Customers and external stakeholders help choose sustainability projects
DS Smith in Denmark has redefined the tradition around Christmas donation and charitable gifts. The team called for customers and suppliers to support the election of which organization DS Smith should support in their sustainability goals.
A box of chocolates is always nice gift but what is more meaningful is making a difference for our planet and for others. This is what is coming out from the brilliant initiative of DS Smith in Denmark, that invited customers and suppliers to vote for their preferred organisation to receive our Christmas donation.
Driven by our Purpose and our Now & Next Strategy, DS Smith had pre-selected some meaningful organisations. And we are glad to see that our customers and suppliers are perfectly aligned with our direction. Through the online voting shared by the sales colleagues, three organisations received most of the votes:
Repair Café Denmark - Why throw something away when it can be repaired? That is the purpose of Repair Café Denmark, a non-profit organisation that works to reduce waste, change consumption patterns and create knowledge about circular economy. The organisation teaches consumers how to repair items, rather than just discarding and buying new ones. We are happy to see this organisation been selected because equipping people to lead the transition to a circular economy is one of our Now and Next Sustainability Strategy targets.
Vild med Vilje - Biodiversity and a prosperous nature is at the heart of Vild med Vilje. It is a movement for everyone who wants to protect the variety and richness of our environment. Vild med Vilje creates habitats for plants, fungi and animals where people live and work. The association enters into partnerships with companies, municipalities and institutions to increase biodiversity and disseminate their efforts. As part of our Now and Next Sustainability Strategy, we focus on how we can support biodiversity in the communities where we operate.
BROEN – Ensuring opportunities to children and young people is the purpose of BROEN. BROEN is an organisation that helps socially disadvantaged children and young people offering activities, social and sport events where they can develop in a safe and stimulating environment. One of our strategic goals is "to realize the potential of people" and this is reflected in the goal of BROEN, in offering children and young people those opportunities that they otherwise would not have had.
The votes from our partners were very evenly distributed and given the relevance of all the three organisations, the Christmas donation of 20,000 Euro (150,000 DKK) has been equally split.
And here the positive comments from the spokespersons of the organisations:
“We are so proud to be a part of DS Smith's Christmas donation. There are many good ways to spend the money, but we believe that at the moment there is only one sure thing to do, and that is to pay tribute to our community of volunteers at the 50 Repair Cafés in Denmark. We will host a big event - when we are allowed - and say thank you to those who make it possible for us to fight the "buy new and throw away" culture.” Stig Bomholt, Chairman of Repair Café Denmark.
”Vild med Vilje will use the great donation from DS Smith to strengthen our association's communication, so that we can both inspire people about protecting biodiversity and increase the community support for wilder nature.” Philip Hahn-Petersen, Chairman of Vild med Vilje
”For a small organization like us, receiving a donation from a large company like DS Smith is an important recognition of the volunteer efforts. For us, the most important thing is to build a bridge for vulnerable children to be able to participate in strong communities. It is a joy every time we succeed. Often neither the coach or the scout leader knows that the child is supported by BROEN, and in several cases the child does not know either. For us, it is crucial that the child is not victim of biases and this is why we keep it confidential. This donation means a lot to us as our work is noticed and recognised.” Peter Poulsen, Chairman of Broen Danmark
Continued partnership
In addition to our Christmas donations, we want to create a long-term partnership with Vild med Vilje. We have planned to plant wild flowers in the green lawns surrounding our plant and have just applied for the Biodiversity programme grant offered by DS Smith Charitable Foundation.