In recent years International Power’s charitable policy has been to support three major charities from our corporate centre: Crisis, Sight Savers and Renewable World. Each is supported on a three-year rolling programme with an annual sum of £20,000, allowing us to build a longer-term relationship with each charity, whist providing secured funding for a defined timeframe. The three-year programme with The Queen Elizabeth Foundation ended last year, and the £20,000 was donated to the Haiti earthquake appeal.
Our association with Sightsavers started in 2001 with initial annual funding of £10,000, for a three year period. This donation was used to support work in Pakistan through Sightsavers partners The Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT), and covered eye operations, essential equipment and training for Korangi Hospital in Karachi and their out-reach clinics.
In addition to our annual donation, we funded the equipping of a clinic dealing specifically with child blindness, which is now fully operational.
Read more about Sightsavers.
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In 2003 an IPR employee asked if we would support Crisis over the Christmas period as his partner regularly gave up her time to help with the homeless of London. That year we gave a one-off donation which helped fund the essential services at the ‘Open Christmas’ including provision of food and shelter, medical services, counselling, housing and financial advice, and a learning and skills zone offering a range of training.
We were impressed by this and visited their London offices to see some workshops in progress and, as a result, they too are now one of our nominated charities to whom we provide funding of £60,000 over a three year period. Our ongoing donation will enable Crisis to expand the essential services provided each year across all centres.
Read more about Crisis.
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Renewable World is a relatively new charity dedicated to developing community-managed, small-scale renewable energy projects to tackle energy poverty and climate change in developing countries. Renewable World is funded primarily through donations from the renewable energy industry and works to a core set of values and guiding principles very similar to International Power’s own.
Despite gaining charitable status only recently, Renewable World has already supported the development of two small-scale wind projects in Nepal and Peru, and has joined a partnership to support an impoverished community in South Africa to install a small wind farm on their land. Renewable World doesn’t, however, limit itself to energy projects, they consider all schemes that will benefit poor communities as long as they meet certain criteria including: poverty reduction, sustainability, participation of the community involved, partnership working.
Read more about the Renewable World.