Campaign Impact Report 2020
£20,844 Raised 58 organisations helped
600 hours volunteered 950+ people helped
Staff engagement
97% improved wellbeing, 97% improved job satisfaction, 91% had fun, 61% learned new skills
The background
“Over the past couple of months we've seen so many of our young people struggle, not only fnancially, but also mentally. Isolation, loneliness, uncertainty... all of these exacerbated the multiple issues care-experienced young people already had to deal with prior to the pandemic.” In May 2020 Lucy Elamad of Drive Forward Foundation (DFF) succinctly captured the challenges that were being felt not only by the care leavers supported by DFF, but by so many people across the UK.
DFF are one of Tideway’s charity partners, who all faced the ‘double whammy’ of major reductions in their income as fundraising events were cancelled alongside an increase in demand for their services. They weren’t alone—analysis by Pro Bono Economics estimated that one in 10 UK charities faced bankruptcy in 2020, with a £6.4bn loss of income just as demand for extra services—ranging from health to debt advice and social care—piled on extra costs of £3.7bn.
Tideway moved quickly to support its charity partners when the pandemic first hit. Payments under funding agreements were accelerated to help cash flow, donations were made to emergency appeals and restart/recovery programmes were supported, including a summer water sports programme for children from Tower Hamlets at Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre and a campaign to provide essentials to people leaving prison with our partner Bounce Back. But the gap in funding for charities and the demands on them continued to grow.
As the project safely re-started, planning began on how to re-energise our charity fundraising and volunteering programmes, engaging those staff working from home as well as site teams working in new, challenging circumstances. The ‘hook’ to launch the campaign was Tideway’s ffth birthday, based on the anniversary of the project’s licence award on 24 August 2015. The twin aims of the campaign were to have a positive, measurable impact on communities, in particular on our charity partners and to engage staff from across the Tideway Alliance, generating a ‘buzz’ around the event and get positive feedback from those taking part.
The campaign
Make a Difference ran for just over a month from 24 August – 25 September 2020. The campaign organising team was led by Tideway’s Corporate Responsibility team and included Main Works Contractors, local delivery teams and the staff Charity Committee.
The schedule included fundraising events, volunteering opportunities and opportunities to donate. The volunteering element combined organising socially distanced events in London and promoting support groups offering ‘close to home’ support for local communities. For fundraising events, an online giving ‘hub’ page was set up on Virgin Money Giving, to which all team and individual pages were linked. Tideway’s staff charity partners—DFF, Single Homeless Project (SHP) and South London Cares (SLC)—were promoted as the main benefciary charities but staff could raise money for any cause close to their heart. Staff were also actively encouraged to get family and friends involved too, with some activities created to be ‘child friendly’ and inclusive. This was to help staff and others motivate one another and to ensure that no matter what people’s situations were, they could still feel able to take part in the fun! The following pages are some of the ‘highlight’ events throughout the campaign.
Fundraising – The Tunnel Challenge
Tideway staff were given a charity challenge to walk, run, cycle, swim or row—in fact pretty much any outdoor activity they could think of—in teams or as individuals with the aim of completing as many 25km ‘lengths’ of the Thames Tideway Tunnel as possible.
More than 70 people covered a total of 16,176km or 647 tunnel lengths, with a couple of the leading individual contributors covering almost 1,000km each. Fiona Hoskins (pictured) did a Stand Up Paddleboarding challenge, Monica Lobo (pictured) covered her tunnel lengths by ‘plogging’—running and stopping to pick up litter—and Jamie Gray (pictured) climbed Britain’s three highest peaks!
The challenge proved very successful at both raising money—with more than £6,000 raised—and engaging staff, with many of the high scores from the campaign’s impact survey coming from participants.
Fundraising - Dine and Donate
Staff recreated their favourite restaurant meal and donated the cost they would have paid to Tideway’s staff charity partners. The results were mouth-watering, from single gourmet dishes to tasty but easy three-course meals, with more than £1,000 raised.
