March 24, 2023
CSR

CluneTech Cares First Quarter Recap


Our CSR Programme - CluneTech Cares, is a fantastic representation of what we are - a team of truly caring individuals giving our best to support and add value, not only to our customers, but also to the communities in which we operate. CluneTech Cares is employee-led and has three key pillars: Wellness, Culture & Community, and Sustainability. It has been a busy quarter so make sure to check out some of our latest activities below.

January’s CSR Spotlight: The Dillon Quirke Foundation

This year, CluneTech introduced a monthly CSR Spotlight where one charity / cause will be featured for our colleagues to support. Every month, a 5k walk / run is organised and CluneTech Cares donates €5 per person that participates during the given time frame to the spotlighted cause. 

Our first CSR Spotlight for Q1 was dedicated to The Dillon Quirke Foundation in aid of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. 

The Dillon Quirke Foundation has been set up in memory of the late Tipperary hurler, Dillon Quirke who collapsed and died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome on August 5th, 2022. He had been playing for his club Clonoulty-Rossmore against Kilruane McDonagh in the Tipperary Hurling Championship.

The foundation which is run by Dillon's parents, Dan and Hazel, and his sisters Kellie and Shannon, plans to screen GAA players for the syndrome and a GoFundMe page has been created to raise awareness and funds.

Following our team's participation during the month of January, CluneTech made a donation to The Dillon Quirke Foundation which has gone towards their amazing work screening GAA players for the disease. 

From everyone here at CluneTech Cares, we want to thank all of our colleagues for the difference you have made this January. 


TransferMate’s Cathal Byrne, Declan McQuillan, David Cahill, and Ciara Cooney at January’s CSR Spotlight 5K



February’s CSR Spotlight: World Cancer Day

In honour of World Cancer Day, CluneTech Cares dedicated February's CSR spotlight to a number of incredibly deserving cancer support charities. The charities supported included Severn Hospice, Carlow Kilkenny Homecare and The Irish Hospice Foundation. 


Severn Hospice supports families through the good days and bad days because they believe that when cure is no longer possible, care is. Since 1989, they have given free care and support to more than 34,000 people and their loved ones during their time of greatest need. They now help more than 2,000 local people every year.


Since 1989, Carlow Kilkenny Homecare has been available, providing a palliative care service for patients with cancer at all stages of their disease. The team is a voluntary organisation supported mainly by local voluntary fundraising by the people of Carlow and Kilkenny. The team provides support and information to help their patients and family cope with the feelings around diagnosis, treatment and much more as they navigate their illness.

The Irish Hospice Foundation believes that every single patient matters and always wants to ensure the best end-of-life and bereavement care, for all. From advocacy and education to their vital services like Nurses for Night Care and their Bereavement Support Line. 


On the 9th of February, a walk / run was organised in our Kilkenny, Dublin, Cluj-Napoca and New Jersey offices for those who wanted to take part with their teammates in aid of this amazing cause. Following our team’s participation throughout the month of February, CluneTech donated over €1,500 to our dedicated cancer support charities. This donation will go towards the hugely important services made available to people affected by cancer and their families. Thank you to everyone who got involved and for the support you’ve shown to our incredible charities during the month of February.



TransferMate’s Treasury Team supporting World Cancer Day during their lunchtime 5K walk 



March’s CSR Spotlight: Autism Awareness

This March, we dedicated our CSR Spotlight to World Autism Awareness with all donations from our participating colleagues going towards a number of autism support charities and organisations.

Autism is a neurological difference that many people are born with which affects how they experience the world around them and how they communicate with others. While autism awareness has greatly grown in Ireland and globally in recent years, we are still a long way from having a society which truly understands autism. 

Autism support charities help people and families affected by autism in so many ways. These organisations provide services, support groups, activities and much more for those on the autism spectrum to help improve the quality of their everyday life. 

During the month of March, not only did our teams get involved in our monthly walk / run in support of autism awareness but our colleagues also took some time during Neurodiversity Week to learn more about and celebrate Neurodiversity through a number of informative online webinars. 

Thanks to our team's support and participation throughout the month, CluneTech made a monetary donation in support of autism awareness, benefiting a number of incredible autism support charities and organisations. Well done to all of our amazing colleagues for their participation this month.



