CSR Promotional image

Hampshire FA and Planet League Team up for 2020🌳

Hampshire FA has teamed up with Planet League to up their game and score for the planet.

 

Hampshire FA became the first ever county FA to achieve an award at the Football Business Awards ceremony this year. Inspired by the success of achieving Bronze for ‘Best Corporate Social Responsibility Scheme or Initiative’ Hampshire FA has officially partnered with Planet League to roll out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) days for staff and to encourage clubs in the county, to also up their game and score for the planet. 

Planet League is a behaviour-tech platform using the power of sport to drive action on climate change by bridging the gap between climate change and people taking personal action. The site has professional clubs, county FA’s and even schools partaking to make a difference.

To celebrate the new partnership with Planet League, the newly established Hampshire FA CSR team with the backing of the county FA’s CEO Neil Cassar and Board of Directors, have approved ‘CSR days’ for Hampshire FA staff in the year and into 2023 – or in this case, 2020 🌳. A message that is clear in the title and compliments the environmental pillar that is associated with CSR for the 2022-23 season.   

 

All Hampshire FA staff are invited to take a working day off in the year to complete a minimum of 5 CSR activities from Planet League’s list of activities to support and score for the planet and the county FA. Ethical, environmental, and exactly what Corporate Social Responsibility stands for, the county FA is upping its game by implementing the initiative which will conclude in June 2023 and will restart in September of the same year.  

 

"We are delighted to be working with Planet League on this exciting new initiative that we have actively promoted to our staff and are now actively promoting to you, our members. We have even already received sign ups and line managers have factored in CSR hours into the staff's work schedules, emphasising a real drive to change things for the better, starting with steps like this. The CSR group might well be a newly established team, but it has seen large successes in a very short time-frame, and we have only just started” Neil Cassar, Hampshire FA CEO.

 

"The CSR group was developed to tackle wider societal and environmental challenges we face as a business and identify ways in which we could give back to the community. We recognised that our unique platform of football could be the driving force to face these challenges and encourage our grassroots community to get involved! I’m delighted to have been part of the team that established the partnership between Hampshire FA & Planet League – a forward thinking organisation tackling such an important topic in today’s society" Alice Weaving, Former Coaching & Workforce Football Development Officer.

 

 

Spending quality time in nature has been known to vastly improve one’s own mental health and lowers anxiety and depression[1]. The CSR days can therefore be used as a starting point to reflect and change habits, to be accountable to change and offer a new approach, by first giving back time – additional time - to the staff to prioritise it. We have a duty of care to look after our staff and their well-being and hope that the CSR days are just another addition to complement the work that is already being done behind the scenes to support them. Hampshire FA staff will be able to choose the very activities they would like to undertake on their CSR day, which will be tracked and logged on the Planet League site (with supporting evidence). Each activity offers different points/goals and is a way of evidencing the real change taking place at the county FA, driven by the county FA staff.

 

Staff are being encouraged as of now to register a profile and start completing daily activities that demonstrate their impact on the environment and the planet. The CSR days introduced in the new 2020🌳 campaign are there simply to compliment the work and demonstrate Hampshire FA’s commitment to corporate social responsibility for the benefit of all.  

 

Discussing the initiative and the new partnership with Hampshire FA, Richard Holmes, Head of Operations at Planet League says:

 

“We’re delighted to partner with Hampshire FA, it’s great to see a forward-thinking organisation creating space for staff to engage with taking personal climate action through CSR, and to reward employees with a day off work demonstrates its importance. We look forward to seeing the impact the staff of Hampshire FA and the football communities of Hampshire can have!”

 

Activities on Planet League’s site include but are not limited to the following:

- Litter picking around the local area
- Travelling by public transport
- Going vegan for the day
- Camping for the day (lessening electricity/energy usage)

 

Additionally, we’re encouraging our members to sign-up and score for the planet. Sign-up is completely free, and points obtained through activities completed can support the club’s score online as well as the county FA’s – all evidenced and tracked, so you can see your personal impact on a local level.

 

Details to sign up are as follows:

  • Visit planetleague.co.uk
  • Click Sign Up on the top right
  • Enter your email address and a password, choose a username and the football club you want to represent from the dropdown
  • Opt in, if you like, to our newsletter and click JOIN
  • Once signed up and logged in, click the SETTINGS icon in the top right (outline of a person) - then where it says COUNTY FA: None, click change, and select HAMPSHIRE FA then click Save
  • Now all your goals (points) will count for both the football club you have selected and Hampshire FA
  • Visit the ALL ACTIVITIES page, or ACADEMY / FIRST TEAM / COACH pages to complete a selection of activities to score goals - don’t forget to have your camera ready! All of our goals require evidence of completion. 

 

Join us for 2020 🌳 and let’s make a difference in Hampshire, for the planet.

 



[1] https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/how-nature-benefits-mental-health/