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.
Our CSR Spotlight of the Month showcases one dedicated charity / cause for our teams to support and during that month, employees globally can take part in a remote or in-person 5k walk, run, swim or cycle.
This July, we dedicated our CSR spotlight of the month to The Ronald McDonald House Charities and Karin Dom in honour of children's charities and the fantastic work they do around the world.
The Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation and a caring, supportive environment for families whose children are undergoing medical treatment at Children's Health Foundation Crumlin. We recently paid a visit and saw first hand the tremendous work that their team does to support families through the toughest of times in the most loving, homely and peaceful way.
We were also lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the plans for the new Ronald McDonald House which will be built on the campus of the new National Children's Hospital. With 52 bedrooms spread out over four floors, the new house will be a vital home for families from every county and every town in Ireland. We are honoured to be sponsoring a room, and playing a role in supporting such an incredible charity.
Karin Dom is a Bulgarian non-profit organization founded in 1996 by hereditary diplomat and philanthropist Ivan Stancioff. 25 years on, Karin Dom is an organization with a leading role in providing professional services for children with special needs and their families.
Over the years, Karin Dom has developed as a therapeutic center for children with special needs, which employs highly qualified specialists: physiotherapists, rehabilitators, speech therapists, psychologists, special teachers and social workers. Although these advancements make an incredible difference to children's lives, the costs involved makes it harder and harder for Karin Dom to continue their amazing work.
Thanks to our team's support and participation throughout the month, CluneTech donated over 300 euros on behalf of our staff to our dedicated beneficiaries which will go towards the hugely important services both The Ronald McDonald House Charities and Karin Dom provide to the children and families who need them the most, both in Ireland and Bulgaria.
In celebration of International Dog Day, we dedicated August’s CSR Spotlight of the Month in support of Animal Welfare. All donations raised goes towards the incredible work Animal Welfare charities and organisations do rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming the sick, injured and cruelly treated animals across our communities.
Our main beneficiary during the month of August was PAWS, an animal rescue organisation dedicated to rescuing homeless and abandoned animals, primarily dogs from high-kill pounds and owners who can no longer care for them.
By working with their employees, volunteers, local Veterinary surgeons and overseas adoption groups, PAWS are able to rescue hundreds of animals every year, provide them with loving temporary care, and find them well-matched, carefully screened forever homes. With approximately 80 dogs in their care at any one time, they rely heavily on the generosity of the public to fund and continue their work.
Not only did our employees get involved in our monthly walk / run in support of animal welfare, but they also took part in a fundraising competition to mark International Dog Day where we had our teams introduce their furry friends to their colleagues and share the things they love most about them to be in with a chance of winning a paws-itively spectacular doggy hamper for their pooches at home. Each entry doubled up as a donation to our animal welfare beneficiaries during the month of August.
Following our team’s participation throughout the month of August, CluneTech donated €500 to our dedicated Animal Welfare charities. Thank you to everyone who got involved and for the support you’ve shown this August.
During the month of September, CluneTech Cares honoured World Suicide Prevention Day by dedicating our CSR Spotlight of the Month to some of the suicide prevention charities within our community in appreciation of the life changing work they do day in and day out, providing counselling and support to individuals, families and organisations who have been affected by suicide or mental un-wellness.
This September, instead of asking our team to walk or run, we wanted to do something a bit different. We asked our people to do something for them! This included anything, from walking their dog, to watching a movie - whatever made them happy! Our team took some time out to appreciate the little things in your life and shared their pictures and videos with us on our internal platform, Workvivo.
For every photo and video with the hashtag #WorldSuicidePrevention uploaded by our staff, CluneTech Cares donated €5 on behalf of every employee who took part.
To make things even better, for every employee that attended our mental health workshop to mark World Suicide Prevention Day, CluneTech included their attendance as an added donation towards our incredible suicide prevention charities in honour of our CSR Spotlight of the Month.
At the end of the month, CluneTech made a monetary donation in support of suicide prevention, benefiting a number of incredible mental health support charities and organisations. Well done to all of our amazing colleagues for their participation this month.
CluneTech were thrilled to announce our sponsorship of Kilkenny United Women's Football Club this August.
Our #OneTeam Culture extends well beyond the workplace and we recognise the integral role that sports clubs play in our local communities, particularly when it comes to bringing people together. That's why, as part of our CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares, we are committed to supporting a number of local clubs through our pillar of 'Culture & Community'.
So far this year, we've supported almost 20 clubs across a range of sports including everything from soccer and GAA to basketball and karate. This is our first time sponsoring Kilkenny United WFC and we couldn't have been prouder to welcome some of the club's members to our Kilkenny HQ recently.
Speaking about the sponsorship, Keith O'Toole, Communications Officer for the club said:
“Kilkenny United Women's FC are delighted to have CluneTech sponsoring our new jerseys for our U9 to U12 teams. This investment in our younger teams is really important to the club and will really help our players. Thank you from all of us at Kilkenny United Women's FC.”
From all at CluneTech, we wish them the very best of luck in the upcoming season!
CluneTech were absolutely delighted to sponsor local Kilkenny swimmer, Robbie English, who represented Ireland in the European Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Italy last September. Robbie had 8 individual events and 3 relays and achieved his dream of reaching a final. In fact, he reached 3 finals in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke!
