Charity partnerships

The responsibility for managing our community investment programme lies with our operating businesses. This helps us involve our people in local initiatives that are also very close to our customers.

We engaged with charities through several partnerships and projects during the year, including Weston Spirit in the UK; the German Children and Youth Foundation (GCYF); Irish Autism Action; and the Mighty Oak Hospice Appeal in the Isle of Man.

We also worked with the Charities Aid Foundation for the third year to chart our progress. The foundation started to administer a new grant-monitoring process for O2 plc during the year.

This system covers donations of £5,000 or more and other significant projects. It provides a third-party assessment of community projects. The process involves O2 and the charity sector, enabling us to monitor how our awards benefit the community and how our relationships with charities are evolving. This year, we have surveyed 16 charities, including Weston Spirit and the GCYF.

As part of the assurance of this corporate responsibility report, our assurance providers have interviewed several of our community partners to gauge the effectiveness of our community investment activity. You can read the findings of this activity in the section that includes the community assurance statement.