Giving back is important to us at Hollis; it brings us together as a team, it is what we are passionate about and what makes us who we are.

As we finish another successful financial year, I’m delighted to look back and know we spent another 12 months giving back to causes that matter to us including Cancer Research, Ukraine Appeal, Leger des Heils, LandAid and CRASH to name just a few. Our people have made extraordinary fundraising efforts towards these charities from various cycles to raffles to sleepouts; nothing has been too much for our employees.

We have also continued to give pro-bono advice, such as our work with the Royal Society for Blind Children on their Richard Desmond Life Without Limits Centre. It is a pleasure to offer our services to such incredible causes such as the RSBC.

We also have our Charity of the Year, something I am particularly close to. Every year we vote for a new charity to rally behind and fundraise for based on a cause close to our employees’ heart; our charities for FY 22/23 have been Mind and Befrienders Worldwide. The last few years has seen unprecedented time away from our friends and family, political and economic unrest and a new normal to familiarise ourselves with. We all understand the immense pressure this has placed onto our mental health and the support from charities such as Mind and Befrienders Worldwide has never been more needed.

These charities rely on the generous donations of organisations and individuals to meet their goals, and all of Team Hollis came together to dig deep and raise a significant amount. We’ve also had some fun doing so!

Summer 2022 saw one of our biggest fundraising activities yet at our annual training day, HollisFest. The day saw us bonding with our colleagues over live music, food stands and our charity raffle. With incredible prizes such as a week’s accommodation in Portugal and a sailing experience, it is no surprise we raised nearly half our target in one event!

But we didn’t just stop at a raffle. Being on one of the hottest days of the year, we thought it was only right to cool everyone down…bring in ‘Drench the Director!’ A highlight for us all, crowds multiplied to watch our Directors stand in stocks whilst having wet sponges thrown their direction. Thank you to all our Directors who took part in a brilliant laugh, for a brilliant cause.

The hard work continued when members of our Milton Keynes and Cambridge office set off to Yorkshire to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, which is no mean feat. We also saw a fun Hollis band night, and various bake sales across our offices – who doesn’t like eating a slice of cake for charity?!

Throughout it all, Team Hollis has been determined to beat our target and raise a large amount of money for a worthy cause. With this in mind, we are delighted to have raised a total of £9,007 which will be divided equally between both Mind and Befrienders Worldwide.

We are over the moon to have supported these charities in reaching their missions and helping to provide the mental health support needed across the globe. Now it’s time to look ahead to the next year and start fundraising for our new Charity of the Year. And with that in mind, for the next 12 months we will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and European Association for Cancer Research. We will also continue to give back locally in the communities we operate in as well as provide our pro-bono support when we can. Here’s to another year of giving back!