DOING THE RIGHT THING

Despite the challenging year, or indeed because of it, over 300 team members got involved in our charity and volunteering activities this year, supporting Brown Thomas Arnotts to raise over €100,000 for our charity partners. And to honour such efforts, €50,000 of this will be matched by the business.

GET ACTIVE YOUR WAY

Back in February 2021, one of our charity partners, the Children’s Health Foundation (CHF) tasked the public with a 150km Your Way challenge. In support of their initiative, we launched a Get Active Your Way campaign across our stores and Head Office. From sea-plunges, step challenges and classes, team members walked a grand total of 45 million steps for the CHF - that’s enough to walk to Australia and back! Through this effort, over €9,300 was raised for the charity.

DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

The annual Darkness Into Light fundraiser in aid of Pieta is usually a chance to rally together and do something positive for those impacted by suicide. While the lockdown restrictions earlier this year meant typical events around the country were cancelled, over 130 team members across Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork took part in the viral Jerusalema Challenge raising vital funds for the organisation. Through this effort, over €40,000 was raised for Pieta.

Additionally, we partnered with our electric goods supplier Briscoes who donated a portion of sales on selected exercise products to Pieta, both in store and online.

ABSEIL AT CROKE PARK

September 2021 provides us with the first opportunity for all stores to come together to fundraise as a team. Twenty-five brave team members from all over the country took on the Abseil Challenge which saw them abseiling 100ft pitch side from the famous Hogan Stand at Croke Park. Their brave efforts saw Brown Thomas raise €23,000 for the Children’s Health Foundation.

IN-STORE INITIATIVES

In 2019, we first introduced ‘tap to donate’ units across our stores to raise money for St. Vincent de Paul. In 2021, we re-launched these units across our stores, including at our beloved Santa’s Grotto at Arnotts, raising over €20,000 for St. Vincent de Paul. For the first time, we also included a QR Code on our iconic Christmas window displays engaging customers in our charity efforts. Not stopping there, we also sold charity facemasks both online and in-store on behalf of St. Vincent de Paul and our team members took part in Christmas Jumper Day and donated generously to the virtual Giving Tree campaign.

VOLUNTEERING

But it’s not all about the money, in fact, donating time is just as important. Whether it was a phone line for those who needed to talk run by our team members, helping people regain the confidence to get back into the workforce or cleaning our country’s beaches, here are some of the many ways we volunteered our time as a business.

Retiree Phoneline

During the first lockdown in 2020, we introduced a helpline to support our retired community with anything they might need. Whether it be groceries collected, or even just a friendly voice on the end of the phone to get through the isolation, this phone line was supported by volunteers across our stores and Head Office. This year we reopened our helpline throughout lockdown and over Christmas and sent letters to over 500 members of our retired community inviting them to avail of the service.

Career Hour Workshops

In 2021, we looked to expand our community involvement and partnered with Volunteer Ireland & Work Equal to deliver two career-hour workshops. The goal for these workshops was to provide the tools to support women and men from all different backgrounds and help them gain the confidence to get back into the workforce, or indeed to enter the world of work for the first time. Twenty-five of our team members shared their own career journeys and offered advice and tips on how to navigate the retail environment and the many obstacles along the way. As a result of these workshops, three new additions joined our Christmas team.

Beach Cleans

We are constantly striving to manage our environmental footprint, responsibly source our products and support our people and communities. With this in mind, twenty-five of our hard-working team members took part in beach cleans with Volunteer Ireland, collecting waste, and learning how best to protect our coastlines.

Lending A Hand

To continue our efforts to aid St. Vincent de Paul in the excellent work they do as a charity, our team members volunteered their time to support the St. Vincent de Paul and Mrs Browns Boys pop up shop on Stephens Green in the run-up to Christmas. Team members shook buckets and sold cookies to the local community.

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Doing the right thing is one of our key values and its meaning encompasses a multitude from giving back to representing, ensuring that everyone’s voice is valued.

As we work to reinvent retail, we were delighted to be recognised for the progress we have made to drive positive change and create a more sustainable future for our Brown Thomas Arnotts Community. In 2021 we became the first retailer in Ireland to be awarded the ‘Investors in Diversity’ silver Accreditation by the Irish Centre for Diversity. We also partnered with Certified Proud and became an official sponsor of Dublin Pride.

This year we brought our Diversity & Inclusion strategy to life for both our team members and customers by celebrating key campaigns such as Pride and Black History Month. We engaged local creatives, including street artist Emmalene Blake & Grxl Code to drive both campaigns.