WORKING WITH NGOS IN THE BALEARICS

CSR in Events - affordable? desirable? interesting? - or do we sometimes just pay lip service to CSR to boost our corporate profiles and green credentials!! Francesca and Loreto, owners of our Balearics DMC partner Islandbridge Events, have put their passion for Majorca and Events into sharing their success with less fortunate fellow Islanders. Islandbridge are working with and supporting Majorcan NGO's that care for individuals with varying disabilities/illnesses as well as NGO's that care for the environment. Through a series of different team activities Conference and Incentive delegates can provide physical, emotional, intellectual and financial support to those the NGO's care for and/or for the environment. Islandbridge have developed a number of activities that are fun, absorbing, challenging and personally rewarding. There is scope for bespoke activities to fit the objectives of individual Event organisers. We can also tailor make activities to raise funds for the NGO's we support. The range of team activities is both varied and cost effective. Some activities better suit Conferences and others can work well for Incentives. Francesca says that there are many local NGO's who are struggling to help physically and mentally disabled people, care for the environment, put a smile of the faces of hospitalised children and provide equipment for specialist clinics. Funding and support, difficult before the economic crisis, is often critical now. Loreto and I felt that as a DMC organising conference and event activities, we were ideally placed to make a difference by designing activities for Event delegates to meet both our and our corporate client's CSR objectives. At present Islandbridge Events work with 4 NGO's and provide opportunities as diverse as taking music, magic and humour into Majorcan hospitals - putting smiles on faces - wide ranging ecological projects, producing campaigns to raise funds for a Cystic Fibrosis NGO and working with a Finca for the mentally handicapped on handicrafts, wine making, printing or cooking competitions. Activities can be any one or more of design, financial, marketing, physical and skills based. Given the objectives of these activities, costs are solely the cost of necessary equipment, transport etc and Islandbridge provides its services for a fully transparent management fee. The NGO option has received enthusiastic support from some major international organisations; one has even started to work on designing fund raising activities ahead of their Event in Majorca. Delegates and Event organisers can have the satisfaction of leaving Majorca having improved the life of those in need while enriching their own.