Bridgepoint aims to make a positive contribution to the
communities where we operate, through the Bridgepoint Charitable
Trust, our charitable giving programme. The Trust focuses
primarily on education and the environment and identifies smaller
charities where our involvement and support can make a real
difference. We also operate a matched giving policy and Give As You
Earn Scheme at Bridgepoint, and many of our investee companies also
have charitable giving programmes.
Charities currently supported by the Trust are: Contact the
Elderly and United World Schools in the UK, Lebenshilfe
in Germany, Aenilce in Spain and Dajemy Dzieciom
Siłę in Poland.
Contact the Elderly ('CTE') aims to reduce the
number of elderly persons who suffer from chronic loneliness and
who are in need of support. It recruits and mobilises volunteers to
host discussion/catch up groups and afternoon teas or meals in
their homes for elderly people, typically people aged 75 and
above. Since its first tea party in 1965m CTE has supported
more than 100,000 lonely older people in the UK.
United World Schools is a UK-based charity
which provides education to isolated communities who do not receive
the benefit of government education systems, typically in the Far
East. It does this by building schools in remote communities and
entering into partnerships with local communities and local
education authorities to provide local teachers and government
teachers who can fully communicate with the local population. The
BCT donation will fund the building and running of a new UWS school
in Cambodia for a year, including the employment of two
teachers.
In Germany, Bridgepoint Charitable Trust supports Lebenshilfe Frankfurt. Lebenshilfe is a
non-profit organisation, which offers services to disabled people
and their families supporting approximately 700 disabled people and
their families in the Frankfurt area. Its aim being to encourage
the integration and inclusion with mainstream society, offering a
variety of services for disabled people and their families
including early learning/intervention through social work
assistance and residential living for people who require increased
care.For existing portfolio companies, Bridgepoint, through its
board representatives, works with management teams to implement
appropriate social policies in their operations and procedures.
Typically, these focus on worker health and safety, labour rights
and welfare.
In Spain, Aenilce
a charity that operates a day care centre for children and
teenagers with severe brain disabilities, providing specialist
treatment including physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychology.
Bridgepoint will support the charity as it expands its activities
into a larger building which requires renovation work to triple its
capacity to 60 children. The project includes the renovation of
various rooms in the building (construction, plumbing, painting,
etc.), adapting the rooms to the special requirements of the
children, and buying new equipment including IT systems and
specialist furniture.
In Poland, Dajemy Dzieciom Siłę, (We give strength
to our children) a non-governmental charity established in 1991
originally devised to address 'social orphan hood' by offering help
to victims, families and care workers through targeted education
and social care. Its services are free of charge and is a not for
profit organisation. With the support of Bridgepoint's
Charitable Trust it will be able to launch a new support service
within its 'Good Parent - Good Start' programme. This will
focus on good parenting skills by helping counteract the effects of
postnatal depression and by strengthening family ties through
working with all the family members. In addition, it will be able
to extend its geographical reach in Poland by training
professionals outside its Warsaw base, offering support to families
with small children in their home towns and provides direct support
for 130 parents and 100 children.
For existing portfolio companies, Bridgepoint,
through its board representatives, works with management teams to
implement appropriate social policies in their operations and
procedures. Typically, these focus on worker health and safety,
labour rights and welfare.
