people fail to associate the beauty of a balloon release with the tragedy after these balloons land back down on land and in the oceans.

 “Dolphins, whales, turtles, and many other marine species, as well as terrestrial animals such as cows, dogs, sheep, tortoises, birds and other animals have all been hurt or killed by balloons. The animal is usually killed from the balloon blocking its digestive tract, leaving them unable to take in any more nutrients. It slowly starves to death. The animals can also become entangled in the balloon and its ribbon making the animal unable to move or eat,” Ms Banks said.

 “Sea turtles are particularly at risk because they naturally prey on jellyfish, which balloons can easily be mistaken for.”

 The #balloonsblow initiative in the United Arab Emirates following on from a similar campaign in the United States. Azraq believes that with just a little awareness and knowledge, organisations are willing to consider alternatives to celebrate special occurrences such as blowing giant bubbles, flying kites or planting trees.

 “Ultimately we need to move on from creating litter as a result of balloon releases and causing havoc for wildlife,” Ms Banks said.

 “If there is an alternative that doesn’t result in the death or harms to animals which is also cheaper and life sustaining, then it makes much more sense to consider this alternative.”

Photo Credit: Mylar balloons and a long beaked common dolphin Photo Shane Keena - Dana Point California

AZRAQ PROVIDES A FREE MEAL AFTER COLLECTING PLASTIC BOTTLES

AZRAQ PROVIDES A FREE MEAL AFTER COLLECTING PLASTIC BOTTLES

Local marine conservation organisation Azraq has given away a free meal to local resident Eliane Nader to the value of 250 AED by collecting plastic bottles within the urban area around Satwa in conjunction with Rove Hotels.

The initiative allows members of the public to collect bottles in exchange for a meal at TheDaily restaurant in Rove Hotels every Sunday.

Natalie Banks, Managing Director of Azraq and the person responsible for collecting the bottles, stated that she wanted to grow awareness of the initiative and the fact that plastic had value.

“All too often people see plastic on the ground as waste or litter. We need to stop this throw away culture and mentality, and start seeing plastic as a resource.”

“If a person saw a dirham on the ground they would likely pick it up, thanks to Rove Hotels, now if you see a plastic bottle on the ground, it can be translated to a dirham off your meal,” Ms Banks said.

Ms Banks started collecting the bottles when the Rove Hotels initiative was announced on 21 October while walking her dog for approximately 20 mins a day. She was able to collect on average one bottle a minute just from bottles lying around the urban area, despite the daily presence of street cleaners.”

“I think it’s great that Rove Hotels is giving back value to plastic bottles which are often seen as waste items. Plastic bottles are generally made from precious resources including water and they should be valued more than they usually are.”

“If by giving away a free meal, Azraq has raised awareness of the value plastic can have, even in just one individual, then we have accomplished our goal.”

For further information about the “Check in with plastic, check out with dinner” initiative and how you can get involved, head to https://www.rovehotels.com/offer/plastic-bottle-promotion/

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RAK Properties Joins Forces With RAK EPDA, AZRAQ and Multiple Volunteers for Successful Cleanup at Khor Muzahmi in Mina Al Arab

RAK Properties, one of the UAE’s leading property development and tourism infrastructure companies, was delighted to support the initiative by Fox Networks Group Middle East. More than 30 volunteers from a variety of organizations and eco preservation initiatives gathered on the foreshore at Mina Al Arab preserved area; Khor Muzahmi to search for and remove plastic waste from the mangrove forests where such waste endangers the wellbeing of indigenous wildlife. Many species including fish and birds, even flamingoes, are reliant on the wetlands and plastic debris is a serious threat to their existence.

RAK EPDA (Environment Protection and Development Authority), the government body responsible for protecting the Emirate’s natural heritage, sent a number of officials to oversee the work. Joined by a number of workers and volunteers from other organizations including AZRAQ, and Fox Networks Group Middle East.

Thanks to the efforts of all involved, some 75 Kilograms of plastic rubbish was recovered and removed from the mangroves, and it was taken for safe disposal by RAK Waste Management to ensure that it was not swept back into the protected environment by the return of high tide. RAK Properties will work closely with RAK EPDA to monitor and maintain the mangrove forests as part of their ongoing CSR activities and to ensure the cleanliness and natural wellbeing of this precious environment.

RAK Properies CEO Samuel Dean Sidiqi commented “We were delighted to support this important initiative to clean and protect this vital natural location as part of our ongoing role as custodians of the environment in which we are fortunate enough to work. The mangroves are a vital and attractive part of that environment and we will do all that we can to protect and enhance them.”