Daemon Day of Giving- Meet the amazing charities we'll be supporting over the next two years

At Daemon, we’re all about positive outcomes. We want our work to make a difference, not just to our clients but to the world in general. 

We’re guided by five North Star ambitions, each designed to ensure we hold ourselves to the highest standards. Our Impact North Star states that we should have “a measurable positive impact on society.” The key word here is “measurable”. We don’t want platitudes. We want to drive real, tangible change, and this is where our charity partnerships come in. 

We are very proud to team up with charities in both the UK and South Africa. We support our charities in two different ways; we help to raise money for them and we also offer them technical support from our consulting teams. This combination of help can be a real game changer for the charities we partner with. We work with each charity for a 2 year time frame as this allows us the opportunity to build a really good relationship with them and to help out with some of the more meaty IT challenges they may have. 

We have  recently selected a newpartner charity in the UK and extended our partnership with our SA charity for another two years. We have already kicked off our annual fundraising efforts with our June Step Challenge and now the first of our 4  Daemon Days of Giving has taken place. Here’s a look at the charities we chose, the money we raised, and what we hope to achieve in the coming months.

Meet our partner charities

We’re proud to announce our partner charities for the next two years- Alfie’s Wish and, another two years, with Breadline Africa. Both do incredible work to improve the lives of children in difficult circumstances:

• Alfie’s Wish provides unforgettable experiences for children with cancer and their families. From theme park trips to sporting events, it aims to create lasting memories and to lift the spirits of those affected by cancer. 
• Breadline Africa works tirelessly to improve access to education in some of the poorest parts of South Africa. It builds classrooms, toilets and kitchens using prefabricated shipping containers, while also running feeding programmes and educational trips. So far, it has provided over 1,500 educational facilities, making a huge difference to the lives of the children it serves.

Both of these charities impressed us with their mixture of passion and pragmatism. As our Charity Lead, Samantha Lotze explains, this made them the perfect choices for our partnership scheme:

“Our selected charities share our values: approachable, passionate, pragmatic, and progressive, with impeccable integrity. Their missions perfectly align with our core beliefs, making it a perfect match!"

Connect with Samantha on LinkedIn

Everyone gets a say

Fundraising partnerships are a long-term commitment so we want to be sure that every Daemonite is on board. Before settling on a partner charity, we carry out a company-wide selection process designed to give everyone a fair say:

1. We  ask our Daemonites to nominate a charity which is particularly important to them This may be a charity in their local area or a charity that have been involved with. 
2. Our Charity Team evaluates every nominated charity and creates a shortlist - three in the UK and three in South Africa. 
3. All Daemonites vote on this shortlist, and the top charity in each region will become our partner for the next two years. 

Our Charity  Team - the group of Daemonites who oversee our fundraising efforts and coordinate our technical support, explain that this process creates a lot of enthusiasm for our chosen causes:

“It helps to build a consensus around our charitable work. People are far more likely to get involved if they’ve helped choose the charity themselves and truly believe in the causes they support” 

A day to remember

This year, we decided to re-launch our annual charity day, which we have called our Daemon Day of Giving or DDoG. This event provides an opportunity for Daemonites to get involved - taking a day off from their regular duties to engage with the community and raise money for our partner charities. As Samantha tells us, this is a highlight in the Daemon calendar:

“This initiative offers our people a valuable opportunity to step away from their screens and engage in something greater than themselves, it allows them to give something back. The funds we raise positively impact  our charities , and the tangible results we achieve fuel our passion even further.”

Our inaugural DDoG was held in London last week for all the Daemonites who are based in the South. We were blown away by the fundraising efforts we saw. Whether it was taking as many steps on the day at Battersea Park or encouraging team-building activities, Daemonites were only too keen to get stuck in and make a real difference.  In the end, the results spoke for themselves: well over a million steps taken in one day, lots of £££ raised for our charities, and lots of happy Daemonites thrilled to be given this opportunity to help others.

Get involved!

We wouldn’t be able to do any of this without our Charity Team. These intrepid Daemonites work tirelessly to raise money, help raise awareness, and support these great causes. As Samantha tells us, they are a formidable team that drives our charity support and does a great job contributing to our Impact North Star.

“Whether it's providing reading materials for classrooms, planting trees, or delivering food packages to those in need, we engage at a grassroots level to truly understand the needs of our charities and communities. We don't just make donations; we ensure that our collected funds serve a real, meaningful purpose.”

What a team! But it's not just our charity team but everyone at Daemon who is really proud to be able to support others in need, whether this be walking around a park raising lots of money or helping a charity partner with a printer problem. It is a life-affirming opportunity that Daemon gives all its people. Together, we are able to make a real difference.