Fundraising – ‘You’re On Mute’ Challenge
We have all done it—started speaking while on mute in a video conference meeting. Tideway’s LGBTQ Encompass network decided to make a virtue of this during the campaign, asking people to donate £1 to their chosen charities Diversity Role Models and the Albert Kennedy Trust for their campaign fundraisers. To prove the point that it happens a lot, they raised more than £300!
Volunteering – The Big Count
One of Tideway’s main charity partnerships is with environmental charity Thames21, centred on the Thames River Watch programme which engages with riverside communities to collect and count plastic litter from the foreshore at locations up and down the River Thames.
One of the biggest events in the programme’s schedule is the twice-yearly ‘Big Count’, when groups collect and count litter from multiple locations on the same day. Because of lockdown the 2020 autumn Big Count had to be changed to happen over a week, at fewer locations and with smaller numbers of volunteers. Tideway volunteers carried out surveys and clean-ups at four locations along the tidal river, giving teams the chance to meet up for the frst time in months.
Tideway Community Investment Manager Kelly Bradley, who co-ordinated Tideway’s events and led one near Putney, said: “I didn’t realise how much I missed collecting litter from the foreshore! It was great to see our Putney site and to see some colleagues. We collected 9 bags of rubbish, 148 bottles and 65 of those are water bottles. What a great way to spend my Friday afternoon”.
Volunteering - Virtual Careers Week
Run by Tideway’s Skills and Employment team, this week-long event saw 17 to 18-yearold students from across London given an insight into the Tideway project and STEMbased careers. The team at the project’s King Edward Memorial Park site in Wapping provided an overview of its engineering and offered insights into their own career journeys, ranging from those who have spent more than 10 years in engineering to a current apprentice.
After hearing about several other career paths based on roles from sustainability and architecture, to corporate responsibility and digital communications, the students completed a sustainable design challenge and presented their design, receiving praise from the Tideway team. One of the students, 18-year-old Umar Khan, said: “I’ve learnt so much from Tideway’s staff.”
Donations – adopt a puppy
Staff working on the Central section of the project decided to support Guide Dogs and ask colleagues to make donations so that they could sponsor a puppy into training.
They raised enough to support two puppies, Marley and Sprout (pictured), to be trained for two years until they are fully qualifed guide dogs. The pair then featured on ‘Pets Corner’ in the weekly internal e-news brief, with Marley ‘quoted’ as saying: “Thank you to everyone who has given Sprout and I the wonderful chance to fulfl our ambition to become guide dogs - we are so grateful.”
We have since heard from Guide Dogs how they have both been progressing. Marley has been learning the ropes from retired guide dog Grace and behaves perfectly whilst walking on the lead and Sprout is doing fantastically in his training and has quickly picked up new commands.
The impact
On the community
The 600 hours volunteered during the campaign supported our key partners and also gave direct help to the community. One highlight was the 53 hours volunteered for Thames21’s Thames River Watch programme, including four events during the week of The Big Count. Covid-19 has increased the impact of single-use plastic, with our volunteers on average fnding 322 pieces of plastic per 100m. There were more plastic gloves observed than face masks and one section of the foreshore on the Isle of Dogs had 29 gloves per 100m, well above the average for the river and suggested they are beginning to accumulate at this location. AJ McConville of Thames 21 said: “It was so good to see a large number of Tideway people volunteering for our annual TRW Big Count. Their support has been instrumental in the success of the TRW programme and our work is even more important now we are seeing a huge increase in Covid-19 related plastic waste on our precious foreshores.”
Another was 12 Tideway volunteers supporting a group of 17 to 18-year-old students for Virtual Careers Week, giving them an insight into the Tideway project and STEMbased and other careers. The positive feedback was summed up by 18-year-old Phoebe Anderson, who said: “I just wanted to say the biggest thank you for the most incredible few days of work experience. It was so benefcial to hear the Tideway team’s journeys into the role as well as their day to day jobs”.
The campaign raised £20,844 for a total of 20 charities, including more than £10,000 from staff and a similar sum in Tideway donations and matched giving. The total was double the original £10k target for overall funds raised. The campaign helped 58 organisations and more than 950 people.
