The WorkPoint Employee Sponsorship Program
Every year, WorkPoint sponsors a number of non-profit organisations that have a charitable purpose. Here’s how it works.
Here at WorkPoint, our success depends on people. We’re a people-focused organisation, and we believe it's our responsibility to give back to our community. That's why, in 2023, we started the WorkPoint Sponsorship Program. The idea is simple. Every year, we sponsor a number of non-profit organizations that have a charitable purpose – either supporting people going through difficult times or focusing on bringing people together. Here’s how it works.
Engagement is very important to us; engagement as a way of living. It’s not just being engaged with your job, but being engaged in your spare time and having fun and doing something that makes you feel good. Sponsorship helps our employees to do that.
Three main sponsorship activities
Many organisations do important and impactful work across our community. We’re not able to support all of them at once, so each year we select organisations across three categories:
- One organisation chosen by the Sponsor Committee.
- One employee-selected organisation based on a shortlist.
- Multiple employee-nominated applications.
For the first two categories, the organisation must be a non-profit, delivering nationwide activities that have a public interest, such as charity or healthcare. The third category is open to WorkPoint employees who, in their spare time, are involved with sports associations, leisure clubs, or charity work. They can apply for a small donation to their organisation of choice.
Our Sponsor Committee aims to evenly distribute the annual sponsor budget across these categories. We aim to fund as many applications as possible with the employee category.
Employee applications for donations
Twice a year – in spring and winter – employees are invited to apply for sponsorship. This can either be for a non-profit club or association they’re involved with – perhaps as a participant or a volunteer – or their own charitable initiative, such as litter picking in a local area. All applications have to specify the amount of funds needed and how these funds will be used.
- Clubs or associations must be an official, non-profit organisation where the employee is a participant, volunteer, trainer, or similar.
- Employee-organised activities that support charity or volunteer work or have a positive impact on society must be open for all employees to participate.
We care about our employees and the causes that are important to them. That’s why we encourage them to apply for donations to support their endeavors. One of our recent applicants was Lotte Ilsøe who in her spare time is a volunteer at Coding Pirates.
Coding Pirates
Coding Pirates is a national organisation in Denmark that promotes children’s knowledge and understanding of coding and other technical skills. Volunteers like Lotte run after school clubs that facilitate learning about technology, from coding video games to 3D printing.
Lotte’s volunteers at the Esbjerg program, where a group of 16 children aged between 10 and 11 years old, meet every Thursday for a 2-hour session prepared by volunteers. Past sessions have covered topics such as AI, robots, and programming.
There are two seasons of Coding Pirates every year, in the fall and spring. Each season begins with something relatively simple – like programming in Scratch – to support new starters. Over time, the learning becomes more advanced.
Many of the children are highly motivated by creating games. Recently, participants were challenged to code a game involving two tanks in a battle. Another project involved a visit to the technical high school in Esbjerg, where they programmed a robotic arm to select blocks of different colors.
Every year closes with a themed ‘Game Jam’. A previous jam had the theme was ‘toast’ – so the children created a whole host of toast-themed games. In 2023, it was ‘Thanksgiving’, so there were a lot of Turkey-themed creations!
Watch this short video from Coding Pirates to learn more:
Doing more with donations from WorkPoint
It was such an awesome feeling to be able to provide the funding to Coding Pirates. It made me really proud to be part of WorkPoint. I felt very empowered by this initiative!
Coding Pirates has a small presence in Esbjerg. Lotte and the other volunteers advertise the club through social media and other channels, and they’re always looking to grow their numbers. One idea was to promote Coding Pirates through t-shirts.
And that’s exactly what a sponsorship from WorkPoint has enabled them to do. Now the children have a Coding Pirates t-shirt they can wear to the club but also to school so they can promote it to others. The volunteers also have a jersey so they can raise awareness of the club within the local community.