Royal Mail employees have chosen the British Heart Foundation as its new national charity partner for 2022-2026.
The UK’s leading heart health charity will benefit from a four-year partnership with Royal Mail. Employees will be encouraged to raise £2 million, volunteer and provide pro bono support for the charity. The money raised will fund the new Royal Mail Community Hearts programme, which is aiming to:
- Deliver CPR training for 1 million young people
- Fund hundreds of Community defibrillators
- Develop accessible heart health information for the nation
Earlier this year, Royal Mail began the process of looking to partner with a charity over the next four years that is focused on heart health. Employees were involved in the final decision between shortlisted charities.
Positive heart health is important to Royal Mail as poor heart health is one of the leading causes of workplace absence.
Royal Mail aims to deliver economic and social benefits for its people, customers and the communities it serves. A key strand of Royal Mail’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is Community Investment. In 2021-22 the company invested £5.6 million in Community Investment.
The national charity partnership is a key way in which Royal Mail delivers its community investment strategy using its national scale and local presence and inspiring through education. Previous national charity partnerships have included Action for Children, The Stroke Association and Prostate Cancer UK. All partnerships have raised over £2 million.
Information on Royal Mail’s community investment programme can be found in Royal Mail’s most recent ESG report, pages 38-43: https://www.royalmailgroup.com/media/11777/royal-mail-esg-report-2021-22-final.pdf
Greg Sage, Deputy Director Corporate Affairs & ESG at Royal Mail, said: “We are really excited to be working with the British Heart Foundation as our national charity partner. The Royal Mail Community Hearts programme supports Royal Mail’s mission to support local communities and young people and put the health of our people, and the nation at the top of our agenda over the next four years.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: “We are thrilled to be announced as Royal Mail’s national charity partner and want to say a heartfelt thank you to all colleagues who voted for us to win this prestigious partnership.
“With 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK, and these conditions tragically killing one in four people, we need to urgently find ways to keep millions of hearts beating so that more families can be together for longer.
“Our new Community Hearts programme with Royal Mail will support people across the UK to better manage their conditions, no matter who they are or where they live. We’ll also make our communities safer, equipping the lifesavers of tomorrow through vital CPR training programmes and providing access to life saving equipment – giving everyone the very best chance of survival.
“We can’t wait to get started and look forward to working with Royal Mail to help save more lives.”
