Our charity partnerships mean the world to us. We spoke to Samantha Lotze from our Charity Working Group to find out more.

Here at Daemon, our ambitions go beyond providing a great service for our clients. We want to have a measurable positive impact on society, and this means actively working to make the world a better place. We can’t do this alone, and this is where our charity partnerships come in. 

Over the years, we’ve worked with charities in the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA) to raise money for everything from childhood education to reforestation. These initiatives are spearheaded by our Charity Working Group- a band of selfless Daemonintes who take time out from their normal duties to plan and oversee our charitable work.

Samantha Lotze is the leader of this group, and she was kind enough to join us for a chat. We talked about the group’s proudest achievements, its current initiatives and what’s in store for 2024. 

Hi Samantha, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Could you start by telling us a bit about your role at Daemon?

I’m part of the Operations team- the Daemonites who work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. It’s our job to ensure that all parts of the business are connected, keeping the Daemon vehicle well-oiled and moving in the right direction. 

I‘m currently working as Operations Support, which I like to think of as being an internal operations ninja. This is a varied role, covering everything from liaising with clients to preparing non-disclosure agreements and other legal documentation. 

Connect with Samantha on LinkedIn

On top of your role, you lead the Charity Working Group at Daemon. Could you tell us a bit about the group and its aims?

The aim is to create an exciting community group within Daemon that focuses our efforts and passion towards charitable initiatives. We partner with two charities at a time- one in the UK and one in South Africa- and organise events and initiatives to support them. These can be anything from fun runs to preloved clothing drives, but they’re always designed to further the causes we support. 

I joined the working group at the start of the year and I was immediately struck by its flexibility. We don’t limit ourselves to charities in a particular area. Instead, we give every Daemonite a say in the charities we support. We hold a panel discussion every two years where employees can nominate partner charities. From this, we create a shortlist of six charities and allow everyone to vote for the final two winners. This 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. 

What charity partnerships does Daemon currently have?

For the last two years, we’ve been working with two charities- Breadline Africa and Staffordshire Women’s Aid. 

Breadline Africa works tirelessly to improve the prospects of children in some of South Africa’s poorest areas. It builds classrooms, toilet facilities and kitchens for pre-schools, as well as running feeding programmes and educational excursions for young children.  

Staffordshire Women’s Aid is a UK-based charity offering invaluable support to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. It also provides community services including educational programmes, food banks and free legal advice. 

We’ve recently added a third charity called Greenpop. Based in Cape Town, it aims to reverse deforestation across Sub-Saharan Africa by planting trees and “greening” urban areas. The group’s values align strongly with our own, so we were keen to get involved. 

What has the Charity Working Group been up to lately? Is there anything you’re particularly proud of? 

At the start of 2023 we worked with Breadline Africa to convert an old shipping container into a fully equipped school in Western Cape Town.  We also supported the building of new toilet facilities, allowing children to attend lessons without putting their health at risk. We attended the opening in February 2023, and it was wonderful to see what a huge difference this had made to the local community. 

In June 2023, Daemonites in both countries took part in a huge charity step challenge. People showed up for this in a way that made me really proud. There are a lot of competitive people in the company, and we were able to harness this energy to rack up over 21,400,000 steps. The proceeds were used to open another school with Breadline Africa, which means we've been able to support the development and launch of two schools this year alone.  This is a huge achievement, and one that I’m extremely proud to be part of. 

On a more personal note, we worked with the Woodland Trust to create the Daemon Memorial Forest. Located in the Ruffet and Big Wood Nature Reserve on the outskirts of London, this is an area dedicated to the Daemonites who are no longer with us. We also worked with Greenpop to plant 106 trees in South Africa, one for every Daemonite we had in the business at that time and, again, in memory of colleagues we have lost. This was a lovely gesture, and one that we will continue to support for years to come. 

How important are Daemon’s North Star Ambitions in guiding its charity work? 

Very important! When I took on the charity lead role in March, I was standing in front of a blank canvas. I didn’t know what had previously been done, what structures were in place or what people were accustomed to. I reached out to Jenny Locke, our Head of People, and asked her what Daemon expects from its charity work. She suggested I take a look at the North Stars and build something around them. 

This was great advice. The North Stars have acted as a compass, helping me and the rest of the group to define every intention and action. The People, Culture and Impact North Stars have been especially relevant. A lot of our initiatives have been focused on improving employee wellbeing and creating a culture of care within the company. Meanwhile, the Impact North Star has inspired us to embrace environmental causes. Without this, the tree planting project would never have come about.

Read more: Ten minutes with Jenny Locke

It sounds like this will be a hard year to top! What has the Charity Working Group got planned for 2024?

I spoke to the COO, Jane Lockwood, recently and we agreed that Daemonites need a bit more predictability in their charity schemes. We’ve created a structured pillar of recurring events such as the June and December step challenges. This will ensure that people aren’t blindsided by new initiatives. 

However, that doesn’t mean we’ve got nothing new in store. We’ve also created the Daemon Day of Giving. Each of the company's four regions will be assigned a quarter of the year during which employees can dedicate an entire day to helping a cause of their choice. This could be anything from working in a soup kitchen to repainting a school- the employees have complete freedom to decide. This is a great way to find out which causes matter to Daemonites before we begin the process of choosing our next set of charity partners. 

That sounds brilliant! Thank you so much for talking to us. How can people get in touch if they want to find out more? 

You’re welcome! They can find me on LinkedIn, or just contact Daemon directly.