Northumbrian Water’s new charity cash boost initiative has seen hundreds of thousands of e-drops donated by customers to help three local charitable causes.
Over 370,000 e-drops were donated by customers to the nominated charitable causes over the last two month voting period through using the utility company’s free app.
Launched in December, Drop Swap will see tens of thousands of pounds being donated every year with customers deciding where the funding goes.
In first place with over 202,000 e-drops was Feeding Families – with Oasis Community Housing and Little Sprouts also receiving customer votes. All three causes will receive a cash donation and be offered support through the company’s employee volunteering programme, Just an Hour.
Louise Hunter, Northumbrian Water’s Corporate Affairs Director, said: “We already support our local communities in many ways – gifting time and expertise via our amazing employee volunteers to donating cash and equipment to community and environmental projects.
“The Drop Swap initiative is a fantastic addition to the great support we give our communities and it will help the charitable causes that matter the most to our customers. The idea originally came from a session with our customers at our 2019 Innovation Festival and so I’m especially pleased to see it brought to life as a great example of how our customers can shape how we deliver our services.
“We want to help as many deserving causes as possible, through this funding channel, across our local communities of the North East. So that’s why I’m urging all of our customers to download and start using our free app to help the causes that are close in their hearts.”
The app is available for customers to use around the clock to access services, such as updating water meter readings and making account payments. Customers will be rewarded with ‘e-drops’ to vote for their local charity of choice when using the app and can nominate other charitable causes to benefit from future support.
A second round of funding is up for grabs with three new nominated charities and the water company is asking customers for their nominations for environmental causes it could support in the third round.
Juliet Sanders, CEO of Feeding Families said: “We’re grateful to have been involved in Northumbrian Water’s Drop Swap initiative, where we were nominated for some community funding.
“It’s a great incentive and we’re thrilled with the number of customer votes we received for our cause. Thanks to everyone who voted and the donation from Northumbrian Water will help support the fantastic work we do in the community. This year it is needed more than ever and so it couldn't come at a better time.”
The company is delighted to be working with County Durham Community Foundation, which is helping to deliver this new initiative across the whole of its operating area. This extends a longstanding partnership through thousands of pounds worth of project grant funding has been delivered in the area.
For more information about Drop Swap, visit www.nwl.co.uk/app and download our free app from your android or iOS app store by searching for ‘Northumbrian Water’.