RAISING THE BAR

Connecting charity with creativity

A recent Raising the Bar success story is between our member, Intellistart – a Leeds and Manchester based marketing company, and Learning Partnerships – a charity working to provide opportunities and support for children, young people and adults to access education, employment, training and volunteering opportunities. Joel Cortez, Director of Intellistart, and Debbie Hardy, Corporate Engagement Officer at Learning Partnerships, have shared their experiences with Raising the Bar, and how the initiative led to their partnership.

Debbie Hardy, Corporate Engagement Officer at Learning Partnerships: “Having noticed through various social media channels that the Chamber of Commerce was helping charities promote requests for help through their opportunities board, it felt the perfect time to make contact. “Learning Partnerships had internally made the decision that the charity needed to communicate to the world what it did and why it made a difference. With the charity having been established for 30 years this October, it felt the right time to make a video to showcase its impact. The aim of Learning Partnerships is to help children, young people and adults living in the most deprived areas of Leeds, helping them progress into employment or further education and training. Helping communities who face extreme barriers into employment each person’s story is different but with LP intervention, we help break down the poverty cycle. “We had the idea to make a video featuring the charity’s participants, allowing them to tell their story and talk about the relationship they have with the charity. “Not long after talking with the Marketing Team at the Chamber our request for help went live. “A short time later Joel from Intellistart made contact offering his help and the charity has never looked back. Over the past few months, we have developed a great partnership with Joel & Ewelina working together on the project to develop the charity's corporate video, so much so that the scope has now extended to reviewing our website. They both have a ‘can do’ approach to everything which has been so important when working on both these projects. Ewelina’s eye for detail and personal touch has transformed our website. “The advice, guidance and time given by Intellistart has been invaluable to us, particularly at a time where the charity is stretched with funding due to the pandemic. “As a charity we can't thank the Intellistart team enough, in many ways they feel part of the LP family, they have made a massive difference by choosing to help and we will be forever grateful.”

CASE STUDY

Joel Cortez, Director at Intellistart: “Through the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce’s Raising the Bar initiative, we have been working with Leeds based charity, Learning Partnerships. “The partnership began after joining the Chamber. I sent over a press release regarding one of our recent CSR activities, and was informed of the Chamber’s social impact initiative, Raising the Bar. I found an opportunity posted by Debbie from Learning Partnerships, looking for help in creating a corporate video. “We initially planned to create one corporate video, but instead proposed a series of videos which highlight each service that the charity provide. We have also helped to create an up-to-date website for Learning Partnerships, which accurately portrays the work which the charity does for the community – this was launched on 7 June 2021. Post launch, we will continue to maintain the website for the charity, and provide any marketing advice and services that they may need. “Our business plan highlights our mission to tackle unemployment, which has been unprecedented due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our support and services enable law firms and other businesses to grow, and therefore provide employment. “Learning Partnerships’ activities also provide employment opportunities – though working with them may not benefit us directly, it benefits the local businesses around us, which supplements the goals and results which we are looking to achieve. “Having a charity partner or working with a charity is a great way to provide exposure for your business, and demonstrate your businesses purpose - both locally and nationally. “Learning Partnerships’ provision of opportunities and support for children, young people and adults to access education, employment, training, and volunteering opportunities has a knock on effect, which suits our mission perfectly. Our vision is to double the size of 10,000 businesses in the next five years, and if we achieve this goal, we will be adding hundreds of thousands of jobs, and billions of pounds, back into the economy. This mission is important to us, and is one we are committed to. In order to achieve our goal, we will break the digital communication barrier, and we sincerely believe that we can have a positive impact.”