Corporate Social Responsibility

champions CSR

Corporate social responsibility plays a crucial role in the day-to-day activities of Champions Football Speakers. We’re proud to have worked with numerous charities over the past several years, raising over £2.8 million for charitable causes across the United Kingdom. Having established flourishing relationships with many major sporting names, our wide network of celebrity contacts has helped us support a diverse array of charitable organisations.

Working with some of the most notable names in the world of football, many of our speakers have helped to raise the public profile of the charitable organisations we work with. Appearing at events across the nation, our sports speakers have been able to make a valuable contribution to those in need. The annual Rainbows Charity Ball – which functions as the company’s biggest fundraising event – regularly brings together notable celebrities in support of the Rainbows children’s hospice.

In the past, the event has seen appearances from many major names, including the likes of Vanessa Feltz, Kellie Maloney and William Roache MBE. To date, we’ve helped to raise more than £1.5 million in aid of their work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we've also been able to support the work of an array of sporting charities over the past several years. One of the most notable charities in this area is the Lord's Taverners, a youth cricket and disability sports charity aimed at giving disadvantaged children the opportunity to enjoy sports. Champions Football Speakers has also been able to play a role in supporting a variety of other charities.

Having supported organisations such as Giving Africa, Great Ormond Street, Brainwave, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the PCA Benevolent Fund and Cure Leukaemia, we recognise the importance of giving back to those in need. With a team that is passionate about creating a positive impact in the community, we've helped to raise money for charitable causes at notable events such as the Farmfoods British Par 3, The Tony Jacklin CBE Belfry Charity Invitational, the Leicester Mercury Business Awards, the Toast of Surrey Business Awards and the Annual Cricket Dinner.

Having helped to organise a vast array of charity events over the past several years, Champions Football Speakers is sure to support many more charitable causes in the years to come. Whether it be at charity balls, gala dinners, corporate events or sporting occasions, our vast roster of football speakers is expected to play an important role in promoting the work of charities across the United Kingdom and beyond.

"Champions have been the largest, and longest standing, supporters of Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People for well over a decade. In this time, they have raised more than £1.5m to fund our work and in the process putting on countless events, securing hundreds of media and press articles to promote the hospice and introducing us to many more supporters.

"Champions are a family business, in every sense possible. Founded by dad and CEO John, the Hayes family are the most talented and hard working group of people you could hope to meet.  Their ethos of doing business the right way can go some way to explain why they’ve dedicated themselves to raising money for Rainbows. However, it’s the thought of supporting other families, families who are faced with the unbelievable prospect of losing a child to a terminal illness that spurs them on. John himself has suffered the pain of losing his sister Jane to a life-limiting illness and he experienced the strain this put on his parents and their relationship with him and others in the family. By supporting Rainbows, John knows that he is directly helping other families faced with a similar situation will get the care they need, when they need it.

"Each year, Champions create a programme of high profile events that are either in aid of Rainbows or that include some fundraising elements on behalf of the charity. In recent years these have included an annual gala ball at the Dorchester, cricket and rugby dinners, countless awards evenings and numerous golf events.  In 2017, Champions surpassed their previous fundraising targets and raised over £230,000 in a single calendar year.

"I have worked for charities for over 18 years and in that time I’ve managed some of the biggest partnerships – including the Tesco Charity of the Year, Morrisons and Microsoft to name a few. However, none of these bigger organisations are able to touch Champions in terms of the commitment the entire business makes to raising money in support of Rainbows or the other charities that benefit from their help. I’m sure it’s a cliché to say Champions by name, champions by nature – but this really is the case for the Hayes family, their colleagues, friends and associates."

Andrew Ball, Director of Supporter Relations