GIVING BACK
Our colleagues at Blackedge Consulting, as part of the STR Group, activate our shared commitment to creating a better, more equitable world – for each other, and within our local and global communities.
As a responsible employer, providing social value is of paramount importance to Blackedge Consulting, and this ethos is shared by all our staff.
For us, CSR incorporates 3 core elements: education, sustainability and fundraising. Read on to discover how we always seek to do more and give back.
EDUCATION
To enable effective future change, we must provide further education opportunities for all
Along with Make UK and charity partner the Smallpeice Trust, as part of the STR Group, Blackedge Consulting helps to fund STEM days for school pupils. In January 2023, Clive Hutchings, our Executive Director and Founder, attended Miltoncross Academy for a STEM Challenge Day. The day saw the school’s Year 8 pupils get stuck into the Aircraft Challenge! Exploring the physics of flight through concepts such as aerodynamics and forces, 60 students aged 12 to 13 took part in the event. Further STEM challenges took place for local schools on National Manufacturing Day in 2024, as pupils took on the Marine Technology Challenge in September, designing and building a working nautical craft at Actisense and the RNLI, with members of the STR Group in attendence and giving what advice we could!
Clive also works with Portsmouth University’s Enterprise Programme. We sponsor their awards event and Clive, his fellow Directors and our TA team run workshops for UTC Portsmouth and other universities around topics such as setting up an effective LinkedIn profile, writing a compelling CV, and making a good impression at interview.
SUSTAINABILITY
As part of the STR Group, Blackedge Consulting’s focus is on giving back to the communities in which we work. We encourage everyone to help their local area by picking up rubbish, shopping at local farmer’s markets and through sustainable organisations, and of course recycling and reusing whenever possible.
As part of our commitment to CSR, we organise several litter picks throughout the year. The first was a beach clean in March 2023, facilitated by the Environmental Manager for Whale Island and Horsea Island, part of the Royal Navy MOD. In this area of special interest, he is passionate about maintaining a healthy environment. Last year’s litter pick in June was organised with our partner and young people’s charity Motiv8, as we helped get the City of Portsmouth ready for its D-Day celebrations.
We have also participated in other beach cleans and tree-planting expeditions with local school children and are working towards becoming carbon-neutral.
ECOVADIS RATING
As part of the STR Group, Blackedge Consulting is delighted to have received our EcoVadis sustainability rating, achieving ‘Committed’ status. This recognition reflects our dedication to environmental responsibility, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement.
And we’re not stopping there – we believe that, together, we can ensure a cleaner, greener future for our planet.
FUNDRAISING
Giving back to our communities
We raise funds both as a business for our corporate partners, and as individuals for local and personal charitable organisations.
At the beginning of 2023, we held a bike challenge during Wellness Week to kick off our fundraising for ‘Motiv8’, the STR Group’s charity partner. Twelve colleagues then took on the Great South Run for the charity in October. In all, we raised nearly £3,000 for this fantastic Portsmouth-based charity in our first year of partnership with them. In 2024, a number of our STR colleagues took on the Welsh 3000s. This incredibly tough challenge involves climbing all mountains in Wales over 3,000 feet within a 24-hour period. Covering 15 peaks and climbing more than 2,500 metres, the team raised an incredible £3,950 for Motiv8, smashing their original target!
Prior to this, in 2022, four members of STR’s team took on the 3 Peaks Challenge for one of our brand’s charity partner ‘In2Science’ raising £2,000. Additionally, colleagues across the Group have raised thousands of pounds for charity running the London Marathon over the last few years.
If this all sounds a bit exhausting, don’t worry. We also regularly hold bake sales for charities such as Cancer Research and Macmillan and encourage employees to pay a pound or two for the privilege of wearing it pink for Breast Cancer Now, watching our team grow some most-impressive mustaches for men’s health causes, and dressing in all the colours of the rainbow for Pride month!
even if they are in the future.
