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Corporate Partners

Our current and recent corporate partners include Citi, Genworth, Diageo, COINS, Credit Suisse, Visa Europe, Vitol, Lovells, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Buildings Industry Control Awards, the Home Builders Federation, the National House Builders Council (NHBC), Bank of America, Schroders, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Whirlpool, Addleshaw Goddard, Benoy, Stephen George & Partners, Places for People, LloydsTSB, Thomson Reuters. But we can also provide sponsorship packages ideal for smaller companies too!

Companies become involved with us in a wide variety of ways – here is a little about some of those partnerships, and some quotes from those involved:

National House Builders Council (NHBC)

The NHBC and in particular their staff raised over £200,000 in support of our HopeBuilders campaign for homes, sent teams of staff volunteers to build in Romania and India, have more recently raised funds towards reconstruction of earthquake-resistant housing in Haiti. They are also founding sponsors of our flagship HopeChallenge event (link).

“The aims of HFH closely resonate with the culture and aims of NHBC, it’s a mutual partnership and I would encourage everyone to get as involved as much as they can – it really is a worthy cause. “

“During the Beius trip I was struck by the very real housing need in our own continent. I think everyone found working together as a team on-site and seeing the very tangible results of our labour both enjoyable and immensely satisfying.”

 

Coins Foundation

The COINS Foundation was established to co-ordinate the charitable activities in philanthropist Larry Sullivan’s companies. COINS stands for Construction and Insurance, the industries with which those companies work, and the foundation seeks to encourage their partners to support their aim of supporting projects that change the root causes of poverty and discrimination to develop long-term solutions which will help to bring about permanent change.

COINS Foundation, together with its corporate partners, is a major sponsor of HFHGB, funding projects in Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia, and also our reconstruction programme in Haiti.

Ric Law, COINS Foundation Director, travelled to Mozambique on a team to help build homes for HIV/AIDS orphans in one of the projects that COINS Foundation has sponsored. You can read his full blog here: http://www.coinsfoundation.org/blog/tag/tales-from-africa

“So the day passes and as we work side by side with a likely-looking bunch of local guys and residents, we learn how to construct Mozambique style. But for the more acute observer there are other, more wonderful lessons to be learned from our hosts. Lessons in love, courage, courtesy, generosity of spirit, resourcefulness, creativity, humour and humility. It is said that someone who loses a sense is compensated by heightened sensitivity of the remaining faculties. These people who lack almost all material possessions seem to be compensated by an abundance of what I want to call ‘human-ness’. They have so little which is material and yet they seem to effortlessly exhibit these, most precious human qualities and values in abundance.”

Ric Law, COINS Foundation Director

 

IBM

 

A group of IBM female employees to help build homes in South Africa as part of an initiative by IBM’s Women Leadership Team. They raised well over £40,000:

“The project went better than I ever could have hoped. I don’t think I have ever worked in such an effective, productive team, and that’s because we all shared a strong vision of what we wanted to do…We worked extremely well together, completing one house and taking the second one up to almost roof level. We learnt how to form and then dissolve small teams for individual projects as we went along, so we have all learnt a great deal about team dynamics, as well as about ourselves.“

Tracey Gilbert, Associate Partner, IBM UK and team leader of the initiative

“Building a house hand-in-hand with the beneficiaries was a unique experience. I now understand that supporting someone is not just handing them the solution, but helping to guide them there, so that they can support themselves tomorrow. “

Isabella Bardswell, IBM team

“It was a very emotional, tough and humbling experience working with people living in abject poverty. It would be good if we could replicate the enthusiasm and teamwork of our Building Futures team in all projects – I think then we could never fail to deliver.”

Teresa McGovern, IBM Team

“It really made me appreciate what I have. The people we met had nothing, yet no-one complained. In IBM, people help you out all the time and yet we often don't bother to say thank you. So I will appreciate the help my colleagues give me and ensure that I do always thank them. People work better if they are appreciated.”

Liz Ince, IBM Team

 

Stephen George & Partners

This leading firm of architects really takes corporate social responsibility seriously, and set up the ‘Respect’ programme to involve all employees in raising funds to help HIV/AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa. Teams of employees have also gone out to help build some of those homes over the past few years. We find their example inspiring, and hope that more companies will want to follow their groundbreaking lead. See www.stephengeorge-respect.co.uk.

“We leave Africa better, more understanding and more complete people than we were when we arrived. It may be difficult for those who have yet to take this journey to understand how evocative this experience has been. There is a genuine bond forged between us that will never be broken… The Zulu people helped us to understand them and in doing so to understand ourselves.”

Zoe Kirby, Marketing Co-ordinator and team participant

"Today, social responsibility for a business goes far beyond the old philanthropy of the past - donating money to good causes at the end of the year - and is instead an all year round responsibility that we must accept for the environment around us, for the best working practices and for our engagement with the local and world communities.

"We need to move towards a challenging measure of social responsibility, where we judge our business not just by the normal business standards but the difference we make to the world in which we live, and the contribution we make to poverty reduction.

"We believe this brings sustained, collective value to our employees, our clients and society at large."

David Taylor, Senior Partner, Stephen George & Partners

VISA EUROPE

Visa Europe helped us to pioneer our “Teams that Perform” learning and development programme, based on Myers Briggs Typography Indicators and using Habitat for Humanity case histories in team building exercises, followed by a build day on our site at Liverpool. If you would like to know more about this, and also about our ‘Collaborate’ classroom product aimed at improving teamwork, please get in touch (link)

“All in all, and I know I speak on behalf of the team, this was a superb experience. It allowed us to and work and get to know each other a lot better and breakdown misunderstandings of how we interpret to optimum effect with each other. I would, therefore, thoroughly recommend this course to any team that is new in the makeup of its staff; are having communication challenges within and/or externally, or are simply looking for a great way to learn more about themselves through helping others.”