The biggest benefciaries were Tideway’s three staff charities and the money has helped them to deliver much-needed support to 155 of the most vulnerable members of society.
Over £5,000 was donated to Single Homeless Project allowing them to provide move-out packs to 10 individuals moving into their own accommodation so that they are set up with the basics. An additional 31 move-in packs were given to welcome individuals moving into an SHP hostel. Tideway also donated £400 worth of food from the closed cafe at its London Bridge offce, which was used to feed the residents of SHP’s emergency hostel in Camden. Tara Carty from SHP said: “It’s great to see and hear of the great things you all achieved and as always we are truly grateful for all your support throughout the year. We are proud to have you as a partner.”
Almost £5,000 was donated to the Drive Forward Foundation, allowing them to deliver a Young Professionals Programme. This personal and professional skills development programme, specifcally designed to cater for the professional needs of young people starting the Civil Service Care Leaver Internship, offers 40 young people workplace support and includes confict resolution courses which help to increase their general resilience. Lucy Elamad of DFF said: “We genuinely could not have done this without you!”
About £2,000 was donated to South London Cares which they used to tackle the isolation felt by older neighbours in Southwark with a big focus on their 1:1 Love Your Neighbour befriending service, but also continued support through fun virtual social clubs as well as tending to the one-off needs of their neighbours. Jodie Goffe of SLC said: “The money you have raised during your Make a Difference campaign is going to keep older and younger neighbours connected this winter.”
One of the key aims of the campaign was that its events and causes would support inclusivity and a range of different causes. Staff selected charities that represented causes in sectors such as health (including Macmillan Cancer Support and Endometriosis UK) social welfare (including Bounce Back and Trinity Homeless Projects) and youth engagement (including Urban Synergy and London Youth Rowing).
The LGBTQ+ Encompass network’s ‘You’re on Mute’ fundraiser is a great example of inclusivity and allowed Diversity Role Models to engage with 75 young people through a one-hour educational workshop in schools. One Year 8 pupil who attended the charity’s workshops said: “I will help LGBT+ people if they are getting bullied or picked on for being themselves. It doesn’t matter if you are gay, straight or transgender. People who love and care about you will still support you.”
The money raised for Endometriosis UK was an impressive effort by only two of our staff and the funds that they raised will pay for up to 23 helpline volunteers who will help an even larger number of women suffering from the condition. This is what they had to say when they found out about our donation: “Please pass on our huge thanks and
appreciation to Andeep and Ama for not only raising a fantastic amount of money but for also raising awareness within the workplace. We know how hard it can be to speak up about a subject that is often seen as taboo especially in such a male-dominated sector. We are so grateful for all your donations, especially given the current climate. We are finding that women with endometriosis need our support now more than ever as so many waiting lists for surgery are on hold. Your donations mean that we can continue to be there for those affected by endometriosis by providing support and reliable information as well as campaigning for change and raising further awareness.”
The Trinity Homeless Projects was chosen by Tideway’s Head of IS Fiona Hoskins, who volunteers from them in a trustee role. She raised the most money as an individual and was awarded with a special match funding prize helping her to raise nearly £900 for Trinity Homeless Projects, which will help 30 individuals. Trinity said that “we’re extremely fortunate to have Fiona on our team—and 25k on a paddleboard! Thanks so much for your sponsorship and donation, we will be using this for an essential part of our service that is not only unfunded but helps to put a smile on the face of our new resident when they first move in.”
Women’s Aid was selected by Tideway’s Encompass Gender Group in recognition of the increased diffculties that some women and children have faced during the pandemic. The charity said: “This generous donation will help support all of our work for women and children experiencing abuse. Our combination of campaigning, research, training and direct services creates real change in the response to domestic abuse and can be lifesaving for survivors.”
Knowing that all of these charities will put these funds towards the greatest needs and things that will make the biggest impact, gave the campaign team great satisfaction and allowed staff to understand how their efforts truly had gone onto make a difference to others.
On Tideway
The campaign set out to engage project staff at a time when engagement was low due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Many staff had been working from home for more than six months and had been coping with new and challenging working conditions, with parents juggling work and family and home schooling commitments. Wellbeing surveys had highlighted how these restrictions and the ongoing uncertainty had affected diet, sleep and stress levels.
The evidence is that the campaign had a benefcial effect on wellbeing and engagement levels. Surveys asked fundraisers and volunteers how their involvement made them feel, and the results showed 97% improved job satisfaction; 97% improved wellbeing; 91% had fun; 61% learnt new skills. With some events set around the river, 48% felt a connection to the river *
It also succeeded in bringing colleagues together for the frst time in six months to volunteer or fundraise, raising morale by seeing a familiar face and exchanging lockdown experiences. The positive impact can be seen in these selected quotes from staff who took part:
“I’m so pleased I managed it, I was a little daunted about half way through. My lovely husband paddled with me to ensure I didn’t chuck myself in when it got too hard! At the end I was rather pleased to have fnished. It really is great fun especially on a beautiful river in the sunshine.”
Fiona Hoskins after completing a 25k paddle board challenge that raised almost £1,800 for Trinity Homeless Projects and Drive Forward Foundation.
“It was particularly welcome to have an opportunity to do some volunteering at a time when the offce is generally closed, partly for the chance to see colleagues, but also generally for the opportunity to spend a little time doing something different. Thank you very much for organising. It’s much appreciated!”
Valmai Barclay, who volunteered with her colleagues from the Legal Team who completed a foreshore survey and clean-up for Thames21.
“The campaign improved my organisational skills as well as my networking and communication skills. It was amazing getting to know better some of my colleagues through the volunteering— people I have been working with for the past four years and never said a word to (except for “Good morning”!)—it was so much easier and fun to have a chat while collecting litter!”
Lilia Frunzo, BMB campaign team member.
*Based on 33 participant survey responses in September and October 2020
The campaign received praise from Tideway’s leadership, who got involved in a number of events. CEO Andy Mitchell highlighted its positive effects in monthly ‘all hands’ briefngs, saying: “It’s fantastic to see so many of you coming together to do something good for the community.”
“Rather than accept that there was less we were able to do for our communities at the moment, the Corporate Responsibility team worked with teams across Tideway to create a concept which not only delivered major fundraising benefts for our charities but also engaged the Tideway team in a single endeavour, giving people a much-needed boost as we went into autumn.”
Lucy Webster, Tideway External Affairs Director
INTRODUCTION
There is no better way to connect with the River Thames than by rowing on it. For three years from 2017 to 2019 (the Covid pandemic caused the 2020 event to be cancelled) the Oarsome Challenge has raised more than £100,000 for river-based charities and Tideway’s charity partners, delivering significant benefits to disadvantaged people in communities across London.
It has also brought together hundreds of project staff, almost all of them with little or no experience of rowing, in a shared experience which very few people can lay claim to – rowing through the centre of the capital, enjoying unique views of its major and landmarks, while taking on the physical and team challenge to row a large ‘skerry’ or ‘cutter’ boat in tidal waters.
This report will describe each event; outline the benefits delivered; and show how the Oarsome Challenge has allowed staff to ‘reconnect’ with the River Thames and the company to demonstrate ‘activation’ of the opportunities that will be provided by a cleaner river.
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The 2017 event
The genesis of the Oarsome Challenge was a visit by Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tideway’s reconnection programme manager, to the AHOY Centre in Deptford for a volunteering day. The AHOY Centre provides opportunities for disadvantaged, disabled and at-risk young people through sailing and rowing, teaching life and employability skills. The charity has also run corporate rowing challenge events and Andy saw the opportunity for Tideway’s project staff, which was growing rapidly as construction began across its 24 sites, to come together and raise funds for the centre. Andy said: “It’s our goal to reconnect London with the River Thames and to see the full potential of a cleaner river realised. Increased recreational use will be a valuable part of the future for the river, but it needs an injection of energy and will to activate it. Tideway has been perfectly placed to bring all the stakeholders together to realise this – and the Oarsome Challenge is our internal expression of this.”