Georgi Stoyanov from our Immedis team during his 5K for Autism Awareness this March




Help for Turkey

Аfter the devastating earthquakes in Turkey, CluneTech Cares made a monetary donation which facilitated the purchase of warm blankets, winter jackets and boots, all of which are essential items needed by those impacted.  A special thanks to our colleagues Natalya Dermenji and Yordan Karapeev from our Immedis team who volunteered their time to coordinate the donation in less than a day to the Bulgarian Red Cross, who had organized an initiative to transport donated goods from Bulgaria to the distressed cities. Well done Natalya and Yordan!

Natalya Dermenji and Yordan Karapeev from our Immedis team

Martenitsi Campaign

On the 1st of March, our colleagues in Bulgaria celebrated Baba Marta, a Bulgarian holiday deeply rooted in Bulgarian folklore and culture. Baba Marta, which means "Grandmother March", is a personification of the month of March celebrating the arrival of spring.

On this day, Bulgarians exchange ‘martenitsi’ which are small, red and white braided bracelets made of wool or thread and which symbolises good health to all.

In preparation of Baba Marta, our colleagues in our Varna and Veliko Tarnovo offices joined forces using their CSR volunteer days to hand-craft some martenitsi that were later sold at local charity markets in aid of children with special needs.

Following this initiative, a donation of 716 BGN will go towards therapy for children with special needs who are enrolled in Karin Dom support programs. A further donation of 370 BGN (matched by CluneTech) will be used to buy craft materials for the children in the daily centre for people with disabilities in Veliko Tarnovo. Well done to our teams in Varna, Veliko Tarnovo and everyone involved.

CluneTech’s volunteers taking part in martenitsi making for Karim Dom in Bulgaria


Vinitsa Childrens Medical Centre

During the month of January, Clunetech Cares donated much needed kitchen equipment to the Vinitsa Childrens Medical Centre which will allow the staff to continue cooking and feeding the children while they are in the centre.


The Vinitsa centre cares for over 300 children a year and is the largest facility of its kind in north east Bulgaria. The centre provides medical care and rehabilitation to premature babies and children with neurological and orthopaedic problems. CluneTech Cares was honoured to support this amazing initiative this January.

The Team at Vinitsa Children's Medical Centre



Sneaker Donation Campaign

During the month of February CluneTech ran a charity campaign to support children from the Izgrev centre - a centre for orphans, located in the city of Varna. It unites two family-type accommodation houses with 21 children between 9-20 years, deprived of parental care.

Throughout the month, CluneTech Cares donated 3 large boxes of sneakers to children in need to the Izgrev Centre. We are incredibly proud and thankful for the kindness and generosity shown by our employees and the positive impact they have made here.

CluneTech’s sneaker donation for the children of the Izgrev Centre in Varna, Bulgaria


Kilkenny Masters Basketball Event

CluneTech Cares was delighted to sponsor the Kilkenny Master’s Basketball Tournament for the second year in a row.

This competition is one of Ireland’s most prestigious Masters tournaments with over 40 basketball teams from Ireland, the UK, Spain and Europe competing together. The event was a huge success with the Kilkenny women's team winning their opening game of the tournament along with the Kilkenny Men's team following suit later that day. 

We were honoured to be a part of this event and want to give a special mention to Éanna Brady, Senior VP of Sales at Taxback International, for submitting this CSR request. Well done to everyone involved!

Taxback International’s Éanna Brady at the Kilkenny Masters Basketball Event this March

Volunteering at CluneTech

Introduced in 2021, our CSR Volunteer Day empowers each employee to give back to the charities and causes closest to them. Since the inception of our Volunteer Day, 58 CluneTech employees have contributed to causes which they find meaningful, and this number keeps growing. 

Desislava Teneva and Srebrina Dimitrova used their volunteering day to support this year's Karim Dom Martenitsi campaign in support of children with special needs. 



We want to thank our amazing group of volunteers who spent their Valentine's Day sharing some love with the planet. Our volunteers planted over 1,200 trees in partnership with Self Help Africa. 

By taking part in CluneTech's Plant a Tree Day, our team contributed to Self Help Africa's effort to plant 100,000 new native trees in the island of Ireland, and 1,000,000 trees in Africa!



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