Asking your colleagues to devote time, effort and money to charitable causes can result in a number of interesting reactions. This is especially the case when the individuals at the company work hard, spend time away from their families and partners on a regular basis, and have little time to focus on activities outside their perceived sphere of influence.

But following the Indian Ocean earthquake tragedy in December 2004 that’s just what we did at LDC. The tsunami disaster acted as a catalyst for our organisation to do something bigger. Identifying the route our organisation should take was the next step.

It was from this that the 'LDC in the Community' concept was developed; an approach that has become an integral part of our organisation.

As an organisation we are extremely goal and delivery focused so by developing the concept of charitable giving under the term 'LDC in the Community', LDC found a focus for its efforts. More importantly it energised our teams around the country to develop ideas that would contribute to this. Over the past years 'LDC in the Community' has contributed over £1,000,000 to various charities; and from a team of just over 90 people this is an effort we are extremely proud of.

The Great Generation became one of the first charities to benefit from this and involved six LDC volunteers travelling to the village of Peraliya on the South West coast of Sri Lanka to spend two weeks helping to secure homes for local families. Peraliya was one of the worst affected areas in Sri Lanka. Over 3,000 people from the community were killed and 90 per cent of the houses were destroyed.

Over the past few years LDC has continued to explore charitable options that provide an opportunity for active support. Money will always be important, but sometimes effective giving means energising your community to understand what we are trying to do, and why it is important for them to be involved. Through this thought process we have developed a number of indirect activities that bring charity issues to the fore in out local communities.

The first and one of our most effective activities is the annual LDC charity quiz. This annual event normally involves over 100 teams and the entire LDC team. Whilst a number of local and national charities benefit the important aspect for LDC is that it embraces and involves the local business community. Such events increase the awareness of what local charities are trying to achieve.

A second project involves LDC’s support for Camp Mohawk. Led by LDC in the South this initiative provides financial and active support for the Woodland Trust, a project that provides a variety of facilities and activity programmes for autistic children and their families. The camp is staffed by employees who are trained to work with children with special difficulties.