Tideway staff embraced the challenge laid down by Andy. Fifteen teams of 6 – a total of 90 people - signed up and rowed east from Chelsea, near Tideway’s Chelsea Embankment Foreshore site, to Deptford, near its Deptford Church Street and Greenwich sites. Many of the teams also got into the spirit of fun and teamwork by completing the challenge in fancy dress. With matched funding, a total of £37,000 was raised and afterwards the teams were full of praise. Chris Stratford, Stakeholder and Consents manager for the West delivery team, said: “It was a blast. Great to just go along the Thames at a non-motorised speed and view the wonderful sights just before sunset.” Director Roger Bailey said: “We all really enjoyed it! Rowing right through London on a beautiful summer evening was genuinely awesome. I certainly feel connected to the river now. A top event all round!”
Andy Mitchell, Tideway CEO, also took part in the challenge. He said: “To be part of an event where so many of the Tideway team were out on the water, while raising a fantastic amount of money for a worthy cause, was a fantastic and inspirational event to be part of. I hope our fundraising helps the AHOY Centre in continuing their invaluable work to get people out on the River Thames.”
The 2018 event
The 2018 event was a ‘change up’ from the previous year – a longer course, bigger boats, more crews, and a new charity partner to deliver the event in Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre (SBOAC), in Wapping. 128 rowers completed a 12-mile row from Hammersmith, next to Tideway’s Hammersmith Pumping Station site, to Wapping next to its King Edward Memorial Park site, raising money to fund a new post at SBOAC to co-ordinate its fundraising and volunteering activities.
SBOAC enables access for young people from low economic backgrounds and disabilities into sports like sailing and rowing through heavily subsidised courses which are often financially out of reach
The crews, competing in larger eight-person ‘skerries’ rather than six-person ‘cutter’ boats, once again got into the fancy dress mode and finished by 8pm at SBOAC, clambering up the new slipway funded by the Tideway project (our King Edward Memorial Park site is next door to the centre).
The longer course proved challenging for many of the novice rowers but any blisters were soon forgotten at an excellent ‘after party’ at the Shadwell Basin centre. Matt Parr, captain of the ‘Seven Under Parr’ team, said: “A fantastic event – what a privilege to row through central London and wonderful to finish at the centre where our funds will benefit young people from Tower Hamlets and the surrounding area.”
A total of £36,700 was raised - the majority of this was used for the SBOAC fundraising post and the remainder went to Tideway three staff charities – Single Homeless Project, Drive Forward Foundation and South London Cares. It would be several months before the fundraising post was filled, but it delivered benefits for the centre into 2020 – see Impact section.
The 2019 event
The third Oarsome Challenge saw a course switch from west-east to east-west, starting at SBOAC, Wapping and finishing 13 miles later in Chiswick, the longest event to date. The 16 boats of 8 oars, 128 people, rowed in ‘processional’ style up to Putney Bridge, before a final 4km ‘sprint’, following the course of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, to the finish line at Chiswick Bridge.
The funds raised paid for a new community boat to get young people from London active through rowing. Additional funds raised went to Tideway’s three staff charity partners and the event raised a total of more than £34,000, taking the Oarsome Challenge fundraising total over the £100k mark within three years.
The event was blessed with exceptional high summer weather and teams from Tideway sites came out to cheer on their site teams and project colleagues as they rowed past. The West Delivery Team, AKA the Drunken Octopuses, won three prizes - fastest mixed crew, most money raised and best fancy dress.
Matt Rostron, CEO of London Youth Rowing, told the rowers: “You were amazing. The level of enthusiasm, excitement, flexibility, love of fancy dress, your unending sense of humour and your ‘let’s do this thing’ attitude was a joy to be part of. You should all be very proud of what you did.”
