Sytner donates £40k to Ben to help reach £0.5m ‘rallying cry’ fundraising target
Sytner, the UK’s largest car retail group has donated £40,000 to Ben. After a challenging year for the charity, Sytner’s donation carried Ben over their urgent ‘rallying cry’ target of £0.5 million.
Sytner Group has supported Ben for nearly 27 years, consistently championing the charity and its valuable work to a 9,000-strong nationwide workforce. Since establishing the relationship, Sytner colleagues, dealerships, and divisions have continually contributed to the not-for-profit charity, but the recent £40,000 is the largest single contribution to date.
In keeping with social distancing guidelines, the £40,000 donation was unveiled to a representative of Ben during a specially planned video call. Following the announcement, the charity revealed that the contribution tipped Ben over their £0.5m ‘rallying cry’ target; an initiative created to respond to the shortfall created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Ben experienced a 113% increase in the amount of people visiting mental health pages on its website and a 52% increase in demand for their services, all whilst battling a significant £1m income shortfall. In response, Ben launched their urgent appeal to the automotive industry in late 2019, and has just announced a new campaign for 2021 called ‘Breakout for Ben’. Sytner Group has committed to continuing its support throughout 2021 and is one of the first groups to announce it will be encouraging its colleagues to sign up to ‘Breakout for Ben’.
Matt Wigginton, Fundraising Director at Ben, said: “We can’t begin to thank Sytner enough for their support over the years, including this latest donation which is very generous. Sytner’s donation also represents a key milestone as it has taken us over the halfway point on our road to £1m, to address the income shortfall that the charity faced in 2020.
With the help of our incredible industry, we have now reached over £0.5m following our urgent rallying cry for support in November last year. Automotive people need us more than ever right now and we couldn’t do what we do without the support of our industry. This support is absolutely vital so that no-one in automotive faces life’s toughest challenges alone. A huge, heartfelt thank you to Sytner and our automotive industry.”
After revealing the £40,000 to Sarah over Zoom, Melvin Rogers – Director of Human Resources at Sytner Group said “The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is of the upmost importance and we’re pleased that our donation will allow Ben to continue the fantastic support that they offer to everyone within Sytner and the wider automotive industry.
“This year has been especially tough for colleagues, so the services that Ben offer are now even more vital than ever. We’re proud to continue our support of Ben and that our donation was able to push them over their target at a time they need it most.”
Like many other colleagues within Sytner Group, Georgina Olsen, has experienced first-hand the incredible support Ben provides. When asked, Georgina commented “It great to know that the company I work for supports Ben. Ben supported my Grandmother after she had a fall and I am incredibly grateful for the help they provided to my family. Ben is such an important charity, not only for industry employees but their families too.”
ENDS