Charity and Community

TNT Charity and Community

Our approach

TNT is determined at all times to make a positive impact on society. Our strong relationships with charities such as Wooden Spoon, the United Nations' World Food Programme, Breast Cancer Campaign and the BBC Children In Need provide perfect examples of the benefits of Corporate  Responsibility (CR). Our people value TNT as a caring employer and our customers, suppliers and shareholders recognise our commitment to creating value in society. Our company believes that CR creates true 'win-win' scenarios and helps TNT differentiate itself from other companies in the extremely competitive express delivery market.

The vision, drive and determination of company directors have ensured that CR principles have been transformed into action, with countless TNT employees engaged in numerous activities which encapsulate the values and goals of corporate social responsibility which include:

  • Meeting consumers' demands and business goals by placing society's needs at the heart of commercial strategy
  • Actively engaging in partnerships to tackle disadvantage and create enterprising communities
  • Continually improving, measuring and reporting the impact that business has on the environment, marketplace, workplace and community

Our strategy

Our strategy is to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with charitable organisations that focus on the personal development of young people and those whose success depends on efficient transport networks.

A key element of our CR strategy is the concerted effort made each year to generate positive press coverage for the charities we support.

At home in the UK

As a dynamic young company TNT has an established reputation for investing in support for young people, embracing a wide range of educational and charitable initiatives for both the able and less able members of the youth community.

TNT Express is a major supporter of the Wooden Spoon, a charity that funds projects for children and young people who are physically, mentally or socially disadvantaged within the UK. Wooden Spoon is the official charity of the British Rugby Union and its patron is the Princess Royal.

Since adopting the Wooden Spoon as its chosen charity in 1997, TNT is acknowledged as the charity's largest single benefactor, having raised in excess of £2.5 million. As such, TNT has helped improve the quality of life and, in some instances, the life expectancy for tens of thousands of youngsters who are disadvantaged, either mentally, physically or socially.

Supporting the Spoon encourages teamwork as employees unite behind a common goal and generates healthy competition between depots, offices and regions. TNT has introduced its 'Seeing is Believing' (SiB) initiative that enables employees to visit Spoon projects and see how the money they generate is used to help children and young people.

Since the beginning of the SiB programme in the summer of 2003, more than 2,000 TNT employees have taken time out of their working day to witness, first hand, how the money raised by their efforts, and those of TNT's customers and suppliers, is used to great effect by Wooden Spoon.

The relationship with Wooden Spoon also provides a positive platform for a great deal of positive media coverage in trade, national and regional media. 

In addition to raising these substantial donations TNT provides in kind support for many Spoon events across the UK through distribution and transport services. TNT also actively promotes membership of, and involvement with, the charity to its suppliers, business partners and customers. 

More recently, in 2009, TNT became active supporters for the annual BBC Children In Need Appeal. TNT's Contact Centre at Atherstone was one of the centres used to take telephone donations and pledges. As well as taking £55,000 from callers, the company raised an additional £12,000 from within its ranks.

Closer to home, TNT also supports UK based initiatives such as Crucial Crew Road Safety events that raises road safety awareness amongst thousands of school children around the country.

TNT gives logistical help to the No Way Trust - a charity that seeks to dissuade children and young people from a life of crime via a series of mobile roadshows providing an insight into what life is like in prison. 

TNT's charitable work in the UK is not entirely focused on children and young adults. Since 2006, TNT has traded its traditional orange for one day a year when it switches to pink in support of the Breast Cancer Campaign charity (BCC). The company has adopted the 'Wear it Pink Day' philosophy in late October of each year, raising more than £57,000 in just four days. It's a tremendous achievement and one that has seen TNT recognised as a record-breaker by the BCC. 

And overseas…always making a difference

TNT Express Services give 100% backing to its parent company's global partnership with the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP). TNT support the WFP worldwide with up to €10 million per annum in both cash and help-in-kind.

With its main focus on supporting Wooden Spoon in the UK, TNT Express Services still manages great support for the WFP, raising more than £350,000 in recent years. Each year the company stages a Fight Hunger Week campaign where employees generate cash and raise an awareness of the need to combat global hunger.

TNT in the UK has 'adopted' Tanzania as its partner under the auspices of the WFP's school feeding programme. Each year, employees raise tens of thousands pounds to enable malnourished children in East Africa to benefit from an education and a potentially life-saving daily meal. Just £25 will feed and educate a Tanzanian youngster for a year and it has a truly profound effect on their lives.

In 2010, TNT and the WFP are planning to give selected TNT charity champions, the chance to travel to Tanzania and work alongside the WFP, as part of its evolving global partnership. 

Local Charity & Community Support

All TNT Express sites across the UK are actively involved with initiatives in their local communities. TNT has consistently supported a range of projects in the areas of education, health, sport and the environment. Some typical examples are outlined below:

Education

  • Employees helped build a vegetable garden for pupils with special needs at the Oakwood School in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The initiative promises to be the first in a new programme called 'Doing is Believing' and builds on the success of Seeing is Believing.

Health

  • Employees donate hundreds of pints of blood each year to the National Blood Service when the Blood Bank visits Atherstone headquarters three times each year.
  • Sponsorship of a vehicle operated by the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton which visits companies and towns togive advice on healthy living.
  • Support for the charity Mencap in Warwickshire.
  • Participate in sponsored walks and runs for a variety of charities trying to help combat medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis, breast cancer and heart disease.

Environment

  • TNT is the main sponsor of the North & South Warwickshire Cycleways which take cyclists on a route through country lanes around Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Coventry, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Kenilworth, Warwick, Rugby, Stratford-upon-Avon, Coventry, Kingsbury Water Park, Atherstone, Hinckley, Leamington Spa and Daventry.

Sport

  • TNT is the main sponsor of Nuneaton Rugby Union Football Club and has been for the past 15 years with a focus on providing funds for the cultivation and training of junior and colt teams
  • Support of numerous junior and school sports clubs.

TNT also provides help in kind and deploys key personnel as volunteers to assist the WFP in its work. This is evidenced in the wake of tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters around the globe.