The impact
The £37,000 raised for the AHOY Centre supported the charity’s core programmes in one of London’s most under-privileged areas in 2017. The Shipmates programme supported 45 young people aged 8 to 18 from the Deptford area to develop skills from basic teamwork on water and land through to team leadership and a number gained Royal Yachting Association and British Rowing qualifications. Some Shipmates also became volunteers at the centre, helping to train new recruits and maintaining the site and boats. The weekly Sailability group offered 15 young adults with learning disabilities lessons in sailing, rowing and independent living and basic DIY skills. The Pathway to Employment apprenticeship programme offers qualifications linked to opportunities in industries such as water sports, commercial marine and education and, thanks in part to Tideway’s funding, had its largest-ever intake. During 2017 two AHOY apprentices and one of the Shipmates secured full-time employment as RYA Instructors.
Clive Ongley, AHOY’s founder and CEO, said: “The support from Tideway has been incredible – firstly, with some of their volunteers helping out at the centre on several days and then to secure 15 teams to fundraise for us. The funds raised will support more disadvantaged and vulnerable young people to achieve and find employment and enable them to have a future.”
Fundraising from the 2018 challenge allowed Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre to employ a Fundraising and Volunteering Co-ordinator. Carl Greenslade was recruited and is responsible for fundraising, grant applications and co-ordinating volunteers. Since 2018 Carl (pictured below with Centre Director Mike Wardle) has secured grants of more than £55,000 and has organised corporate volunteering events that have generated almost 700 hours of support, saving the centre £9,000 in labour costs and almost £2,00 in other resources, as well as generating great volunteer engagement.
SBOAC Director Mike Wardle said: “We all would like to thank Tideway Rowers from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to raise money for us as a charity and take part in such a Challenge. We hope that they themselves felt achievement, made friends, learnt infinite possibilities about themselves and have had the blisters heal to leave good memories of what they did.”
The funds raised in the 2019 event paid for a new community boat – only the 16th skerry to be built to operate on the River Thames – which will be run by London Youth Rowing and other charities, in order to get young people from London active through rowing.
It was built by master boat builder Mark Edwards MBE, who built the Royal Barge Gloriana, but has yet to be used for community rowing because of the Coronavirus pandemic. It has been named the Ada Salter, after the social reformer and environmentalist from Bermondsey who became the first woman mayor in London.
It is currently in storage and will be used to get young people onto the water later in 2021, including at events such as the beginners’ regattas run by LYR as part of their Active Row programme, funded by Tideway (pictured).
Matt Rostron, CEO of LYR, said: “The boat will be used to get young people from across the capital out to and on to the river. Truly re-connecting London to its river – and that’s down to the Tideway teams who took part. The most amazing stat for me was that Oarsome Challenge series has now raised over £100,000 for charities like ours – that is unbelievable, thank you.” The Oarsome Challenge also supported LYR’s aim to develop its staff’s on-water skills and experience and the 2019 event was so successful that the charity aims to adopt it as a long term ‘activation’ event for corporate and other teams, taking advantage in the long term of the opportunity to increase use of the cleaner river.
Within that £100k total, the Oarsome Challenge has raised about £20,000 for Tideway’s three staff charity partners - Single Homeless Project, Drive Forward Foundation and South London Cares. The funds were used to support both the charities’ programmes and core costs in 2018 and 2019, which has ensured that they could support some of the most vulnerable people in London, offering accommodation and support to the homeless (SHP); to supporting young car leavers in their lives and to find employment (DFF); and offering friendship and companionship to older, isolated people in South London (SLC).
The event has also had a positive impact on around 300 Tideway’s staff and Main Works Contractors, bringing them together in a shared experience to reconnect with the river and support local communities, as well as bring them closer to the river charities for whom they were raising money. This reaction from Louise Walsh, a participant in 2019, summarises the wider benefit of the event: “The challenge was fantastic – lots of aching body parts but all well worth it! A truly unforgettable experience which we all loved.”
The event has been run by Andy Triggs Hodge, Tideway’s reconnection programme manager, who said: “The Oarsome Challenge has been Tideway’s main way to connect our staff and contractors with the potential of the clean river. Aligning with the PLA’s vision for the river, Tideway has shown what is possible for London’s largest underused asset, the River Thames. It has been hugely inspiring to see how a large organisation has taken on a completely new challenge, in a unique environment, and thrived.”
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