LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/13 -- The Monarch Group, the UK's leading independent travel group, has launched The Monarch Foundation, an important new initiative which will enable the Group and its 3,000 employees to make a more effective commitment to the charitable sector and the wider communities in which the Group operates. The Monarch Foundation is also announcing partnerships with seven charities operating across a range of causes that are relevant to the business activities of The Monarch Group and its leading aviation and travel brands, Monarch Airlines, Cosmos Holidays and Monarch Aircraft Engineering.
The Monarch Foundation intends to build on a variety of generous activity which already takes place within The Monarch Group and amongst its millions of customers, and which over the last two years has raised some GBP 500,000 in money and donations in-kind. Included in these activities are the donations made by passengers on board Monarch Airlines and various employee initiatives in support of Macmillan Cancer Support, which over a 24-year association have raised over GBP 3 million for the charity.
The Monarch Foundation will organise all of the charitable activity that is carried on by The Monarch Group and in the Group's name, and has identified five main areas on which to focus its efforts and be the defining areas of charitable engagement carried out in the Group's name. These main causes are disadvantaged families; children and young people; education; environment and sustainability; and injured service people and their families.
The charities selected by The Monarch Foundation, which it will be a partner to from 2013, are:
-- Macmillan Cancer Support - improving the lives of people affected by
cancer
-- When You Wish Upon A Star - specialising in making dreams come true for
children with life-threatening illnesses
-- Children in Need - providing grants to over 2,500 projects in the UK
which focus on disadvantaged children and young people
-- Home-Start UK - helping families with young children deal with whatever
life throws at them
-- Toe in the Water - inspiring service men and women who have sustained
often traumatic injuries to move beyond their disability and to become
re-inspired by life
-- Dick Camplin Education Trust - providing scholarships for financially
disadvantaged students, who have gained places at university, having
attended Salford City College or Loreto College in Manchester
-- The Homeless World Cup - using the power of football to energise
homeless people so they can change their own lives
The Monarch Foundation will, on an annual basis, invite submissions from additional charities which operate within its five main mandated areas and, where successful, new charities will be adopted on to the Charity List each May for a period of up to three years. The Monarch Foundation is supporting its charity partners by using a range of resources at the disposal of The Monarch Group, including money and financial support, skills transfer, benefits in kind, volunteering, ambassadorship and networking.
The Group's employees are also encouraged to continue their engagement with the wider charitable sector, and The Monarch Foundation is providing a number of 'Matching Grants' of up to GBP 1,000 in its first year for employees' own charitable activities taking place within the Foundation's five main mandated causes. The first of these grants has been made to Monarch Airlines' Captain Peter Clark, who in April 2013 undertook an 80km trek across a section of The Great Wall of China to raise funds for Help for Heroes, which supports injured service people and their families, one of the Foundation's five main mandated causes. The Monarch Foundation has donated GBP 1,000 to this challenge, helping Peter Clark to raise GBP 4,000 for Help for Heroes.
Iain Rawlinson, Executive Chairman of The Monarch Group, commented:
"The Monarch Foundation enables the Group to do what it should be doing in the charitable sector, which is everything it can.
"The Group's charitable engagement has down the years delivered excellent results for Monarch and our charity partners, and is something which we can be proud of. The size and nature of our Group today is such that we should be in a position to make an even more effective commitment to a wider range of charities across all of the communities where we operate, and at the same time enable us to positively reinforce the values of our brands to our many millions of customers."
Pauline Prow, Chairman of The Monarch Foundation and Director of Human Resources, The Monarch Group, commented:
"The Monarch Group is immensely proud of the achievements of its people and the contributions that they make to the charitable sector. Through The Monarch Foundation, more effective support and communication can be provided to our people for engagement with causes which are personal to them, as well as with the charity partners that have been carefully selected by representatives of each of our businesses."
Contacts:
Monarch Airlines
Colette Eagles
01582 398 241
colette.eagles@monarch.co.uk
www.monarch.co.uk