Robbie also obtained 5 personal bests in his 200m and 400m freestyle, 100m and 200m backstroke and his 50m butterfly. The 100m x 4 Men’s Medley Team went on to beat the Italian team in Italy, achieving third place and gaining a podium position.
“CluneTech’s sponsorship for the Irish Down Syndrome Swimming Team supported their participation at the SUDS 2023 European Swimming Championships in Padova thus enabling these swimmers to showcase their swimming excellence and potential.
CluneTech helped make these swimmers’ dreams come true and allowed them to fly the Irish Flag with pride and joy.” - Ann English, Director / Secretary of the Irish Down Syndrome Sporting Organisation CLG.
Based on the times achieved, Robbie, along with a number of his teammates, now already qualify for the World Championships in Antalya Turkey 19- 26 March next year.
From all of us at CluneTech, we’d like to wish Robbie and the Irish Team a massive congratulations on this incredible achievement.
In 2021, CluneTech and Karin Dom launched a project called “Investing in Human Capital to Invest in the Future of Karin Dom” which aims to support the long-term vision of the centre by increasing the focus and investment on the retention and the development of their specialists.
Having witnessed the positive impact of these professional supervisions, we had no hesitations about continuing our support of this programme. In addition, our annual donation towards Karin Dom saw us sponsor the delivery of a therapeutic chair for children with disabilities, a bosu ball that facilitates the therapeutic programs for children with motor difficulties, as well as numerous smaller tools that will be included in the daily therapeutic exercises of the children in the centre.
Following the ongoing support of our team in Bulgaria, we donated 15 kgs of plastic caps for the latest edition of the “I believe and help” initiative in Varna, which took place on 30th September.
“I believe and help” is a well-known Bulgarian initiative that is run biannually – once in the spring, and once in the autumn. It promotes plastic caps collection and recycling as a way to gather funds for buying vital medical equipment for children’s hospitals while also supporting the planet and recycling tons of plastic each year.
Mariana Dimitrova, a member of our Great Place to Work Team pictured below, brought CluneTech’s plastic caps to the collection point during her time volunteering for the ‘I Believe and Help Campaign.'
In addition to the plastic caps collection, the organizers promoted their first penny fundraiser campaign and a local fundraising bazaar.
Thanks to people's contribution, the ‘I believe and help’ organizers managed to buy 22 pieces of equipment for the neonatal units in Varna and the northeast of Bulgaria, along with Varna's first Neonatal Ambulance and Bulgaria's first Mobile Blood Donation vehicle.
This July, on behalf of CluneTech, Kristina Ilieva from our Marketing & Communications Team was honoured to speak to a group of young people about the role of volunteering in their early career development.
Kristina’s presentation was part of Karin Dom and Varna Municipality’s project, which aims to familiarise high school students with volunteering opportunities and socially responsible companies in the city of Varna.
Our participation is part of our long-term commitment towards early career development and our award-winning career counselling program that helps young people acquire and develop specific skills and experience that will help them get the best out of their career exploration, job search and job application processes.
First Donation towards the I Want a Baby Foundation in Bulgaria
This summer, CluneTech has made its first donation towards the I Want a Baby Foundation in Bulgaria.
I Want a Baby sponsors assisted reproduction, fertility treatment and the first of its kind psychological programme which has been thoughtfully crafted to run in tandem with the medical procedures a couple is going through. Our donation will directly assist the facilitation of psychological support groups for those experiencing infertility. The donation comes following an employee’s request and the first in Bulgaria open vote among over ten local causes that have been nominated in our global CSR request form at the beginning of 2023.
To learn more about the positive impact I Want a Baby is having, we caught up with Katya Simeonova, a psychologist from the foundation who gave us an amazing insight into the fantastic work the foundation does for people struggling with fertility issues in Bulgaria.
This summer, CluneTech has made its first donation towards the I Want a Baby Foundation in Bulgaria.
I Want a Baby sponsors assisted reproduction, fertility treatment and the first of its kind psychological programme which has been thoughtfully crafted to run in tandem with the medical procedures a couple is going through. Our donation will directly assist the facilitation of psychological support groups for those experiencing infertility. The donation comes following an employee’s request and the first in Bulgaria open vote among over ten local causes that have been nominated in our global CSR request form at the beginning of 2023.
To learn more about the positive impact I Want a Baby is having, we caught up with Katya Simeonova, a psychologist from the foundation who gave us an amazing insight into the fantastic work the foundation does for people struggling with fertility issues in Bulgaria. Check out the full interview below:
CluneTech was an official partner of "Да изчистим България за един ден" BTV campaign, one of the biggest volunteering campaigns held in Bulgaria. On 16th of September, CluneTech supported the cause with 40 volunteers. Along with their families and children, our colleagues took part in a clean- up event in Varna, collecting and disposing of 20 bags of litter and detritus left during the tourist summer season from the beach alley.
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 Volunteer Day 58 CluneTech employees have contributed to causes which they find meaningful, and this number keeps growing. See what they had to share with us about their experience this quarter:
Cora Phelan from Taxback International used her Volunteer Day to abseil almost 150ft down Croke Park, Europe’s 3rd largest stadium. Taking part in the #DareToBeBrave challenge, Cora pushed herself to the limit and raised much needed funds for the Children's Health Foundation, who help save the lives of critically ill children. We couldn’t be prouder of Cora and we were delighted to attend on the day to cheer her on and witness her incredible bravery first-hand.
Take a look at the full day of events with Cora during the fantastic #DareToBeBrave Challenge below:
